‘The university and the Relief of Leiden are inextricably linked’
Lara Ummels came from Maastricht to study law in Leiden, and never left. She recently joined the board of the 3 October Association. You can’t get more Leiden than that. ‘Leiden has a special place in my heart.’
Lara Ummels was dressed in cap and gown on the float at the Relief of Leiden Grand Parade in 2022 when she got talking to members of the 3 October Association (the organiser of the celebration and commemoration of the Relief of Leiden). They told her about an anniversary committee that would be formed to celebrate 450 years of the Relief of Leiden. ‘It sounded like great fun. Since then we’ve been making all kinds of plans for an extra special celebration.’
Meeting her husband
Ummels can now call herself a Leidener but she originally hails from Maastricht. ‘It seemed like a great adventure to go and study so far away from home.’ She chose law in 1989 because she wasn’t really sure what she wanted to do and there’s lots you can do with a law degree. ‘I don’t regret it because it teaches you how to think and read.’
When others told her what a great city Leiden was, her mind was soon made up. She ended up in a mixed-gender student house on Oude Singel, where she would later meet her husband. ‘He had moved in during my year abroad at the University of Edinburgh. I moved out soon after I returned because otherwise you’re together all the time. We now have three children, the oldest of whom is now a student.’
Knowledge broker
After graduating, she worked in law for quite some time and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was while providing temporary cover for a manager at the Municipality of Leiden that she discovered she likes leading teams and building new ones. This led to her helping set up Leiden City of Knowledge, a partnership between Leiden University, University of Applied Sciences Leiden, the LUMC (until 2022), Naturalis Biodiversity Center, mboRijnland and the Municipality of Leiden.
Ummels has been working there as a knowledge broker ever since and is a kind of pivotal figure. ‘I have my feelers out and make sure connections are made and parties can find each other.’ She thinks the Learning with the City project, in which students work on pressing issues in the city, is a good example of what Leiden City of Knowledge does.
Big network
Her work means she has a big network in Leiden. ‘What I really like is that my voluntary work is starting to overlap with my work at Leiden City of Knowledge. Then I hear an idea at the 3 October Association and I think: I can do something with that at the university. And there I go connecting again.’
Ummels has several roles in the 3 October Association. As well as being on the anniversary committee, she joined the board this year and is Vice-Chair of the Parade and Taptoe Committee. ‘I think it's fantastic that I can now do something for this association because I really love this city.’
Traces of 3 October
Her biggest anniversary project is Traces of 3 October , in which students from Leiden City of Knowledge are finding old traces that tell the stories of the Relief of Leiden. These stories appear in the Leidsch Dagblad newspaper every month.
Then there is a historical card game about 3 October that a student is making, an Epic Quest audio tour created by first-year Content Creator students from mboRijnland and a VR bike tour of 26 historical places in the region
The university and the Relief of Leiden
When asked what she is looking forward to about the Relief of Leiden, Ummels has difficulty choosing. She reels off a whole list, many of which are already in September.
‘What I would recommend to anyone living, working or studying in Leiden – definitely at Leiden University – is to experience the Relief of Leiden at least once to the full. I know it’s early but if you join the Reveille, stand in line for herring and white bread, go to the memorial service, sing along in the Van der Werf Park and go to the parade, you get a real sense of history and how interlinked the university and city are.
'The university obviously came directly from the Relief, so the two are inextricably linked. It’s not for nothing that 3 October University is going large this year with a Science Fair, so make sure to pop in there too.’
Text: Dagmar Aarts
Photo above: Lara Ummels (second from right) with other members of the 3 October Association board.