#GreatBritishBeachClean Deal Sunday 16th Sept

Thank you to our 100 volunteers who turned out for the #GreatBritishBeachClean at Deal Pier this morning.

 In just over an hour we collected over 40kgs of mainly small plastic although we did find a passport and finger-bob (don't think the two are connected :) )

Big thanks to the Deal With It volunteers for the organisation and Wendy who has to work out what we collected !

Our next Beach Clean will be on Sunday 14th October on the Beach in front of Walmer Castle

Deal Hop Farm's Second Hop Harvest has started

Deal’s own community hop growing project – the Deal Hop Farm – starts its second harvest this week. 

The project which started in 2017 has now over 200 sites growing hops in and around Deal. These are grown in people's gardens, allotments and community spaces (like Walmer Castle, Captains Garden, Landmark Garden) and the project has involved some 300 local people this year

It is one of the largest community growing projects in the country and has been recognised by winning the prestigious Horticulture Week's Custodian Award for ‘Best Community Initiative 2018’.

***LATEST NEWS
- First Harvest done on 3rd September 18 sites + 52 kilos of hops. 25 kilos in first brew of Hopping MAD brewed on 4th rest all commercially dried

Members have four days of harvests organised on the 3rd, 11th, 12th and 20th of September with a central collection point of the Landmark Garden in Deal High St from about 5pm on each harvest day.

Working with local brewing partner, the Ripple Steam Brewery, who will be brewing a Green Hopped Beer called Hopping M.A.D: Made Around Deal. This will be available in many local pubs early in October.

"We are trying to be more ambitious this year with the multiple harvests and brews; We are hoping to make the final one a real celebration of our efforts.


It's not just about producing great local beer, although that is of course very close to our members hearts but it’s also about reconnecting to that Kentish tradition & landscape that has been so much shaped by the hop industry.

We will have opportunities for people to try their hand at hop picking and joining in the fun. If people want to experience some hop picking we will picking the hops at the Captain’s Garden at Deal Castle on Tuesday 12th September about 2:30pm or at the Landmark Garden on 20th from about 5pm."

The Great British Beach Clean - 16th September

Our September Deal Beach Clean will be part of the 'Great British Beach Clean' happening all around the British Coastline on the weekend of 14/17th.

This is national survey of rubbish on our coastline conducted by the Marine Conservation Society.

The Deal Beach Clean starts at the Deal Pier at 9:30 and will last for about 1.5-2hrs

All equipment supplied.

Our colleagues at Kingsdown are also having one on the same day

#TheLongSwim ends in Dover on Wednesday 29th

UN Patron of the Oceans and endurance swimmer @LewisPugh ends his epic swim along the whole length of the channel #TheLongSwin from Lands end to Dover on Wednesday

There are couple of events on Wednesday 29th in Dover to mark Lewis's great 350mile achievement: 

Colleagues from Surfers Against Sewage have organised a beach clean on Shakespeare beach at Dover between 12:30 to 14:30 

Colleagues from the local Goodwin Sands SOS campaign will also be on the beach meeting Hugh at about 1:30pm

Lewis has fully embraced the Goodwin Sands anti-dredging campaign and we would like as many of our supporters to be there to welcome and congratulate him on his amazing achievement

http://lewispugh.com/the-long-swim/

Walmer Beach Clean 25th August

Thank you to our 30 + some little ones volunteers on today's Walmer Beach Clean. 

We managed to collect just over 42 kgs of rubbish today with about 1.5kgs of recyclables.

Our next Beach Clean will be at Deal Pier on Sunday 16th September at 9.30am This will be part of the national survey of beaches along the coastline run by the Marine Conservation Society.

We do have part 2 of our tidy and litter pick around Deal Station on Thursday 30th 4.30pm (meet on London Side)

Walmer Beach Clean - Sat 25th August at 9:30am

Tidy up at Deal Station

The Deal Station Gardeners group has initiated a tidy up campaign around Deal Station.

Last Thursday 12 volunteers cleared the Ramsgate walk way from London Rd and they are again in action on Thursday 30th August on the London/ Car Park side between 4:30pm to 6pm

A cut of the meadow area will happen later in September

All volunteers welcome

Deal Bee Fest Saturday 18th August from 10:30

Deal Bins - Please report overflowing bins to DDC

We are campaigning with other community organisations to get the bins in Deal and Walmer upgraded to seagull and animal proof, with dual recycling, and around the pier larger capacity as well as asking the Council looking at the emptying schedule especially around the busier summer months.

You can help by reporting it. 
If you see a bin which is full, please report it online at: 'DDC Report a Overflowing Bin':.

Seedy Saturday 21st July

Our Next edition of our quarterly Seed and plant swaps will be on Saturday 21st July from about 11am in the Landmark Garden. Please bring any spare plants or seeds to swap

Deal TV video on the Captain's Garden 'National Meadows Day'

Thank you to Deal TV for featuring us on their most recent posting:





https://youtu.be/o3NlIn7596s

Deal TV YouTube Channel can be found here - lots of interesting local stories

Sandown Beach Clean 7th July

Thank you to our 40 volunteers on today's Community Beach Clean at Sandown Castle - we collected some 75kilos of rubbish - only 5k of which could be recycled. 

We also found a set of keys which will be handed into the Town Hall on Monday. 

Unfortunately we also found a Dead Seal about 800m north of the castle - This has been reported. Next Clean is at Walmer on the 25th August

Deal Hop Farm Wins top horticultural award

The Deal Hop Farm - our Community Hop growing project in and around Deal - has been awarded a top national horticulture award - the Horticulture Week Custodian Award for 'Best Community Initiative'

Nominated by Mark Brent, Head Gardener for English Heritage's Walmer Castle Gardens

https://www.hortweek.com/horticulture-week-custodian-award-best-community-initiative/parks-and-gardens/article/1486144

Deal Town Council votes to support 'Plastic Free Deal'

Deal Town Council has voted to support 'Plastic Free Deal' this week. 

Addressed by Helen Matthews and Sarah Loftus from the campaign who detailed the progress of the project so far which is actively involving the community thru beach cleans and meetings, has over 15 businesses signed up the three pledge as well as number of local community organisations

The aim is to get individuals, community groups, businesses and local authorities to pledge to ditch at least three items of single use plastic.

The national initiative is run by Surfers Against Sewage and has over 300 local communities working in their #PlasticFreeCommunities award winning scheme

www.plasticfreedeal.org.uk

FB & Twitter @PlasticFreeDeal

Refill starts in East Kent

Launching in early summer 2018 in the Dover, Deal & Sandwich area, Refill East Kent is a joint project of Kingsdown Conservation Group, Deal With It – Transition Deal and Transition Dover.

Ian Williams, from Kingsdown Conservation Group and local coordinator for Refill East Kent said:

"The Refill team are delighted to have such great support from local businesses and our volunteers.

We have signed up over 35 before launch and are looking forward to many more joining us as the summer progresses.

Participating Refill Stations include the Deal Maritime Museum, Astor Theatre, Smugglers Records, Chequers Cookery School, Just Reproach, Slow Food Café, Seaward Gallery, Café at Pines Calyx, Park Café, The Post Room at Deal Station, Mrs Knotts at South Foreland Lighthouse, Spires Bar, Goose on the Green, Sea Café, St Margaret bay kiosk, Tempted Café at Eastry, White Cliffs Centre, The Lighthouse, Freedman, Piece of Cake, Scrumalicious and the Sandwich Shop.

The Refill App shows the nearest Station and every time you refill using the app you get points which go towards a Chilly’s water bottle. It is a simple idea which will reduce the amount of single use plastic bottles.

We are also taking the Refill message to many schools in the district and targeting the districts walking and cycling trails"


Refill is a national, free tap water initiative designed to reduce plastic pollution, and make refilling a water bottle easy.

The aim is to reduce the number of plastic bottles ending up in our oceans, while keeping you healthy, hydrated and saving you money at the same time.

So now over 10,000 friendly cafes, shops, hotels and businesses are welcoming you in to refill your water.

Anyone can download the free Refill app to see where they can Refill on the go, and always have access to a growing national list of refill points on their mobile device https://www.refill.org.uk/get-the-refill-app/

The local campaign welcome new sites and supporters and can be contacted by email at RefillEastKent@gmail.com, Facebook and Twitter at @RefillEastKent or at the www.refill.org.uk

National Meadow Day - 7th July Open Meadow at Captain's Garden

Deal Beach Clean Saturday 7th July

Thank you to Sue and Adrian

Massive thank you Sue and Adrian Sullivan who had a 'Open Wildlife Garden' for the last three days and raised over £400 for Deal With It. 

Thank you everyone who contributed. 

A great testament of the power of nature, beauty and cake. x

Walmer Castle Beach Clean Tuesday 5th June

Thank you Landmark Uke Club for Donation to Deal With IT

The Landmark Ukulele Club (which meets every Friday at 10am at the Landmark Centre - £1 per session) has very kindly made a second donation of £200 to Deal With iT today.

Early in the year the club donated money so we could buy more pickers for our Beach Cleans.

This money will go towards some heavy duty builders truggs for the Beach Cleans (we are looking at ways to reduce the amount of plastic bags we use on the cleans and truggs will also help us to sort the litter into recyclables

The rest of the donation will be spent at the community garden at the Captain's Garden - we want to put in about 40 Lavender plants alongside the path

Thank you Ukes!

Donations are always welcome - we have three community garden projects plus expanding beach cleans :)