New Dover to Deal Cycle route opens 12th July

You and your bike are invited to the launch of the brand new Skylark Cycle Trail between Dover and Deal.

This welcome improvement was prompted by the sad death of local cyclist Daniel Squire. It has been funded by KCC from the local Highways budget of the county councillor for Dover North, Steve Manion - who earns our wholehearted thanks in making this happen.
More details at: http://doverdistrictcycleforum.weebly.com

The new route is well-signed using quiet country lanes and avoids the hazards of the busy A258. It offers a good inland alternative to the coastal National Cycle Route 1 .

The launch is on Saturday 12th July 2014
at 11.30 for a photo-call at 12noon with local press and media
at The Old Lantern Inn, The Street, Martin, near Dover CT15 5JL

Meeting in the front garden, inside if wet. Pub will open by 11.30am, possibly earlier!

Hope to see you there - please reply if you can come.

After the photo, you can join a nice down-hill ride to Deal - enjoying the views and the sound of the skylarks over the cornfields (or ride on to somewhere more adventurous).

best wishes,

Ian Ian Killbery earlystart@me.com
Chair, Dover District Cycle Forum http://doverdistrictcycleforum.weebly.com/
representing everyone interested in cycling in Dover District
affiliated to SPOKES East Kent Cycle Campaign

Next Deal Seedy Saturday is on Sat 5th July

Our next Seedy Saturday at the Landmark Community Garden will be on Saturday 5th July between 11am - 1pm.

This one will be a plant swap ... so if you have any spare fruit, veg or edible flowers please bring some along to swap or donate.

We also will have some music from the Sunshine Ukes to entertain us all

Victoria's Green Matters - 26th June 2014

Deal With IT's Secretary Victoria Nicholls writes a regular column in the East Kent Mercury :How often do you spare a thought for where your food comes from? Sometimes we eat food that has not only travelled many miles to get to us but has been caught, produced or prepared by people who are truly present day slaves.

Anyone who enjoys prawns needs to know that the people that helped to put them onto their plate were trafficked migrants who had been bought and sold. These slaves work for no pay on ships that catch fish of any kind, usually tuna and trash fish (fish too small to be sold), to be ground up and fed to prawns in intensive production on ‘farms’ in Thailand. The prawns are then bought by the world’s largest producer and supermarket supplier, CP Foods. CP Foods supplies the 4 biggest supermarkets around the world – Wal-Mart, Carrefour, Costco and Tesco but also supplies Aldi, Morrisons, the Co-op and Iceland. They all sell frozen or cooked prawns or ready meals supplied by CP Foods, which admits that slave labour is part of its supply chain.

Fishing in this way depletes fish stocks and artificially raising prawns by farming them creates pollution let alone the matter of the slave labour used to create this supply but there does not seem to be any action being taken to stop our supermarkets selling these goods.

It is our duty to make sure that if we eat animals of any kind they have been raised without suffering of any kind, man or animal.

Victoria Nicholls. Transition Deal.

Healthy Living Retreat at Rippledown

Juice fasting and yoga retreat

Nutrition & natural health talks, meditation, yoga, group walks and raw food prep & feast on the final day

Friday 8th to Monday 11th August, at Rippledown House, Ringwould, East Kent

This is the inaugural Rippledown healthy living retreat. In partnership with Sura Detox, one of Britain’s leading detox and health retreat teams, this affordable retreat in a relaxed setting provides a great opportunity to cleanse and recharge your body and mind in fun way, whilst gaining numerous fantastic insights into nutrition and healthy living.

About The Retreat: what, why, how, who and when

What: a long weekend - 4 day retreat of juice fasting with yoga, walks, nutritional education, a raw food preparation class and other activities.

Why: In our distant past, as we started to expand into less habitable areas, it became necessary to cook food. The resulting stress on the digestive system required strategies to compensate for it – and so fasting was born. With the additional stresses of modern life, never before has fasting been so relevant or beneficial as it is today, so whilst it may seem like a relic from the distant past, the benefits of fasting are still being documented.

On physical health:

1. Fasting is found in every ancient text on health.

2. Fasting remains the safest and most reliable way of resting the overworked digestive system.

3. Fasting is massively rejuvenating to most bowel conditions (Crohn’s, IBS, Candida).

4. Fasting rebalances metabolism; burning fat and resourcing the digestive process.

5. The immune system uses the resources and energy freed up during fasting to clean body tissues.

6. Many athletes attest to period of fasting as a time-tested method of increasing personal bests.



Fasting is equally upheld in the realm of spirituality, as the mind goes into a profoundly restful state.

On mental/emotional health:

1. Fasting leaves plenty of time for reflection and all manner of elevated thought.

2. It is the most reliable method to renew a sense of well-being and optimism.

3. Without the suppressive nature of constant food, lost emotions can reappear for integration.

4. Meditation practices are enhanced as the mind naturally calms and clears.

5. Addictive patterns with foods and substances are broken, leaving space for authentic consideration.

6. A greater sense of ‘connection’ to things beyond ourselves becomes more apparent.


With this retreat we are aiming to bring the price of these benefits within the reach of most people.

How: We will use various herbs that stave off hunger, encourage the bowel to throw off its contents, and make fasting that much more efficient for the body as a whole. Diluted juice will keep your mind and body afloat throughout the whole experience, making it less of a leap for our 21st century mentality. The nutritional talks are aimed well above the usual approach of ‘statistical mortality avoidance’, and look more at the roots of the human digestive process. This is with a view to understanding both where we come from, and how we apply nutrition to aid us in where we are going.

Space is made in each day for group meditation, yoga, walks, talks, sharing and deep rest, within the timetable:

Friday 8th	Saturday 9th	Sunday 10th	Monday 11th
10-11.45am Arrivals 12noon: introductory talk 1pm:  juice & supplements 2pm:  nutritional talk 5pm:  juice & supplements 7pm:  group event 9pm:  juice & supplements	8am:  gentle meditation 9am:  juice & supplements 10am:  yoga 11am:  walk 1pm:  juice & supplements 2pm:  nutritional talk 5pm:  juice & supplements 7pm:  group event 9pm:  juice & supplements	8am:  gentle meditation 9am:  juice & supplements 10am:  yoga 11am:  walk 1pm:  juice & supplements 2pm:  nutritional talk 5pm:  juice & supplements 7pm:  group event 9pm:  juice & supplements	8am:  gentle meditation 9am:  juice & supplements 10am:  yoga 11am:  walk 1pm:  juice & supplements 2pm:  raw food talk and prep 5pm:  raw food feast 7pm:  closing circle Depart by 9pm

Who:  Dao has been running detox retreats for 20 years, and will hold the space, along with Nikki, who is a Dru Yoga teacher, and previous educator at The Eden Project, plus a fabulous raw food chef - making the final day both a practical education in how to reintroduce food, as well as long-awaited culinary delight.

Victoria's Green Matters - 18th June 2014

Deal With IT's Secretary Victoria Nicholls writes a regular column in the East Kent Mercury :Have you ever wondered how plants feed? A strange concept, perhaps, but plants produce their own food from carbon dioxide (CO⁰) and water in the atmosphere in the presence of sunlight. This is photosynthesis and is what each one of us relies on indirectly for food and the air that we breathe.

Leaders of the world’s fossil fuel industries always decry renewable energy technologies’ ability to keep the lights on but the use of varying different technologies used together is more than sufficient. Even in the northern European countries there is enough light for solar electricity production. In fact, the Scandinavian countries and Germany are the leaders in renewable technology. Iceland has its geothermal systems and Norway its hydroelectric generation; they are close to 100% in renewable electricity generation. In Sweden, over 90% of new homes have ground source heat pumps installed during the build. Methane gas from household waste is used to supplement natural gas for cooking and heating or to generate electricity.

What if the CO⁰ that is produced from the burning of fossil fuels could be captured and used to produce biofuels? Present research is racing towards finding a way to copy a leaf’s ability to photosynthesise. If this can be achieved, CO⁰ from carbon capture could be used to produce biomass which can be stored and used whenever and for whatever we need. We could use it to produce energy or plastics, drugs or paints. The list is endless.

What a fantastic and wonderful concept!



Victoria Nicholls. Transition Deal.

Open Studio, Open Garden: Art, Music and Wildlife & Permaculture Garden (with Cake!)

OPEN GARDEN / STUDIOS   SUMMER  2014

Deal With It Supporters and local artists Adrian and Sue invite you to visit their Wildlife Garden and Studio.

Orchid Meadow, Wildlife Ponds, Bee friendly Plants, Fruit and Veg, Places to sit and relax. Free Admission. Plant Sale. Light Lunches and Afternoon Teas ( profits to Cancer Research ) Come and have a natter about Gardens, Plants, Veg Growing, Life, Art, and perhaps enjoy some pop up music or poetry for an hour or so.

OPEN 10.30 to 5.30

EVERY THURS TO SUNDAY

• 12th to 15th JUNE
• 19th to 22nd JUNE
• 26th to 29th JUNE
• 3rd to 6th JULY
• 10th to 13th JULY

2 Bridge Hill Cottages Hacklinge, Nr Deal CT14 0AY

TEL. 01304 614088 / 07840 357062

As Parking is very limited just outside our house, you may wish to consider parking in Burgess Green or on The Betteshanger Business Park Road and walk back to us at 2 Bridge Hill. ( Yellow Cottage )

If coming by bus, Burgess Green Bus Stop on Deal/ Sandwich Bus Route.