Winter Solstice Celebration at the Landmark garden 21st Dec 2016

We have our free Community gathering the Winter Solstice celebration at the Landmark Garden on Wednesday 21st Decemeber 5:30-7:30pm. 

This is to mark the end of one growing season & the start of another and celebrate the work all our our volunteers have done over the last year and the great support from our local community.

Mulled wine, Seasonal eats and cakes, Storytelling with Roisin and music from the Deal Hoodeners, Jon & Elaine, Adrian O and Sunshine Ukes so far...

Please bring a jar and tea light to chase away the darkness! Donation of food welcome.

Dress toastie.

NB: The event is weather dependant ...so if it is pouring down we will be in the bar!

Charlotte Daly has a Jar painting session in the Landmark Garden on Saturday 17th Dec from 11am.

Bring a washed jar, an old tea-towel and a large nail or old nailfile please. We will paint the jar, use the towel to stabilise it and the nail/file to etch out shapes. For very young children stencils will be used instead of the nail/file.

You can leave any spare jars or tea lights in the Garden by the planter.

Dover District Council is looking for Flood and Snow Wardens

Dover District Council is looking for volunteer Flood and Snow Wardens - Please follow the links if you are interested

DDC are looking for volunteer flood wardens to help us monitor areas that are at risk from flooding.

Full training is provided.

Find out more and how to volunteer »

DDC have teamed up with Dover District Volunteer Centre to launch a new Snow Warden Volunteer scheme. Snow wardens are volunteers from the local community who give up their spare time to help clear snow during bad weather. Find out more and how to volunteer »

Victoria's Green Matters - 8th December 2016

Deal With IT's Secretary Victoria Nicholls writes a regular column in the East Kent Mercury:

It is astonishing to read that air temperatures are 20°C above the seasonal normal in the Arctic and sea temperatures are nearly 4°C higher than average for the time of the year.

This sort of dramatic change makes it likely that tipping points will occur; this happens when a natural system, such as the polar ice cap, suffers sudden change that has a huge effect on surrounding ecosystems which is often irrevocable.

There are several climate tipping points, identified in the Arctic Resilience Report released last month. The research was compiled by eleven organisations including the Arctic Council and six universities. Amongst other changes there is growth in dark vegetation on the tundra which replaces the reflective snow and ice, absorbing more heat; as the tundra warms more than normal amounts of methane, a dangerous greenhouse gas, are released; there are movements in snow distribution that warm the ocean which result in changed climate patterns many miles away in Asia where the monsoon may be altered.

The Arctic ice cap helps to cool sea and air temperatures by reflecting most of the sun’s radiation back into space. It also acts as a cooling system when winds blow over it and the ocean currents flow under it. It has been known for a long time that the ice cap plays a vital part in the global climate systems but to observe and monitor these systems has been both difficult and expensive and only in recent years have scientists been able to make detailed evaluations.

Human activity throughout the world has led to climate change of an unprecedented degree and will greatly increase the risk of more tipping points occurring so reduction in greenhouse gas emissions is vital.



If we need yet another focus for anxiety, it has been revealed that the US president- elect has plans to remove the budget for climate change science, used by NASA and others, for research into Arctic changes, and to spend the money on space exploration!

Hands on workshop on real Chocolate 21st Jan 2017

If you want to get hands on with Chocolution in the New Year our friends at The Chequers are hosting 2 chocolate experiences . 

The first is a 1 hour introduction into the bean to bar process and is a perfect gift for the chocolate lover in your life. Spaces are limited.

Sat, January 21st, 2017
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
£15.00

See more

Results from the Great British Beach Clean in Sept 2016

Deal With It's Beach Clean back in September 2016 was part of the Marine Conservation Society's 'GreatBritish BeachClean' - a nationwide survey of our beaches.

The MCS has recently published its results - they can be found here

The September 2016 Great British Beach Clean saw just short of 6,000 volunteers clean 364 beaches around the UK, recording the litter they found. The results have revealed a mixed picture.

We picked up a huge amount of rubbish - 268,384 individual pieces, although this is a little lower than last year.

The number of plastic bags found have almost halved in a year. We think that’s down to the charge at the checkout, which is now in place across the whole UK.

But there was an astonishing rise in the amount of balloon related litter, up over 50% on 2015. There were more drinks containers, bottle caps and lids, too – up more than 4% on the previous year.

DDC Energy Deal Scheme Could Help You Save Money On Your Energy Bills

Energy Deal Scheme Could Help You Save Money On Your Energy Bills

You could save money on your energy bills with the latest round of Energy Deal – that’s the message from Dover District Council, who are launching the latest round of the popular collective switching campaign today, (06 December).

Residents can register to take part in the latest round up to 13 February 2017. Energy suppliers will then be invited to compete with their best offer at an energy auction. Residents registered with Energy Deal will be sent a personalised offer showing the winning tariff, which they can then decide whether they want to accept.

DDC is working in partnership with Dartford, Gravesham, Tonbridge & Malling and Tunbridge Wells councils to operate the Energy Deal scheme. For more information or to register, please see the Energy Advice pages or leave contact details on 01304 872428.

Xmas Deal Beach Clean - 4th Dec

Massive thank you to our 28 volunteers out on a Sunny Deal Beach Clean today - picked up a lot of small plastic stuff with over 45kgs collected.

The Beach Clean will be on Sunday 29th January 2017 at 10am Deal Pier

Xmas Deal Beach Clean - 4th Dec Sunday

Our Beach Clean will be one Sunday 4th December meeting at Deal Pier at 10am - This one is a pop-up clean and will last 1-1.5 hrs. Pickers, Gloves, Bags all supplied - Please dress for the weather. Xmas hats always welcome

Deal With It Stall at #IWillWeek

We have a stall at the #IWillWeek next Thursday 24th Nov - at the Linwood Youth Centre nr Victoria Park

Deal With It Planning Meeting - Tuesday 15th Nov

We have a open meeting at Deal-ability on Victoria Rd Deal on Tuesday 15th Nov at 7pm.

This is an open meeting to look at ideas and projects that we could initiate in the town to make it a more sustainable community.

Some of these ideas came out of our recent transition supper but please free feel to bring ideas along

The key thing for these ideas is that things that we can do rather than expecting someone else to do; not 'they should do this' but 'We/I can do this'

All Welcome - Tea and Cakes

• Fixing/Repair cafe
• Distributed urban farm - workshops on food
• Local food buying Coop
• Deal Virtual Hop Farm/Beer
• Using the Sea - sustainable fishery / Marine Conservation Zone
• Deal With It's Identity - Logo / Website / getting the message over
• Park and ride - whitfield - reduce traffic in Deal
• Town Litter Picks 
• Swap Shop
• Havesting Garden fruit - jams & preserves
• Garden Share renewal
• Opportunities around Betteshanger Development part 2
• Eating less meat - Carrot Mobs
• Re-use area attached to recycling centre
• Community Orchard /Patchwork farm
• Community Stories - links with older generation
• Skill swaps
• Local Energy Company

Deal With It - Autumn Celebration

We had a wonderful time at the Landmark Garden on Saturday at our Autumn Celebration:
Imogen's Mini Jackets with hedgerow sauce went down very well, as did our array of cakes with gleaned apples. Fiona from Kent Energy Champions did a great trade in energy monitors and we had colleagues from Deal Farmers Market at their regular market at the Landmark.

A big thank you to the Landmark Ukulele Club of whom 20 played for us in very cold conditions (The club meets every Friday at the Landmark at 10-12 and is free to join & welcomes newbies).

Thanks to everyone who donated food, wood, Fairtrade Chocolate, apples and pears, plants and their time. We raised £82.70 for the Garden

 

All our photo are here

#BeforeTheFlood Film

Worth a viewing (1:35hr) Join Leonardo DiCaprio as he explores the topic of climate change, and discovers what must be done today to prevent catastrophic disruption of life on our planet.

If you cannot see the embedded video the link is here

Transition in action: Ungersheim

Great small film on how one village in a ex-mining community responded to climate change and renewal. 
Marie-Monique Robin's new film 'Qu’est-ce qu’on attend‘ (‘What are we waiting for?’) tells the story of Transition in the Alsace village of Ungersheim

Kent Gleaning next week

Please share far and wide! We’ve just discovered TONNES OF APPLES going to waste on 3 more farms in Kent! We’re going on 3 epic missions to save as many as possible of those tasty fruits from going to waste, and we NEED YOUR HELP.


We’re going gleaning on Thursday 10th November, Sunday 13th November AND Tuesday 15th November to farms near Canterbury. We’re inviting volunteers to the farms to help save all those amazing apples for the fantastic charity FareShare. Witness the colossal waste first-hand, and have a great social day out for a fantastic cause.


We cover travel expenses from Ashford, Maidstone, Dover and across Kent – just check with us first. We will aim to run these gleans between 10am-4pm (TBC)


To join any of the upcoming Kentish apple gleans, sign up here! http://bit.ly/2dhcIJB

You will then be sent more info on the gleaning day, closer to the time. For more info, please contact Kent@feedbackglobal.org

If you can't join us for this glean, please do sign up to our gleaning list - we're gleaning all round the UK, and we'll let you know when gleaning days are coming up near you: http://feedbackglobal.org/gleaning-volunteer-form/


Gleaning Network is part of From Farm to Food

Landmark Autumn Celebration Sat 5th Nov

Deal With It has its Autumn Celebration in the Landmark Garden on Saturday 5th Nov to raise money for our community gardens for the next season. 

We will deploy the apple press, have food to sample, some hot pots , plants and hopefully a few stalls.

The Landmark Ukulele Club is going to play for us (the club meets at the Landmark every Friday from 10am)

Landmark Garden, High St Deal - 10:30am to 1pm

Transition Supper 28th October

An evening of music, ideas and community meal

We are very fortunate to have Naresh Giangrande a founder member of Totnes Transition and a Director of the Transition Network with us.
Naresh will do a brief talk on the Transition movement so we can get a conversation going on how to transform Deal and Dover

Food: we will be providing seasonal soup, bread, salad and some rice & pasta.
So please bring a main and sweet to share (please label veggie/vegan/etc + if contains nuts/wheat).
Drink: we will provide a welcome soft drink and teas & coffee - please bring anything else you want
Plates etc are all at the venue

Socialise with inspiring ideas....

MC: Adrian O
Music from the Sunshine Ukes and special guests
The event is Free but we are asking for people contribute what they can on the door to cover costs....

St Andrews Church Hall, West Street Deal from 6:30pm to 9:30pm

You can book tickets at this EventBrite site

Walmer Beach Clean 23rd Oct

Thank you to our 20 Volunteers on today's Walmer Beach Clean 70kgs collected... 

Next Deal With It Beach clean is on 4th Dec at Deal Pier

Victoria's Green Matters Thursday 20th October 2016

Deal With IT's Secretary Victoria Nicholls writes a regular column in the East Kent Mercury:

The deep ocean represents 95% of the living space on the planet and yet we know very little about it and what life forms exist within it. However, it plays a key role in supporting life on earth e.g. in regulating the air we breathe but it is being subjected to rising temperatures, ocean acidification and human waste.

A new research mission is taking place, beginning off the coast of Bermuda, where a variety of new species have already been found. A daily occurrence, only recently witnessed by human eyes, is the largest migration on Earth when billions of marine creatures rise to the surface from as far as 2 kilometres deep to the upper layers of the ocean at night in search of food, only to return to the deep when the sun rises.

The state of the deep sea has been sidelined by the concern generated by the coral bleaching that has nearly destroyed the corals of the Great Barrier Reef. Coral bleaching is not a problem for the deeper corals, away from the surface, but the excess heat being absorbed by the oceans, along with the increased acidity from the extra carbon dioxide, is altering the deep sea.

Little is known about how coral is replenished but theories suggest that deep sea corals help regenerate the shallow water corals that are bleached and die. If this is so, any change in the deep oceans will have a profound effect on the ecosystem services the oceans provide.

Victoria Nicholls. Transition Deal.