Deal With It Annual Gathering Sat 13th Jan - 'How can we make Deal Plastic free?'

Deal With It has its annual gathering on Saturday 13th January between Noon and 2pm at the Cleary Hall at the Landmark Community Centre, High St Deal. All are Welcome

As well as looking back on what we have achieved in last year it is a good opportunity to focus on what people want to work on to make Deal a sustainable town.

As well think most AGMs are fairly boring we are organising our gathering around the medium of Soup - We thought we would have a working lunch will two veggie home made soups, tea and cakes (all supplied by the revamped Landmark Café) to help the ideas flow!

All free but contributions welcome on the day and we would appreciate people booking using this link 

Book a Soup

(so we don't run out)

The theme we selected is 'How can we make Deal a Plastic Free Town' - the idea is for us to discuss practical initiatives we can take forward in the town.

We are looking at things like the Refill project (promoting where people can refill their own bottles rather than use single use plastic bottles), Supporting the Plastic Bottle deposit scheme, DDCs recycling & reducing litter and wider initiatives in how individuals and businesses can reduce their plastic use.

Hope you can make it

(ps. if you have specific dietary needs please let us know in advance)

1st Deal Beach Clean of 2018 - 14th Jan at Sandown

Stephanie Karpetas OBE

Our congratulations, to our good friend and friend of all sustainable energy projects in Kent, Stephanie Karpetas on being awarded an OBE in this year's honours list

Stephanie Karpetas of Folkestone is the founder and director of Sustainability Connections CIC, and director of Orchard Community Energy and good friend to Deal where she lived for many years.


She was awarded an OBE for services to the community in east Kent.

Winter Solstice Celebration 21st Dec

We had ideal conditions for our Winter Solstice Celebration on the 21st Dec at the Landmark - first time in four years!

We had about 100-120 people attending (based on the used cups :) Big thanks to the Deal Hoodeners, Sue Watson and the Landmark Uke Club for playing for us, everyone who donated food, drink and jars and candles and to Pat, Helen, Jane, Vicky and Steve for setting up and mulling everything

Deal Winter Solstice Celebration - Thurs 21st Dec

We have our Winter Solstice celebration on Thursday 21st Dec from 5:30am to 7pm at the Landmark Garden on Deal High Street

Please bring Jars and tea lights to chase away the darkness .... There will be mulled wine, mulled music please bring seasonal eats to share

Event is weather dependent so no rain or wind :)

Last Deal Beach Clean of 2017 ....

A big thank you to our 33 volunteers on today's Deal Beach Clean, who managed to collect over 45kgs of rubbish in just over an hour.

Lots of small pieces of plastic today and some pieces of WW2 plane and bits of the coastal defences! Santa hats were much in evident today :)

In 2017 we have had 9 Beach Cleans in Deal and Walmer involving some 303 people who collected 410 kgs of rubbish and donated some 472hours to our community.

This does no include all the individuals in our community who routinely do their own cleans as they enjoy the beach.

Thank you to everyone who has donated their time and love to our Beach in 2017.

We hope that in 2018 to find less rubbish and make our  'Blue Planet' plastic free

Our First Beach Clean of 2018 will be on Sunday 14th January at 10am Meeting at Sandown Castle end of the beach.

PS we have  found a dog lead which one our volunteers lost - Please drop us a email

Deal Beach Clean

Our last beach clean of the year is on Sunday 17th December at 10am - meeting at Deal Pier. Weather looks ok until about 11am+

Deal Beach Clean 19th Nov

Thank you to our 31 volunteers on today's Deal Beach Clean who collected some 50kgs of rubbish from the beach in a little over an hour.

Lost any teeth ?

50kgs of mainly small plastic found today

Deal Beach Clean - 19th Nov - Change of Start point

We have had to have to move the start point of Sunday's Deal Beach Clean from Sandown Castle to Deal Pier because of the continue beach work by DDC. It will start at 10am.

We will be back down at Sandown in January

Deal With It - Event Listing Nov 2017

Sunday 19th November - Deal Beach Clean Starts at 10am - Meet now at Deal Pier *** NB: We have had to change to starting place due to DDC works on the beach at Sandown *** Saturday 2nd December - Transition Xmas Stall Colleagues in Transition Dover have a stall 11-2pm Biggin Street, Dover, CT16 1, United Kingdom Friday 8th December - Initial meeting on Repairs Café for Dover Organised by Transition Dover 11-12 Charlton Centre Café 52-72 High Street, CT16 1TT Dover, Kent Saturday 9th December - Deal Station Garden work day 10am Wednesday 13th December - East Kent Against Fracking AGM & Xmas meet Dealability, Victoria Rd 7pm organised by EKAF Sunday 17th December - Deal Beach Clean Starts at 10am - Meet now at Deal Pier Full of Xmas cheer Thurs 21st Dec - Winter Solstice Celebration 5:30-7pm Landmark Garden Please bring Jars and Tea Lights to chase away the darkness Mulled wine, Mulled music, story telling and seasonal nibbles Free community gathering NB: This event is subject to the weather :) Saturday 13th January 2018 - Deal With It Annual HooHaa get-together Chance for us to celebrate what we achieved in 2017 and look forward to 2018. 2018 is a special year for us as it will be our 10th anniversary so looking at ways to mark our 10years making Deal a more sustainable town Sunday 14th January 2018 - Sandown Beach Clean Meet at 10am at Sandown Castle end of the Beach Sunday 28th January 2018 - Deal Hop Farm AGM Astor Theatre, Deal 6pm Thursday 8th February 2018 - Deal Hop Farm - 2018 Season launch meeting 6pm The Lighthouse, The Strand Walmer - aimed at new 2018 members The DHF have a new FB page to like https://www.facebook.com/DealHopFarm

Deal Hop Farm - Hopping M.A.D - Made Around Deal is coming

The cask beer - Hopping M.A.D [Made Around Deal] brewed by the Ripple Steam Brewery using Deal Hop Farm hops is out and about in the Town from the end of this week.

The beer, which is a green hopped one, will be available over the next two weeks at the Berry, Just Reproach, Lighthouse, Freedman and Farrier pubs all in Deal.

In total it will be available in some 35 pubs in the East Kent area including Dover, Folkestone, Canterbury, Whitstable, Margate, Ramsgate plus a couple in London. The brewery are producing a full list in the next few days

The Deal Hop Farm has also been featured on ITV Meridian News, BBC Radio4 Farming Today as well BBC Radio Kent.

50 of the Deal Hopnista's had a tasting of the beer last Thursday at the Lighthouse and went down very well!

Guardians of the Deep - Introduction training 19th Oct 6pm

Our next introductory training to becoming a Guardian of the Deep  is on Thursday 19th October at 6pm Landmark Centre 129 High St Deal.

The project which is run by the Kent Wildlife Trust is aimed at getting people to become stewards for our Kentish coastline and wildlife.

Deal With It is acting as a hub group for the project for the Deal & Walmer Beaches

Next Walmer Beach Clean - Saturday 14th October 10am

Deal Station Meadow tidy up 9th Oct

Thank you to our six volunteers today - Tricia, Mary, Cliff, Adrian, Sue, Jane & Steve - to gave the meadow area a bit of TLC - removing some the dock and good tidy up and with two bags of litter picked up.

1st time using a Victorian scythe on the meadow - very good and have the blisters to prove it :)

#GreatBritishBeach Clean - Deal Beach Sunday 17th September 2017

We had an excellent response to this year's #GreatBritishBeachClean here in Deal with at least 70 people volunteering for todays Clean at Deal Pier.

We collected 41kgs of rubbish which was logged as part of the national survey of  rubbish on our beaches organised by the Marine Conservation Society

This year there were over 13 cleans around the Kent Coast including those at St Margarets Bay and Shakespeake Beach in Dover

The next Deal With It Beach Clean is on Saturday 14th October meeting at 10am at the Sea Café on Walmer Green

Deal Hop Farm - The Harvest is In

We had an absolutely marvellous result on our first harvest day. 

Thanks your amazing work we harvested 75kgs of hops from 95 sites (one more today!)

This is three times our top end expectations!

The activity in and around the town can only be described as frenetic and we engaged so many others - we had some sites with 10-15 people getting in the harvest with neighbours, children, grandchildren and in many case passers by press into action.

Our guestimate is that we had about 250-400 involved on the harvest or at the Landmark on Thursday.

My favourite image of the day was of our Pre-School site bringing in their crop from the school allotment. The kids were only a little bigger than the basket!

Some photos from the day here

The Landmark Garden, especially between about 4:30 to 6:30, was manic and had that heady hoppy aroma - we had music, pickers, a Hop town crier and a fantastic team managing the process, weighing and looking after our precious crop. And it did not stop really until about 8pm and we final delivered everything to Ripple Steam Brewery at 9pm

The brewers are blown away with the quantity and quality of the harvest. Photos here and videos on Facebook

I am happy to report that our first run of  Hopping M.A.D (Made Around Deal) is in the fermentation tanks ready to be transferred to cask on Tuesday. The Aroma in the brewery is amazing. The beer looks, smells and tastes amazing - David is a happy brewer. He used about 25kgs on Friday

As we have more hops than we expected what do with the rest? We have taken advice from some local Professional hop farmers how to manage the hops. The plan is to do a second brew on Tuesday but this is contingent on the condition of the drying hops by Monday evening. We are hop sitting over the weekend. So keep your fingers crossed. The final decision is with the brewers. I will let everyone know what is happening on Tuesday morning.

I know a few of you may be feeling not as elated as the rest of us - people away, hops late or not at all.

But you are part of what we have achieved.

Our 'Crop' is not just hops or even beer but learning, friendships, fun and a community that can do anything #Deal@ItsBest

#GreatBritishBeach Cleans 15-24th September

We have our Deal Beach Clean on Sunday 17th September starting at 9:30am. This is part of the Marine Conservation Society's #GreatBritishBeachClean - a national survey of the impact of rubbish on our coastline and wildlife.

Our clean is one of 13 cleans around the Kent Coast - so if you miss ours please consider joining one of the others:


Other Local Cleans are at St Margaret’s Bay 16th Sept at 11am organised by the Bay Trust, Dover Shakespeare Beach 10am on the 17th Sept organised by White Cliffs Countryside Partnership plus Kingsdown Beach on Sunday 24th at 10am organised by Kingsdown & Ringwould Parish Council.

Full details at the MCS site http://www.mcsuk.org/beachwatch/events/gbbc?postcode=&postcode_distance=10&county=Kent&beach=

Deal Hop Farm - Harvest Date Thursday 14th Sept

Deal Hop Farm has its first harvest next Thursday 14th September. 

The next day Ripple Steam Brewery will be using the hops in to brew a Green Hop Beer.

The project, launched in the town in January, has grown to a patchwork farm of 130 sites in peoples’ gardens, allotments, community gardens and spaces, including English Heritage’s kitchen garden at Walmer Castle.

In a little over nine months the group has become one of the largest community growing projects in the country with nearly 200 people involved

Steve Wakeford, of the Deal Hop Farm said “The project has gone brilliantly and thanks to our enthusiastic ‘hoppers’ we are well placed for an excellent first year’s crop.

The harvest is going to be great fun as well as quite challenging; as we are attempting to harvest on one day across all our sites.

The idea is to pick our hops on Thursday 14th from 3pm and have then available for brewing very early on Friday 15th by our partners at the Ripple Steam Brewery.

The Landmark Garden on Deal high street will be our main base for people to drop off their picked hops for weighing.

We will also have hop pickers in the garden picking hops off bines where people are away.

Volunteers hop pickers are welcome - long sleeves advised but cockney rhyming slang is not mandatory.

As we don’t have an Oast House, just yet; Our hops will not be dried but used as ‘Green Hops’ to give a massive flavour burst to our beer – named by members as ‘Hopping M.A.D {Made Around Deal} which will be available in the town from the end of October.”

Next Deal Beach Clean is 17th September

Our next Deal Beach Clean is part of the Marine Conservation Society's 'Great British Beach Clean' - a national survey of rubbish on our beaches

meet at Deal Pier at 9:30am - we supply all equipment but please bring something to drink and sun protection.

The beach clean will last for about 1-1:30hrs

Bee Fest in Deal

We had a very successful Seedy Saturday today at our Bee Fest in the Landmark Garden. We think we had about 250 visitors today.

Thank you to Dover Keepers, Landmark Uke Club for playing us, everyone who donated plants and food and all our Deal With It Volunteers

All our photos can be found at here