Community Orchard at the Captains Garden - #CrowdFundKent

Help us create an orchard for The Captain’s Garden!

We’ve launched an ambitious new project as part of our mission to bring the historic Captain’s Garden back to life – and we need your help.

The plan is to create a beautiful and diverse orchard that can be enjoyed by everyone in Deal and the surrounding area, by planting a range of 100 fruit, nut and flowering trees around the garden and lining the paths.

Apple, pear, cherry and nut trees will add to the biodiversity of the garden, as well as providing a beautiful oasis for people and wildlife alike. In particular, the blossom in springtime and the fruit in autumn will be enjoyed by everyone.

We want this to be a space that can be used by the whole community for practical activities and educational purposes, as well as for socialising and relaxing in the nature-filled surroundings. We aim to involve the local community in creation of the orchard, through volunteer tree planting days and activities to care for the trees as they grow.

We plan to start planting trees in Autumn 2021, with a series of orchard-related events held throughout the project.

How you can help

We have launched a crowd-funding campaign as part of #CrowdFundKent which is backed by KCC to raise the £6,215 needed to buy trees, compost, mulch and tools, and to train volunteers and community members to plant and nurture the new orchard.

You can contribute to the crowd-funder via Spacehive, using this link: https://www.spacehive.com/captainsgardenatdealcastle

The crowd funding runs to 1st September - its a all-or-nothing crowdfund. If we do not met our target your pledge will not be taken. If we raise more money it will go directly into planting and paths for the garden.

For more details see the Deal With It contact info@dealwithit.org.uk

Sandown Community Beach Clean 31st May 2021

Thank you to all our volunteers on todays Sandown Castle Community Beach Clean ... over 12 bags picked, a chair, assorted pipes, some bling and two squids.

Thanks to all volunteers especially Vicky, Charles, Wendy & Steve for organising

Next Clean is at Walmer Castle Beach on Sunday 6th June - part of the #GBSpringClean #PickDealClean 

please book here

https://walmercastlebeachclean6thjune2021.eventbrite.co.uk

Whitsun Captain's Garden Open Day

Thank you to everyone who came to see the captains garden today - it was great to welcome at least 205 of you back. 

Many thanks for the £155 of cash donations which will go directly into the garden.

It was a great opportunity to meet and talk to you all about our plans for community orchard in the garden
https://www.spacehive.com/captainsgardenatdealcastle

A special thank you to our great team of volunteers who made everything happen so well today Lucy, Penny, Anna, Jenny, Rafi, Eileen, Rose, Amy, Sonja and Steve.

 
Many thanks to Eilnor and her team for the pop-up cafe for our tea and cakes x

A Deal Litter Diary #23 May 2021

One of my fellow pickers at the Station/Sainsbury's is bemused to see me on hands & knees in the bushy area at the front of the supermarket. 

I assure him that where there's a hedge, there's litter, & it'll be small fragments in a state of decomposition. 

Sure enough, as I rake out the undergrowth with my gloved hands, I pull out 100s...no, more likely 1000s of tiny pieces, mainly plastic.

Do you notice this kind of fine litter when you cast your eyes downwards?

#PickDealClean

cleanupcrew@dealwithit.org.uk

The Great British Spring Clean in Deal - #GBSpringClean

 

PICK DEAL CLEAN

This is a facebook group set up by Helen Charlton of the Clean Up Crew, Linda Ford of Sandown Castle Community Garden and ourselves to link all together the individuals and groups doing litter picks in the town and work with DDC to reduce the levels of litter in the town

April has been the first month we logged our activity:

The group has virtual gathering this Sunday 16^th at 7pm – Meeting Link

The group is planning a two action days during the #GBSpringClean on 9th June and xxxx plus a final tally on the 13th June at 4:30pm on the beach opposite Deal Castle plus a number of pop-up events in the town.

COMMUNITY BEACH CLEANS

We had a good pilot beach clean in April and have two setup (you MUST book in advance) to support the Great British Spring Clean.

Bank Holiday Monday – 31^st May Sandown Castle Beach – Book here

Sunday 6^th June – Walmer Castle Beach – Book here

We hope to release dates for the rest in June

CLEAN UP CREW

The Monthly cleans at Deal Station have been going since the rule of 6 was reinstated – 1^st Thursday of every month at 2pm Plus one 2 weeks after during busy periods

Open days at the Captain's Garden start in May 2021

We have three Open days at the historic garden at Deal Castle which our volunteers are bringing back into use for the community

1) Whitsun Open Day - 30th May 2021 - 10am to 3pm

Bookings https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/captains-garden-deal-castle-whitsun-open-day-tickets-152187646347

2) National Meadows Open Day - 4th July 2021 10am to 3pm

Bookings: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/captains-garden-deal-castle-meadows-open-day-tickets-152187710539

3) Bee-Fest at the Captains Garden @ Deal Castle - Sunday 29th August 2021 10am to 2pm

With Dover Bee keepers and the Bumble Bee Conservation Trust

Find out about bee keeping and supporting bees and other pollinators in your own garden
Local Honey and Bee related products


Address:
Opposite Deal Castle
Victoria Road
Deal
CT14 7BA
History

The 1.2 acre Captain's Garden dates from 1733 and was the private walled garden of the Captain of Deal Castle, Admiral Norris. The garden developed more into a kitchen garden for the castle in 19thC and during WW2 was a Dig-for-Victory community allotment.

From about 1948 to 1979 is was a commercial market garden and then subsequently went into disuse for nearly 40yrs

In January 2018 volunteers from Deal With It (Deal's local Community Green Group), the Deal Hop Farm (a DWI Community Hop growing project in the town) in partnership with English Heritage (the custodians of the site) started to bring the site back into use, with the aspiration to turn the space into a free-to access garden for the whole community in Deal and Walmer

To follow what we do:

https://www.facebook.com/CaptainsGardenDeal

to get involved please email captainsgardendeal@gmail.com

COVID: This may change :) 

Please be prompt for your booking time and there will be no 'on-door' entrance to ensure compliance with track-and-trace (details will be kept for 21days)

To ensure you and our volunteers safety we will be controlling entrance and exit to the Garden and there will be a strict one-way system around the garden

We will have supplies of hand sanitiser which we ask all to use or alternatively bring your own

The areas near the main beds will have 2m floor marking and we ask you respect social distancing.

Please don't come if you are feeling ill

Please note: The Garden is still a Work-In-Progress many of the paths are uneven, with fox holes, nettles etc. Please take care when in the Garden.

Access is via a step down thru a small gate

Unfortunately, it may not be suitable for everyone just yet.

English Heritage has a No Dogs policy on its property

No Parking at the Captains Garden please use the Castle Car park or on street

The garden is a NON-Smoking space

Any problems with booking please email us at info@dealwithit.org.uk

Want to get involved in Tree Surveying in Deal, Walmer and Sholden ?

 Deal Town Council is working with external training provider, Treeconomics, to deliver virtual i-Tree Eco training to tree surveyors. The aims of the training are:

· To enable the tree surveyors to utilise the i-Tree Eco online software to map the current tree stock across Deal, Mongeham, Sholden & Walmer.

· Gain an understanding of what tree assets are in the area

· Enable the Parish Councils to better protect the existing trees

· Develop plans for new tree planting

· Gain an understanding and connect effectively with regional and nation tree planting initiatives by organisations such as The Woodland Trust and Kent Wildlife Trust

Treeconomics will tailor the training to meet the needs of volunteers new to tree surveying and will specifically cover data capture and data entry into the i-Tree Eco web-app.

Field data capture training sessions, will require two or three half day, directed sessions and two independent practical learning development sessions.

Treeconomics will provide an overview of the i-Tree Eco software to key partners and stakeholders of the project.

Field surveyors will follow the i-tree Eco Field Guidance to collect the following data:

a. land use descriptions and ownership;

b. Tree survey;

c. key biometric measurements required by i-Tree Eco, plus estimated life expectancy;

d. Other vegetation including shrub presence;

e. Photography – essential for Quality Assurance and reporting.

Survey data will be entered directly into the i-Tree Eco web-app, for consistency and cost-efficiency. All surveyors will be taught use of the web-app and submission process during training sessions, including pitfalls to prevent data loss.

If interested please contact Adrian as below:


Adrian Oliver

Project Officer

Deal Town Council

01304 361999

Adrian.oliver@deal.gov.uk

 

Thank to everyone for braving the cold wind on the 1st Community Beach Clean of 2021. 

We had 5 groups of 6 working on different parts of Deal and Walmer Beaches today starting at Deal Castle - Collected about 20 bags of rubbish this morning. 

Thx to organising team Vicky, Charles, Sonja, John, Lucy, Wendy & Steve. 

Our next cleans on 31/5 Sandown and 6/6 Walmer Castle are part of #GreatBritishSpringClean #GBSC #pickdealclean

Please Note: These must be booked in advance for track and trace compliance

https://sandownbeachcleanmay2021.eventbrite.co.uk

https://walmercastlebeachclean6thjune2021.eventbrite.co.uk

PICK DEAL CLEAN - Logging Form for Picks

 

PICK DEAL CLEAN has a new logging form to record all the picks people are doing.

It would be great if people could log any picks done since 1st April.

This will tie into the mapping Jamie is doing and give us some stats to use as evidence for discussions with DDC etc.

The link can be used by colleagues who are not on facebook

DOCS.GOOGLE.COM

PICK DEAL CLEAN - 2021 Litter Collection Log

Please use this form to log your individual litter picks. Community or Group picks like the Deal With It Community Beach cleans or the Scouts should only be logged by the organiser of the event. NB. No Personal Data collected.

LINK: https://forms.gle/717ZJQH7LgvVkDPd9

Deal Station Garden - Repairs, Painting and Tidy up sort of Week

The Deal Station Gardeners have been busy this week

Nick and Steve repaired one of the planters on the ramsgate side

And today Sonja, Penny, Charles, Vicky & Steve - painted them all and gave the planters a good tidy. and thx to Chris Mansfield for the Photos

The garden in the planters - which grows fruit and veg and edible flowers - has been going now for 8 years. If you would like to join in the fun please email Sonja at Station@dealwithit.org.uk

A Deal Litter Diary - #21 March 2021 #PICKDEALCLEAN

I have a keen assistant at North Deal Community Park. 

A year 4 pupil who brought her gloves with her after school because she knew her small hands could reach under the slats of the wooden wall at the adventure playground. "There's all kinds of stuff down there!" 

At least the act of stuffing it where only junior pickers can reach means it won't be carried by the wind to join the swamp of plastic waste under the perimeter hedging that needed picking

#DealLitterDiary #PICKDealClean

CleanupCrew@dealwithit.org.uk

Monster Cauliflower Glean 9th March 2021 #Gleaning

Thank you to our Deal With It volunteers - Lucy, Sally, Jill, Judy and Steve - on today's monster Cauliflower Glean.

 
With our colleagues from the Hythe Community Environment Group we collected a wopping 1.4 tons.

 
About 800kgs is going to FareShare Kent and the rest to local food charities in Deal, Dover, Thanet and Shepway.

Big thank again to our host farmers Trevor and Stephen Bradley.

Cauliflower Glean 2nd March 2021 - #WeAreGleaners #Gleaning

Our first field harvest today - some 375 kilos of Cauliflowers gleaned by our volunteers Julie, Jill, Sally, Lucy, Tim & Steve.

Many thanks to Trevor and Stephen Bradley at Boundary Road Farm for their kind donation

Cauliflowers are going to

• Deal Foodbank
• Dover Foodbank
• BECHANGE Aylesham
• Dover Pantry
• Our Kitchen Thanet
• United Families
• Deal Salvation Army
• Sandown Primary School
• Hornbeam Primary School
• Deal Aged Concern
• Talk It Out
• Felix Project (London Fareshare)

So far this year we have collected 1ton of potatoes, 100kgs of Apples and 375kilos of Cauliflowers in 9 gleans.

We will have another cauliflower glean next week - to get involved or if you are involved with a local food charity please contact us at gleaning@dealwithit.org.uk.

Deal With It is the local hub gleaning group and part of the East Kent Gleaning Network which is  supported by the food charity Feedback

A Deal Litter diary - #17 - 5th February 2021

Can I walk to my friend's house WITHOUT litter picking on the way?

Impossible!

It's a collection route I don't ever frequent so I prepare for the worst. 

Halfway to my chums, I have to halt the pick - the bag is so heavy I'm struggling to carry it. 

I am granted permission to empty & photo on my friend's driveway, then I manage to stuff the dirty, smelly mass of muck in the litter bin at the top of Middle Deal Rd. 

Experience tells me most of the load had been blown from bins, for months, & ignored. 

Why can't I turn a blind eye as easily as others apparently do?

A Deal Litter Diary #16 - 26th January 2021

Today, the coldness & rain really do force me to cling to home territory. But no matter - there's still plenty to pick!

It's Tuesday, & there is a suspicious amount of "clean" litter. Recently dropped? By whom? We're in lockdown - there's been hardly anyone around, & the weather's keeping wanderers at home too. I picked these streets no longer than a week ago.... What has happened in the meantime?

I work it out. Can you?


Helen C
#DealLitterDiary
cleanupcrew@dealwithit.org.uk

DEAL HOP FARM: 5th Season Launch in February 2021

Our colleagues in the Deal Hop Farm - Deal's Community Hop Growing Project - is launching its 5th Season at the Beginning of February

The project was started in 2017 and in 2020 had some 265 sites in and around the town (people's back gardens, allotments and community spaces) with about 400 local people involved.

Last year the group harvested an impressive 211 kilos of hops and to date its brewing partners have produced over 65k pints of 14 different beers using its hops 

To kick the season off it has two virtual meetings aimed at new members and those who want to find out a bit more.

Please register at the eventbrite sites for details of the Zoom meetings

DHF Season 5 Launch – Thursday 4^th February 2021 7pm

1DHF Season 5 Launch – Sunday 7th February 2021 3pm

 

Alternatively you can email info@dealhopfarm.org.uk for more information.

A Deal Litter Diary #15 - 17th January 2021

It's been a while since I've been up Golf Road - weeks in fact. Cold, dark, windy rainy days really aren't conducive to the picking of litter!

Experience tells me that there has been some collecting during my absence - I am not picking weeks' worth of waste. Interestingly what I do find is a lot of very light, transparent items which become camouflaged & easily missed. 

A pitfall of this pastime is that you see all. Today's collection is a mucky mass of mainly plastic mess: this photo isn't one to linger on!

Helen C

#DealLitterDiary

CleanupCrew@dealwithit.org.uk

Gleaning News 2021

 

GLEANING NEWS

The 2021 Gleaning Season has officially started – we did our first one this week under the COVID regulations – 240kilos of Potatoes collected.

We are routinely delivering to 20 different local food charity organisations and schools plus contributing to larger amounts going to Felix in London and FairShare in Kent

In 2020, we did 31 Gleans during the year and collected an amazing 10 tons of food.

Nationally ( we are part of the Feedback Gleaning Network ) the total was over 650 tons ! 

Thank you to all our volunteers for making this happen x

COVID & Volunteering

The new lockdown and advice on avoidable contact has meant we have to review our risk assessment for the gleans, especially with the more dangerous period that we are in.

Voluntary work is an exempted reason for leaving your home.

The latest advice from KCC is that all volunteers should be having regular lateral flow test for covid, at least every 14 days.

Some of us are doing these weekly because of other volunteering commitments.

Tests are quick and local at Dover Discovery Centre or Sandwich Guildhall.

You can book a test here

Each glean will have its own cap of volunteers depending on the site, parking arrangements and what the farmer wants to happen.

We will be trying to structure different ‘shifts’ between the groups.

 

GLEAN 21/1/2021

Looks like potatoes and possibly some Kale – If you can make Thursday and have a current Test please let me know

Organisational Changes

As well as being part of the national gleaning network, We work closely with our friends in Hythe (Hythe Environmental Community Group).

Our shared vision is to have independent hubs around Kent who will supply their local organisations as well as combining for larger Gleans when the opportunities arise.

As we grow and co-ordinate with other gleaning hubs, we are setting up an "East Kent Gleaning Group" with its own co-ordinator Charmaine Jacobs who will also be starting up a Folkestone Hub.

The idea of the EKGG is do more gleans on the especially on weekends and try to involve a wider range of farms in Kent

Deal With It and Hythe groups will continue to organise and coordinate weekday gleans. Both groups will maintain independent email lists but will publicise and support EKG gleans

Hopefully all of this will mean more gleans, more produce for local and regional food charities and less food waste.

We are asking all volunteers to register at East Kent Gleaning as well as ourselves- please could you go to JOIN US IN THE FIELDS

If you want to join us or are a local organisation that could do with some of our gleaned produce or a farmer who would host us please email Gleaning@DealWithIt.org.uk

Letter from Friends of Betteshanger 13th January 2021

The Friends of Betteshanger gratefully acknowledge the support of eminent academics in their fight to save the Betteshanger site from development by Quinn Estates.

Sir David Baulcombe, Royal Society Research Professor and Regius Professor of Botany at Cambridge and Michael Crawley, Emeritus Professor of Plant Ecology at Imperial College, London have both submitted objections to the planning application, to Dover District Council.

Sir David says:
"I object strongly to the proposed housing development. This rewilded site is at least of national importance and the development would be an act of ecological vandalism. The Friends of Betteshanger provide a compelling case for complete cessation of this development."

Professor Crawley say:
"The fact is that many of these older brownfield sites are much more valuable in their biodiversiy contribution than the community benefits of new housing. The benefit to the individual developer is clear. But he does not bear the costs of the loss of ecological structure and function. That biodiversity is a genuine community benefit. You must not allow this habitat destruction to go ahead."

We also applaud all the local people who have sent in objections on the grounds of the site's value for wildlife and people. It is obvious that there is a groundswell of opinion now, that during this time of ecological crisis and climate change, sites such as Betteshanger should be left intact for their biodiversity value, for the benefits, both physical and mental that they bring to people, especially at this time of Covid, and for their role in carbon sequestration.

In Dover District Council's new Draft Climate Change Strategy there is a plan for hedge and tree planting projects to improve carbon sequestration and air quality. There is a plan to maintain the existing tree stock, biodiversity and carbon capture rich areas. There is a plan to identify areas suitable for renewable energy, biodiversity and tree enhancement and rewilding. There is a plan for a sustainable pattern of development.

Given these ambitions we see the Betteshanger decision as a watershed moment.
If planning permission is granted then we shall know that the Council's new Climate Change Strategy is so much hot air. However if they refuse we shall know that they are serious in their ambition to tackle both climate change and the ecological crisis.

Best wishes
Sue Sullivan 

(Friends of Betteshanger)

A Deal Litter Diary - #14 6th Jan 2021

 

 It's a sunny afternoon. I venture down  an alley unvisited before on foot - I have, rather naughtily already been through on my bike a week or two earlier. 

What a site I have missed when I pedalled at speed to avoid being caught! But surely, my misdemeanor pales into insignificance compared with this collection, fenced off from the path? There's a primary school nearby: no doubt children use that footpath. 

What kind of message about our environment is this mind-boggling collection giving our young people?