Saturday 26th September saw the launch at the Tower of a new book: "FROM THE RINK TO THE REGENT", about the formerly magnificent Victorian building next door to the Tower. The authors have kindly offered 50% of the profits from their book to Deal Museum Trust to help with costs of upkeep; copies are available from the Tower.
The mast replacement will be a significant cost which we will share with DDC. As yet we do not know how much it will cost but we believe it will be considerably in excess of £10,000.
Should you wish to make a donation please send it by post to The Treasurer, Deal Museum Trust, Timeball Tower, Victoria Parade DEAL CT14 7BP. Cheques should be payable to Deal Museum Trust. If you are a UK tax payer, it would be very helpful if you would sign our form for Gift Aid - which enhances your donation by 25% - and include it with your donation cheque. The Gift Aid form can be accessed here. Should you have difficulty downloading the form please use the Contact Us link to ask for a form and we will e-mail one to you.
The Trustees and Volunteers of Deal Museum Trust would like to pay tribute to all the local people and visitors from further afield who have supported us through our curtailed season. Despite Covid we managed to open for most of August and September, but the Tower is now closed until next Easter (pandemic permitting). We plan to re-open on Good Friday 2 April 2021.
We didn't anticipate that the Tower's Bicentenary Year would be marked in quite this fashion, but the building has undoubtedly seen worse than Covid in its time from 1820 and it’s still standing, so we’re still dedicated to keeping it open.
We've had many expressions of interest in the state of the mast, which is corroded to the point where we daren't operate the Timeball system for fear of an unwanted form of 'Ball Drop'. We are hopeful that the mast will be replaced over the winter. Therefore, it is very unlikely that the New Year’s Eve drop will take place for both repair and social distancing reasons.
The Tower should be repainted next Spring as arranged by our landlords Dover District Council (DDC), whose officials are on the case for both the mast repair and the repaint.
We've also received many generous donations of cash, some of which have been made by local people almost anonymously - thanks very much!