By Andrew Sargent

The Deal Area Foodbank, which opened in 2012, supports local people from centres in Deal, Sandwich and Aylesham.

It is not too far-fetched to see it as a modern successor to the Deal Soup Kitchen which served the town for over 60 years.

The soup kitchen began in January 1852 on the initiative of the Mayor, Thomas Reaks, local clergymen and others.

It aimed to supply “good beef soup” during the winter months and, for 1d, a large chunk of bread.

Income came mainly from donations collected door-to-door. There was nothing new about ad hoc collections to fund the distribution of essentials to those in need. But this was something much more systematic and long lasting.

To claim free soup you had first to enrol at the town hall and obtain a ticket.

You and your family were then entitled to soup over the entire “season”.

In the first season there were 23 separate distributions.

Tickets were allocated by a committee. Many other soup kitchens, in contrast, allowed individual subscribers to hand out tickets as they saw fit. Indeed this is what happened as late as 1921 when a soup kitchen was opened temporarily in Walmer.

Although the intention had been to open only between January and March, when boatmen and their families usually suffered most hardship, the impact of the “continued prevalence of easterly winds” in April 1852 prompted a reopening.

How quickly Victorians could move when they put their minds to it!

On Tuesday 20 April the Mayor convened an emergency meeting.

"There was nothing new about ad hoc collections to fund the distribution of essentials to those in need - but these were more systematic and long lasting..."

The very next day 470 tickets were distributed. On Friday the kitchen was reopened, and on Sunday special collections at every church and chapel in town raised £145.

The kitchen operated from a small building erected on the south side of Brewer Street on land given by a local solicitor. Ticket holders brought their own containers to collect their soup.

In 1905, perhaps to minimise queuing in the street itself, the committee decided that the entrance should no longer be in Brewer Street but by means of a “corrugated iron corridor” through the adjacent corporation yard.

Its income boosted by special fundraising activities - in 1868, for example, a theatrical performance by sergeants of the 6th Depot Battalion raised £2.10s - the kitchen soon became a fixture in the life of the town.

Every winter a day was appointed for the allocation of the tickets at the town hall. Bills were posted and the town sergeant “cried” the news in the streets. In the first year 475 families received tickets - 1753 people in all.

The usual pattern was to open the kitchen once or twice a week between January and March. Demand fluctuated: in 1884 employment at the three canning factories was said – improbably – to have made the kitchen unnecessary.

Yet demand in 1907 was almost as high as it had been 50 years before, with 316 families (1645 people) successfully applying for tickets.

Although a small charge was soon made for each allocation of soup most of the income still came from donations. Donors had the gratification of seeing their names published in the local papers.

The 1890 list had 129 names, with donations ranging from 6d to £2.

By this time the kitchen was being run by the “Deal and Upper Deal Soup Charity”, and for many years the Rector of Deal arranged for a van to transport containers of soup to Upper Deal.

The soup itself probably resembled a beef stew. Peas (split peas?) were the main vegetable component, and the committee took a particular interest in their quality.

Pearl barley was often added. In January 1914, in what would be the very last entry in their minute book, the committee expressed concern that rice had for a time been “in vogue” as a substitute; “the Mayor promised to take expert advice upon this point”.

The soup - around 200 gallons for each distribution - was cooked in huge coppers. In February 1890 one of them burst dramatically.

“It went off like a gun”, reported the cook, “and afterwards he could see the soup dripping into the fire”.

The disgruntled gentleman then tendered his resignation, advising the committee, in a not obviously relevant parting shot, that “it wanted three strong men to do the cooking, it not being a fit place for a woman to assist”.

“Parents were loud in praise of the quality of the soup, but there was a sameness in having it every day...”

The work of the committee was suspended during the First World War.

Its services were called upon again in 1921, perhaps for the last time, to help organise lunch-time soup for school children.

The old kitchen building may have been closed by this time, for distribution now took place at the nearby St George’s parish hall (the former “Feed My Lambs” school).

“Parents were loud in praise of the quality of the soup, but there was a sameness in having it every day”.

Today the Deal Area Foodbank helps around 3000 people every year and that demand has soared since coronavirus brought financial hardship to some.

Claimants arrive with a food voucher, often feeling the whole system is against them.

Trained volunteers listen, care and give practical support.

Will the Foodbank emulate the Soup Kitchen and still exist – will it still need to exist – in 60 years’ time?

If you would like to know more about the Foodbank please see dealarea.foodbank.org.uk

Author's note: For more information about the early days of the soup kitchen see Suzanne Green and Sharon Morris’ excellent website Families & History of Deal & Walmer. Many thanks to them for two of the images shown here.

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