The Belgian Club

Citizens Hall

W. H. Redsull – Mayor 1915-1918
Courtesy of Deal Town Hall

The Patriots League also had a hand in establishing The Belgian Club. They approached Mr. Chitty, owner of Citizens Hall, to see if it could be used by the Belgians to meet and feel more at home amongst themselves rather than in strangers homes or cafes.This was to become a much-appreciated club and library from which they continued to arrange their own fetes and concerts in aid of those Belgians in need. The club was opened by Mayor Redsull who remained as Mayor throughout the rest of the war.

Education

As not many Belgian adults could speak English lessons were provided by those locals who could speak French. Likewise, there were offers from Belgians themselves to teach French. Oddly in the local sources, there is only French and not Flemish mentioned. Flemish being the language of north Belgium which is where most of our refugees came from.

Most of the Belgian refugees in Deal & Walmer came from these areas– Ostend (Osstende), Bruge, Antwerp, Alost (Aalst), Brussels and Ghent (Gent)

However, French was the language of the government and legal system and as the majority of the refugees staying here were of those professional classes, most would have been bilingual.

St. Ethelburga’s Convent

The children also needed to continue their own education and about 50 were received at the St. Ethelburga’s Convent. Here they were taught in a similar way as they had been in Belgium. Some of the more-able English speaking boys were admitted to a school in Deal.

Air Raids on Deal

WW1 saw the beginnings of air warfare which brought Zeppelin raids as well as those by aeroplane. The Deal area suffered 37 raids throughout the war. One newspaper report described how in the early hours of 17 May 1915 a Zeppelin passed over Deal and Walmer. The first the town knew of this was when there were some loud explosions that shook the windows in an ‘alarming manner’. People hastily dressed and rushed to the seafront where they saw ‘the huge monster pass over the town” and nothing was heard again until bombs were dropped on grazing land at Oxney.

Zeppelin bombing Antwerp in 1914,
after a painting from
Themistokles von Eckenbrecher (1842-1921).