ROCHESTER DICKENS FESTIVAL

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24.1.2012

Updated information about the Bicentenary celebrations  

According to its website the Dickens Museum has chosen to close for refurbishment from April. There have been some unfavourable comments on their choice of Bicentenary year!
Check their website for the latest situation.

We are sad to report that Brenda Gilliam-Hill , who was 'Miss Havisham' for many years, passed away on December 7th. We have set up a page in her honour.

If you enjoyed 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood' on BBC2 over two nights, January 10 and 11, you probably enjoyed seeing Rochester and especially the Cathedral in a starring role. Dickens was working on the story in the Swiss Chalet, but died before completing it.

Our report on the 2011 Dickensian Christmas Festival can now be found on our News Archive page,along with other events,

Coming Events for the Dickens Bicentenary

All information is given in good faith - please check with the organisers

6-11 February 2012
Rochester Bicentenary Celebration
The Rochester Dickens Festival is running a week long celebration in honour of the 200th anniversary of Dickens' birth.

Download a schedule   of all their activities to print. (the finished 'flier' received 13.1.2012)
More information on the Dickens Fellowship website
Or on the Medway Council website

11 Feb 2012at 7:30
Mr. Fezziwigs Ball at Dickens World, Chatham
The final event of the Bicentenary celebrations
Tickets from the Dickens World box office tel:01634 890421

Coming Events later in 2012

This is preliminary information - please check on the organisers' websites

20th to 28th April 2012
 David Copperfield at the Playhouse Theatre in Whitstable High Street

Tickets available from October

'David Copperfield' by Matthew Francis based upon the famous Charles Dickens play will be staged April 2012, and will be entered in the Kent Full Length Play Festival.

'We expect added interest due to the international celebrations of Dickens (also The Playhouse 30th Anniversary), and therefore we will be putting tickets on sale in October. Unusually for a play we will also be putting on three additional performances including a matinee, and will start the evening performances at 7.30pm. The dates are; Friday 20th, Saturday 21st  (matinee at 2.30pm), and then 24th to 28th April.'

8-10 June 2012
Rochester Dickens Summer Festival
Medway Council has announced the dates for the Summer Festival, reflecting the fact that the Bank Holiday for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee will be on Tuesday 5 June, and the late May bank Holiday will be moved to Monday 4 June.

9-17 June 2012
Ilfracombe Victorian Celebration
(a the time of writing these dates are not yet confirmed on their website)

16-22 June
2012 Broadstairs Dickens Festival

4th-5th August 2012
Victorian Weekend on the Isle of Wight Steam Railway

18th - 26th August 2012
Llandrindod Wells Victorian Festival

1-2 Dec 2012
Rochester Dickensian Christmas Festival

Let us know if you want to see your event here!

News of similar events round the country will be posted here as they become available. The 'Victorian Strollers' website has an excellent events page.