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News and
06.06.2022 |
Dickens Festival June 4th and 5th 2022
We were told that this year because of the Queens Platinum Jubilee the Dickens Festival would be a little different, and that was certainly true! The festival took place on its traditional weekend, but as part of the Jubilee celebrations. The curtain raiser for the festival was, as usual, the Dickens Ball on the Friday. This year we were honoured by the presence of the young Queen Victoria, resplendant in her Coronation Robes, accompanied by the young Prince Albert and supported by our own Rochester Town Crier. Her Majesty generously welcomed her subjects as they arrived. The evening's entertainment was preceded by a one minute silence in honour of Ashley Davis. Ashley and his sister Shirley ran the ball from its inception for over twenty years and Ashley sadly passed away two weeks before the festival. Numbers were a little down, but Sue and her team adopted a new layout in the Queens Hall which suited the occasion well. It was notable that the smaller dance floor was well used through the evening. Our undercover reporter attended on the first day proper of the festival; the weather wasn't kind to Rochester but we hear that other parts of the country were worse off, and we soldiered on in the best British tradition. This year there was only one grand parade each day, at lunch time. We reckoned that the number of Dickensian characters was larger than it has been on recent occasions and the crowd enjoyed the spectacle. Crowd numbers were down, but still impressive considering the weather and the number of alternative events. Hopefully the festival will be back at full strength next year. Gerald Dickens, great-great grandson of the great man, isn't always available for the festival because his performances are in demand around the world, but his performances are always well supported, especially when he is in the magnificent Guildhall. This year he was sharing a yellow tent, (apparently known as 'The Raven Stage)' with a double bass and some microphones. We only just managed to get inside the entrance, but even with the tent roof hitting us on the back of the neck we enjoyed his piece. Gerald has made over the 7th June edition of his blog 'on the road' to an extended report of his experience and it is well worth a read. Kentonline has some nice pictures We are currently putting together an album of our pictures at the ball and the festival. If you would like to share your pictures you can do this on Facebook or by contacting us
We are very sad to report that Ashley Davis passed away on May 16th 2022. Ashley was a great character and one of the most important figures in the Dickens Festivals from the very beginning, but had to step down in recent years because of ill health.
We are pleased to announce that the Corn Exchange is booked for the Mistletoe Ball on Friday December 2nd! We expect that the times and booking details will be similar to the summer ball, but we will confirm here. There is further general information about the ball on our Festival Highlights page. If you aren't on our email list for information about the ball you can join, either through our contact page or by registering on our new registration page .
News about the 2021 Dickensian Christmas festival has moved to our news archive page
Dates for Dickens events in 2022
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The Rochester and Chatham Dickens Fellowship normally holds regular meetings on the 3rd Thursday of the month in Gads Hill School in Higham. Currently the group is getting back to a more normal schedule. 