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29/09/2026

Shirley Goodhew BEM

4th May 1932 - 27th August 2026

We have to report with great sadness that Shirley Goodhew passed away on 27th August 2026 following an extended illness, cared for by her husband Brian.

The funeral took place on Tuesday 29th September 2026 in the Nave of Rochester Cathedral. Many who had known and loved Shirley joined the family at 11 AM to celebrate her remarkable life.

After a private burial the family were joined by Shirley's friends in The Commissioners House in The Historic Dockyard at Chatham for a wake to celebrate her life and honour the extraordinary contribution she made to the lives of so many people and communities.

Where have we been?

We have to apologise for the long absence of news on our news page. This was initially caused when we had to accept a major update to the operating system driving this website. Adapting to new software was a long painful business, and then other commitments pushed this site and especially the news page to the back. Please read on.

The date for the summer Dickens Festival has been and gone, although some brave souls refused to take the hint, but there is some good news for Christmas 2026!

The rumours have been confirmed and we now have an official announcement from 'Visit Medway' that there WILL be a Victorian Christmas weekend at the traditional time.

Our good friend Sue will be running the Mistletoe Costumed Ball as the curtain raiser on the Friday evening. As always all the information you will need is on it -
Rochester Dickensian Mistletoe Ball 2026

We also have the poster for the Costume sale -
The Costume Sale poster
(As we go to press there are still a few selling table places available)

Over the 2025-26 Christmas Holiday two of the greatest supporters of the Festivals over many years sadly passed away.

The tributes to Archie Johnstone and David Hawes are on our 'sadly missed' page

Dickensian Christmas 2025

The Dickens Festival took place on December 6th and 7th 2025 on its traditional weekend. It was quite well attended although the late appearance of dates and times on an official Dickensian Christmas festival web page caused some concern for those who were travelling long distances..

In past years our reporters would have posted pictures to our photo gallery, but  we are in the age of Facebook albums now. If you search for Facebook pages with a connection to Rochester Dickensian you will find plenty of pictures and videos! You will have to be registered with FB to see them. Here is a good set to kick off with -

A nice FB photo album from Gary Shore on our Facebook page

You might like to have a look at what you missed. The 2025 Council page for the festival has come down as we write, but the Dickensian Christmas page is still there -
Click here for the official links to Medway Christmas events 2025

The Mistletoe Costumed Ball was the festival curtain-raiser in the magnificent Rochester Corn Exchange on Friday 5th December 2025. As usual Sue  produced a poster carrying everything you would have needed to know, and it is still available here as an image you can print or share -  As soon as we have information for Christmas 2026 we will share it on this page.

As we all get back to life in the British winter climate the pictures of the Mistletoe Ball are starting to come in, and they are available in their own page in our gallery.

PAST NEWS 2024

The festivals have been so disrupted over the last year or so that we are leaving some of last year's news here for a bit longer than usual, but it is scheduled to move to our news archive around Christmas

'The Rochester Dickensian Christmas Festival was scheduled to take place on the weekend of 7th and 8th December 2024. To complete the misery of the summer festival cancellation the Christmas event had to be cancelled at short notice because of dangerously high winds during Storm Darragh. Ironically the Mistletoe Costumed Ball was able to take place as normal on Friday 6th December 2024. Sue reported that numbers were a trifle down but everyone present enjoyed the event!

'You can see pictures of the festivals from the last twenty years in our photo gallery showing what the festivals were like in their heyday. Our videos page needs updating but you can see an assortment of videos from back in the day.

'The Medway Visitor Information Centre was always the place to find out about all the festivals but it is no more.

'You can search the 'Visit Medway' Events search page but all it returns is a sad face!'

Our report on the Dickensian Christmas Festival  2023 can be found in our news archive page, along with reports on the sad state of our once proud Dickens Festivals

Official and unofficial dates for Dickens events in 2026
(and other events of interest)

Please check on the organisers' official websites by clicking on the links

The Dickens Costume Sale
The Dickens Costume Sale is a one day event which takes place in the Princes Room of the Corn Exchange in about November each year, offering an assortment of Dickensian and Victorian costumes and accessories often at very low prices.

The Mistletoe Ball

By tradition The Ball takes place in the Queens Hall of on the Friday preceding the Dickensian Christmas Festival.

The 2026 Rochester Dickensian Christmas Festival

for many years there was also a summer festival which made more of the connection between Charles Dickens and Rochester but due to financial problems that has ceased, although there are many who miss it deeply.

Please check on the organisers' official websites by clicking on the links

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 events page for most of the country.