 |
|
News and
22/11/2023 |
The official Dickensian Christmas Festival brochure is available online!
Unfortunately there are two versions circulating online, so the best course will be to visit the official Visit Medway festival web page and scroll down for the link to the brochure. It includes park and ride information as well as a detailed list of the attractions. Bear in mind it is an 8Mb download and formatted for print. It will also be available in printed form from local outlets.
Don't forget the Mistletoe Costumed ball! The 'curtain raiser' for the festival is on Friday December 1st 2023 - a great opportunity for a night out, meeting old friends, making new friends!
If you want to buy a costume or accessories at the Dickens Festival Costume sale, you have missed it! We will let you know when the next sale day is announced. 'A one day pop-up sale of Dickensian and Victorian costumes and accessories for the discerning lady and Gentleman'
The story of the Christmas lightsIn October 2023 there was a flurry of news about the Rochester Christmas street lights - it was eventually resolved in that there WILL be christmas lights this and future years, but it is fair to say that this wasn't Rochester's finest hour. Here is our report at the time - (news 18 October) At the weekend we heard that there was a community site on Crowdfunding calling for donations to put the Christmas lighting on a proper footing. This was being run by Rochester City Centre Forum who were appealing to the community for donations.. The first target of £12,500 was reached almost in front of our eyes. Now we hear that the lights are being generously funded by three large companies. What happened to the community donations? The crowdfunding page is apparently still up and running The best information we can find is on the BBC News website
Rochester Dickensian Christmas Festival 2023
The festival runs from December 2nd 2023 to December 3rd 2023. Limited information is on the Visit Medway website So far the schedule is only showing the Seven poor travellers procession and the two main parades. Any extra news we can unearth will be here, for official news scroll down or click here
The costume sale is on 18 November 2023 10AM - 3PM. The venue is the Princes room of the Corn Exchange. This is best entered from the High Street - 'under the clock'. For official news scroll down or click here Sue has announced the Mistletoe Costumed Ball for December 1st 2023 as a curtain raiser for the Dickensian Christmas Festival the next day. All you need to know is on her poster -
The Rochester Dickens summer Due to illness we weren't able to be at the summer event this year, so our report is written largely from reports in person and on the social networks. The run-up to this year's Dickens Festival was marked by the complete lack of any official announcement from the events team, despite widespread rumours that it would go ahead, but not on the usual weekend. Eventually we were told by the Visitor Centre that this year's Festival wasn't cancelled because it had never been announced! We later heard that supporters we know and respect were doing their best to run a Dickens weekend as the last weekend of a week long literary festival, but the term 'festival' was indeed not to be used. The days following the event were marked by a range of online comments ranging from a few in defence to outright anger at what had transpired. The only entertainment we have so far seen was a 'punch and Judy show' - in the past this has been popular as something for the children during a break in the main the main entertainment promoting the town's and perhaps the country's greatest writer. One worthy exception to the lack of anything Dickensian was the re-enactment of the the cricket match from The Pickwick Papers. One point to note is that the Dickens 'characters' who make up a large part of the parades (in the heyday of the festivals there were six parades over three days, this year there was one) are enthusiasts who come from all parts of the country to entertain the public in the parades and around the town. They are not paid in any way but in the past were allocated a 'green room' and a cup of tea while they
changed costumes. The confusion over dates and the ensuing clashes with other events around the country didn't help. The entertainers are professionals.
Sue wasn't dissuaded from running the Dickens costumed ball on Friday June 9th. The theme of the ball was 'Mr Pickwick's Picnic' and to keep the price under control in the current financial climate the guests were invited to bring their own Dickensian meal. Although we weren't there to take photos we are delighted that we have been offered two albums of the evening and they are in our picture gallery now. One is by Katie from the Great Kentspectations group with a steampunk perspective and the other, from Poppy French, consists of pictures of the evening and also guests arriving at the Corn Exchange in all their Dickensian finery. You can also get an idea of the festivals over the last fifteen years by visiting our picture gallery
We have passed the reins of our Rochester Dickens Supporters page on Facebook over to 'Young Victoria' to rejuvenate the page. Anyone who takes part in the festivals, or wants to actively help them, is invited to join our Rochester Dickens Insiders page. This is visible to anyone with a Facebook logon.
Regular visitors to the festivals will know that Ashley Davis, one of the central figures in the festivals for many years and a dear friend of this website, 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 have added a short tribute to Ashley on our 'sadly missed' page.
Our report on the Dickensian Christmas Festival December 3rd and 4th 2022 can be found in our news archive page
Dates for Dickens events in 2023
|
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. 
