Rochester Dickens Festival 2012
Posted: 2012-05-18
2012 is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens, one of the most popular and influential of English novelists. Dickens lived and wrote in Rochester, Kent for two decades, and the Rochester Dickens Festival celebrates the association of the writer with the Medway region.
The Bicentenary Dickens Festival runs from Friday, 8 - Sunday, 10 June 2012, and is full of Victorian themed events. Over the extended weekend are costumed parades, public readings, a Victorian fair, craft fair, and street performances.
Full information on the Dickens Festival can be found online at www.medway.gov.uk/ or by telephoning the Medway Information Centre on 01634 338141. Email: visitor.centre@medway.gov.uk, or write to: Medway Visitor Information Centre, 95 High Street, Rochester, Kent ME1 1LX.
Day by Day Event Overview
Friday - especially focussed on events for children, with an evening circus show.
Saturday - A Grand Pageant Day, focussed on Dickens' most popular novels and celebrated characters.
Sunday - The highlight is a Grand Parade.
I was about to post this article when I thought to myself, 'Hang on, this is Dickens's bicentenary, there must be more events planned.'. Wow, I was certainly right. There is a special Dickens website at www.dickens2012.org with a huge list of events planned to celebrate 200 years since the author's birth.
A full list of events has been published by the Dickens Museum in London and can be found at www.dickens2012.org/. Among the notable Dickens events planned are The Dickens Pickwick Club gathering in London to mark the 175th anniversary of the publication of The Pickwick Papers and a Dickens and London exhibition at the Museum of London. There are special tours of London locations associated with Dickens every Sunday throughout the year (see www.dickens2012.org/event/tour-dickens-london-locations-sandra-shevey). You can also explore places in south-east England associated with the novelist from southeasttourguides.co.uk/.
If you can't make it to any Dickens events this year, do take the time to read (or re-read) a classic novel or two. Dickens was a marvellous author. In my family we had a tradition of reading A Christmas Carol aloud on Christmas Eve - it beats sitting on the sofa watching old films on the television! If you are in the London area, take the time to visit the Dickens Museum on Doughty Street (www.dickensmuseum.com/). It's a wonderful look back at the life on one of Britain's great writers.
Resources:
Charles Dickens biography
The photo shows the exterior of the Dickens Museum in London
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