Crinoline and top hats will be in evidence as the Broadstairs Dickens Festival returns this June, marking its 85th year.
The festival, from June 16-19, marks the town’s link to the Victorian author who first came to visit in 1837 when he was 25.
After lodging at 12, High Street, where he worked on ‘Pickwick’, he took a house, which is now part of The Royal Albion Hotel, where he finished ‘Nicholas Nickleby’.
He also stayed at Lawn House, which is now Archway House, where he wrote part of Barnaby Rudge and finally at Fort House where he spent the majority of his holidays in Broadstairs and wrote part of ‘American Notes’, ‘David Copperfield’ and ‘The Haunted Man’.
It was at Fort House, now Bleak House, on his last long holiday in Broadstairs that he wrote ‘Our English Watering Place’ published in August 1852 and standing as a permanent reminder of his affection for the town.
In 1937, to commemorate the centenary of the author’s first visit, Gladys Waterer, the then resident of Dickens House, conceived the idea of putting on a production of David Copperfield and of having people about the town in Victorian dress to publicise it and the festival was born.
The Broadstairs Dickens Fellowship was formed the same year and today members meet in Broadstairs on the first Wednesday of each month.
Expect cricket, gin tasting, the festival play, talks, a Victorian Summer fair and music, the Grand Parade and more.
Find more details at https://www.broadstairsdickensfestival.co.uk/
Programme
THURSDAY, 16TH JUNE
7pm The Personal History of David Copperfield, at the Palace Cinema, Harbour Street
7.30pm Festival Play – A Tale of Two Cities at Sarah Thorne Theatre
FRIDAY, 17TH JUNE
10am – 5pm Victorian Summer Fair on Victoria Gardens
10am – 2pm Musical Entertainment at the Bandstand with local schools
10.45am Take coffee with costumed Dickensians at Artfuls, John Street
11am Barry Wootton and friends exhibition at Holy Trinity Church
Noon Dickensian Mini Golf at Lillyputt £4 in Dickensian costume Otherwise: £6
1.30pm Gin Tasting on Victoria Gardens, hosted by Artfuls
2.30pm Dickensian Beach Party and Picnic on Viking Bay
5pm Dickens the Celebrity: and how Broadstairs Helped (a bit) Lecture by Terry Prue from the Ramsgate Society at York Street Methodist Church Hall Tickets: £8 In advance or £10 on the door (cash)
7pm Dickens Declaimers at Dickens House Museum
7.30pm Festival Play – A Tale of Two Cities at Sarah Thorne Theatre
SATURDAY, 18TH JUNE
10am – 5pm Victorian Summer Fair on Victoria Gardens Meet the Victorian Street Musicians
10.45am Take coffee with costumed Dickensians at the Counting House, High Street
11am Barry Wootton and friends exhibition at Holy Trinity Church
11.30am Dickensians assemble at Pierremont War Memorial
Noon The Grand Parade from the War Memorial to Victoria Gardens
3pm Festival Play – A Tale of Two Cities at Sarah Thorne Theatre
5pm “Pursuing Mr Pickwick: in search of real Pickwickians”. The lecture will be presented by Dr. Cindy Sughrue OBE, Director of the Charles Dickens Museum in London York Street Methodist Church Hall Tickets: £8 In advance or £10 on the door (cash)
7pm Dickens Declaimers at Dickens House Museum
7.30pm Festival Play – A Tale of Two Cities at Sarah Thorne Theatre
SUNDAY, 19TH JUNE
10am – 5pm Victorian Summer Fair on Victoria Gardens Punch and Judy – performances during the day
10.45am Take coffee with costumed Dickensians at the Bandstand
11am Barry Wootton and friends exhibition at Holy Trinity Church
11.30am Open-air Church Service at Preachers Knoll
1.30pm Victorian Village Cricket Match on Victoria Gardens
2.30pm Concert by BAE Systems Brass Band on the Bandstand
5pm The Heritage of Gilbert and Sullivan A lecture by Bernard Lockett York Street Methodist Church Hall Tickets: £8 in advance, £10 on the door (cash)
6pm Songs of Praise at Holy Trinity Church
7pm Dickens Declaimers at Dickens House Museum
7.30 pm Festival Play – A Tale of Two Cities at Sarah Thorne Theatre
odd bods reunion
Totally agree real world..
And another thing I bet like all these events it’s TOP DOLLAR for all the drinks and food.. not the same price as dickens time …. Will be a weekend of ripping the general public off and fleecing the pockets of hard hit people .. I can’t afford to go and you lot should boycott it out of principle….
This is what the Event Programme says
“Events
Many of our events are free – if you enjoy them – we would be grateful of a donation on the day, to keep the Festival going for years to come..”
One of the perplexing, and rather depressing, aspects of comments on IoTN is the frequency with with which some contributors post utter drivel. It takes only a few mouse clicks to look up information on the internet; information that completely pulls the rug from under the feet of those who make the more asinine comments.
Frank is a miserable soul