A Dickens Festival is held annually in Rochester and this year took place from the 8th to the10th June. Incidentally 2012 marks the 200th anniversary of Dickens' birth and the 9th June was the 142nd anniversary of his death.
The highlight of the Festival each year are the parades where participants dressed as characters from Dickens' famous novels are lead through the streets of Rochester by marching bands and strolling musicians up to Rochester Castle grounds. A traditional funfair is also held on the Castle grounds over the weekend.
Here are a few pictures to give you a flavour...
HRH Queen Victoria
Fagin
Scrooge - Bah Humbug!
Miss Havisham
The Council laid on a free park and ride bus service from Chatham Historic Dockyard to Rochester so we did not have to worry about finding a parking space (which can be a problem even on a normal weekend.).
The event was very well attended and there were tourists there from all over Europe, Japan and the USA as well as the locals.
All in all it was a good (and inexpensive) day out which I would recommend to everyone
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I wish I had been there during the festival week. Not to see the parade and the costumes, particularly, but to visits the houses, pubs, gardens, libraries etc associated with Dickens. What a great time for everybody!
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