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Christmas, Charles Dickens and Rochester: Three things that will be forever linked thanks to Dickens father being posted to Chatham Dockyard in 1817.
It was that Christmas that a five year old Charles Dickens experienced his first Christmas in a, then, city with a ... Cathedral. A Georgian Christmas was a sparkly event, and then - as now - the festive yuletide was taken very seriously in the place the young Dickens fell in love with.
Twenty Six years later, with his publishers threatening to cut his monthly advance and Dickens feeling that Victorian society had lost touch with the true meaning of what should be the most wonderful time of the year, he sat and wrote - in just SIX WEEKS - the book that changed EVERYTHING! In a small book of less than 30,000 words he literally changed our attitudes towards how we treat other less fortunate than ourselves, and set the template for how we should celebrate the season of 'Goodwill to all'.
Join me, Shane Waterman, as I take you around Rochester and tell the stories behind the many links between 'The man who re-invented Christmas', and the historic former City centre you see today.
Some of those links are hiding in plain sight, some will astonish you... and a little fact about a 'certain Christmas movie' will have the kids mouths wide open.... and Granny punching the air and yelling 'YES!!!!!'
This tour last about two hours and the content is suitable for all ages.