Nr.1 March, 2002

______London Particular

The Newsletter for the Headquarters Group of the Dickens Fellowship ______

YOUR NEW NEWSLETTER YOUR 2002 COMMITTEE here are over 670 members of the f you have not served on, or had any Headquarters Dickens Fellowship, dealings with, the Headquarters many of whom live outside , I Committee, you may wonder what it gets T and only a tenth of these members up to on your behalf. regularly attend meetings in London. This year's committee met for the first time in As a pilot project, Headquarters' Committee January and will, as usual, meet on another has decided to produce this Newsletter, so that five occasions. It is responsible not only for HQ all members have as much information as business, but serves also as the Executive possible about the Fellowship, even those Committee of the Fellowship as a whole. unable to attend meetings. The hope is that Details of its constitution and the names of its everyone will feel more included in the life of members are to be found on your membership the Fellowship. card. Although The Dickensian and Mr Dick’s Kite It is not customary for the President to become publish a great deal of information about involved in committee business and that Fellowship business, there are items of day to remains the situation, but Henry Dickens day interest which are perhaps best provided Hawksley has taken a very active role in the via a newsletter. These could be about any Fellowship since his election last year. He is a changes at HQ, such as the election of a new great great grandson of , President; what is happening at the House; descended from the major events; promotion of meetings/visits; branch of the family, and has had a and also letters or comments from members distinguished business career. far and wide. The onus for taking action lies primarily with The content and format of the newsletter may the other elected officers - Thelma Grove, change as we learn from readers what is Tony Williams, David Wells and Malcolm useful and interesting to them. It will not be Andrews. However, for many years, Peter easy to match the content to the variety of Duggan has shouldered the burden of members that make up the Headquarters organising social events, including the annual group, but we hope that even our most distant outing and the trips to Gad's Hill Evenings. He members, unable to attend London meetings, is well known to those who attend Swedenborg will find something of interest in what we offer. Hall meetings, as the provider of refreshments. Derek Mortimer, who chairs the committee this It would be nice to hear from our members. If year, set up and runs the HQ website and you would like to make a contribution to the looks after HQ membership business. next newsletter, please write to The HQ Newsletter, The Dickens Fellowship, 48 MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LX. he Committee would like to thank all those who responded so promptly to HQ Membership Distribution the delayed renewal notices. Over London: ……………………………… 25% T 200 members had re-registered by the end of January. Another 220 or so had re- SE England, outside London ……… 25% registered by the end of February. Rest of England …………………….. 25% If you have not yet renewed your membership, please do so now. Any enquiries should be Rest of UK …………………………….. 5% addressed to the membership Secretary at the Rest of the world…………………….. 20% Dickens House, or by e-mail to: [email protected].

Headquarters website: http://www.dickens.fellowship.btinternet.co.uk LONDON PROGRAMME NEWS Cedric Dickens Evenings ad’s Hill Evenings are now known as ‘Cedric Dickens Evenings’, in honour Gad’s Hill Place was the home of Charles G of the Past President who has Dickens from 1857 till his death in 1870. As a contributed so much to Fellowship life, over a boy he used to walk past the house with his period longer than most members care to father, and came to dream then that he would remember, especially in regard to Gad's Hill own it one day. It lies on the A226 at Higham, Place. If you are not familiar with these events, some 2 miles from Rochester. you will find background details in the box on Although it is now a school, it retains the right. something of the character of the time when The next Cedric Dickens Evening is on Friday, Dickens lived there. He called it his “little 22 March . There will be a talk by Keith Ferris, Kentish freehold”. The conservatory that he a retired medical consultant, about the railway added just before he died was restored to its accident at Staplehurst on 9 June, 1865, former glory in 1996, and is the setting for entitled ‘An afternoon in the life of Charles Victorian refreshments, served at the Dickens.’ beginning of a Cedric Dickens Evening, before a talk or entertainment. Do apply early if you want to secure a place in the party organised by Peter Duggan. Contact Peter Duggan arranges for a party to travel by details are given on your membership card. minibus from central London, but there is a limit on the number of places he can offer. The talk by John Bowen of the University of Keele, on Wednesday, 27 th March , would not Information and tickets can also be obtained have faced cancellation had it been confirmed direct from Gad’s Hill School, Higham, Kent that the London Underground strikes, due to ME3 7PA. Tel: 01474 822366, or e-mail: take place in March, were to go ahead as [email protected] planned. Should it be necessary to make The Gad's Hill Place restoration fund, recently changes to the London programme, details will used to restore the hall floor, is the beneficiary be given, if there is sufficient notice, in this of the Cedric Dickens Evenings. newsletter and always on the Headquarters website

______The Impact of Great Silent British Film Festival London Walks Expectations Silent film adaptations of Dickens will be Sue Gane , another member BBC Radio 4 is preparing a the centre of attention on the final day of of the HQ group, has created series of programmes on this year's Silent British Film Festival at some 'Guides to walks in books which have touched the Broadway Media Centre in Charles Dickens London'. A people's lives. One of the Nottingham, 4 th to 7 th April. Information leaflet on the guides is books they hope to include is provided by Michael Eaton , a member enclosed with this newsletter. . If you of the HQ group, is to be found on the live in the UK, a letter from a Headquarters website. For further Website: http://www.Dickens- BBC researcher, Rachel details ring 0115 952 6600 / 952 6611. and-London.com White, accompanies this Broadway Media Centre website: newsletter and she would http://www.broadway.org.uk . love to hear from you.

______THE GRAVE APPEAL As reported in the Summer and Winter issues of The Dickensian , the grave in Highgate Western Cemetery in which Dickens's wife, Catherine, and their daughter Dora Annie lie, is being restored at a cost of £2,230. Two stones added to provide family details are being removed to a new and more visible site, the original stone is being restored and the railings are being repaired. An appeal for funds has so far raised about £1000. Any enquiries or donations should be addressed to Thelma Grove, Joint Secretary, The Dickens Fellowship, 48 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LX. Cheques should be made payable to The Dickens Fellowship (Grave Appeal). John and are also buried at Highgate. The graves in the Western Cemetery can be visited only by special arrangement or in the course of a guided tour. Tours start at noon on weekdays from April. At weekends, there are tours on the hour from 11am to 4pm, most of the year. If you plan a visit, it is wise to phone Highgate Cemetery first to ascertain opening time (020 8340 1834). ______Headquarters website: http://www.dickens.fellowship.btinternet.co.uk Nr.2 June, 2002

______London Particular

The Newsletter for the Headquarters Group of the Dickens Fellowship ______

TOGETHER IN FELLOWSHIP AN OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN t the conference in July, we shall be he conference will offer the usual feast celebrating our centenary in company of knowledge and insights into the life A with fellow members from around the T and works of Dickens. For the talks, the world. Once again the draw of Dickens's life Fellowship is fortunately able to call upon a and works will bring together a great diversity good many speakers who are both authorities of people from all walks of life. If previous in their field and entertaining. conferences are anything to go by, many a Sadly, Professor Chris Brooks, who was to lasting friendship will be forged during the give a talk on the Tuesday morning of the week. conference, has died. Dr Leon Litvack, who Playing their part in the furtherance of was also to speak on Tuesday morning, has fellowship will be the walks and visits arranged had to withdraw. for the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday AN OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE ONE'S SAY afternoons. These are likely to include: onferences have an important role to Guided walks play in the running of the Fellowship.  Dickens's Southwark C The Annual General Meeting held  In the footsteps of Scrooge (City of during the conference has the ultimate London) authority in the governing of the Fellowship as  The South Bank a whole. Members have a right to attend it,  Doughty Street and beyond whether or not they take part in other events.  Covent Garden This year it will be held on Saturday morning,  Fleet Street and Temple 20 th July, at University College London.  Highgate Cemetery and Village Decisions made at the AGM can be far  (the Inns of Court) reaching. An important statement regarding an  Chelsea issue that may be addressed at this year's Visits AGM - the relationship between the Fellowship and the Dickens House Museum - is to be  The Dickens House (with an introduction to found overleaf. the new exhibition about Katey Dickens - see details overleaf) AN OPPORTUNITY TO HELP  The Museum of London good many members are already  In the Realm of White Waistcoats (St. involved in preparations for the James's) conference, but more help will be  Coram Museum A needed, especially during the event. In  Forster Collection, V & A Museum particular, we shall need volunteers to help  Great Ormond Street Hospital (includes register delegates arriving at the conference visit to the chapel and to the archives) and provide information; to act as stewards in Further details will be provided in due course the lecture room and perhaps elsewhere; and for members who have registered for the to fill liaison roles. conference. Those wishing to take part will be If you would be willing to help in any way, asked to add their names to lists displayed at please get in touch with Derek Mortimer, 8 the conference. Since there will be a limit to Bishops Walk, High Street, Rochester ME1 JF. how many people can join any particular walk Telephone: 01634 815077. E-mail: or visit, those who sign up first will inevitably [email protected]. have the best choice!

Headquarters website: http://www.dickens.fellowship.btinternet.co.uk LONDON PROGRAMME NEWS Phantom Fellowship Staff! t the next Cedric Dickens Evening at Gad's Hill Place, on Friday 21 st June , Given that the HQ of the Fellowship is at the A there will be a talk on "Shakespeare Dickens House, 48 Doughty Street, it is not and Dickens: Deep Allusion." See details surprising that some members believe that we below. have staff there. In fact, the officers and other th volunteers who carry out the business of the At the Members Evening on Monday 24 Fellowship generally work at home, visiting the June , Patrick McSweeney, a member of the House only to pick up post or to take part in HQ group, will tell us about his experience of meetings. The staff of the Museum very kindly being interviewed for a Radio 4 programme on answer basic questions about the Fellowship Great Expectations (see below). Another but can't be expected to do more than that. member, , will tell us about the new exhibition to be opened at the Dickens In the circumstances, and given that House in July (see below). One or two other volunteers often have other pressing members may also contribute and there will be commitments, it is not always possible to an opportunity for those present to express respond promptly to enquiries, but every effort their views about what the Fellowship has to is made to reduce delays to a minimum. offer its members. ______BBC Radio 4 Series Shakespeare and Dickens My Lucifer-box Deep Allusion Katey, Dickens's artistic Great Expectations will be the daughter subject of one of the programmes This will be the subject of a talk at in a series called Cover Stories the next Cedric Dickens Evening This is the title of a new exhibition on BBC Radio 4. The possibility at Gad's Hill Place on Friday, 21 st which will be opened on 22 nd July was mentioned in the last London June. Dickens's use of at the Dickens House Museum. Particular , and at least one Shakespeare has been much Dickens's fiery daughter Katey member was invited to take part. discussed but this talk will deal became a successful painter, The programmes are being with allusions which have either exhibiting at the Royal Academy. broadcast on Thursday mornings not been noticed or have not She was twice married to artists: at 11.30: been analysed. The talk will be to Charles, brother of Wilkie given by Professor Barbara Collins, and after his death to 6 June: Pride and Prejudice Hardy , who has been writing and Charles Perugini. The exhibition 13 June The Lion, the Witch and the lecturing on Dickens and will include biographical material Wardrobe Shakespeare for many years. As and a selection of her graceful 20 June Great Expectations well as many critical books she pictures. has published a memoir, a novel

27 June Wuthering Heights and a volume of poems. ______The Dickens House Museum and the Fellowship A major change has occurred in the relationship between the Fellowship and the Dickens House Museum. On the recommendation of the Charities Commission, the banking arrangements of the Trust which manages the House have been separated from those of the Fellowship. As a result, it has been established that formally the Trust owes the Fellowship £54,172. At the Council meeting on 20 th April this year, Fellowship Officers recommended, as part of a set of proposals, that the Trust should recognise the debt and accept that 'the amount owed to the Fellowship may be called on at the discretion of the Fellowship'. They made clear, however, that they did not expect the sum to be repaid immediately. Professor Michael Slater, Chairman of the Trustees, presenting an alternative set of proposals, argued that the debt would seriously jeopardise the Trust's plans for the House and its attempts to raise funding from outside bodies. He proposed at the Council meeting that 'the House's existing debt to the Fellowship be written off'. When put to the vote, the Officers' recommendations taken as a whole were rejected by 23 votes to 6 (2 abstentions). Professor Slater's were accepted by 23 votes to 3 (2 abstentions). It was therefore agreed that Professor Slater's recommendations should be circulated for discussion among members of the Fellowship prior to the Annual General Meeting at Conference on Saturday, 20 th July. ______

Headquarters website: http://www.dickens.fellowship.btinternet.co.uk Nr.3 October, 2002

______London Particular

The Newsletter for the Headquarters Group of the Dickens Fellowship ______

STRENGTHENING THE HQ TEAM o help ensure that the Fellowship continues to thrive in its second century THE NEW ARRANGEMENTS T of existence, changes are being made to strengthen our team of volunteers. Details have still to be worked out, but the tasks of the honorary secretaries are being Many of those who attended the AGM at the shared out broadly as follows: Centenary Conference will have been surprised to learn that the two volunteers who Tony and Thelma, jointly oversee the work of the Fellowship, namely  Contributing to policy-making and planning our joint honorary general secretaries, Thelma Grove and Tony Williams, were not prepared  Supporting and promoting DF activities, to stand for re-election unless arrangements through talks, readings, visits, etc were made for their workloads to be reduced.  Reporting to Council and Conference This has since been done and it was confirmed at the Council meeting on 5 th October that they Thelma, primarily would continue in office.  Dealing with branch issues The new arrangements will enable Thelma and  Preparing the agenda and supervising the Tony to concentrate on their primary tasks, but preparation of papers for Council and not necessarily reduce the amount of time they Conference meetings spend on Fellowship business. The remainder of their work and much of that currently  Providing support for the branch running undertaken by Derek Mortimer will be the Conference distributed as widely as possible among other Tony, primarily volunteers. Allan Clack, who was elected chairman of Council at the October meeting,  Organising the HQ programme will play a key role in co-ordinating support for  Serving ex officio as a trustee of the the general secretaries. Dickens House Peter Duggan will continue to arrange social  Editing and contributing to the DF section events, but would like help with the provision of of The Dickensian refreshments at meetings. John Haviland handles the printing and distribution of Alan Derek Mortimer Watts's Mr Dick's Kite .  Maintaining the HQ membership and Further help is required with: Dickensian databases  overseeing membership work  Maintaining and developing the HQ  setting up and editing the newsletter on website screen  taking minutes. Allan Clack Several members have already volunteered to  Producing and circulating papers for join the team. If you would like to help, or to be meetings, including branch mailings given further information, please contact:  Arranging for The Dickensian to be printed Doughty Volunteers, The Dickens Fellowship, and distributed 48 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LX, England

Headquarters website: http://www.dickens.fellowship.btinternet.co.uk LONDON PROGRAMME NEWS NO INCREASE IN SUBSCRIPTIONS espite the London Underground strike, hile consideration is being given to which began at 8pm on the 1 st the future structure and funding of D October, there was a reasonable W the Fellowship, subscriptions are to turnout for the AGM that evening. Business remain unchanged. Renewal notices for 2003 was concluded soon after 7pm and will be mailed in December. Do please renew arrangements for the remainder of the meeting early. were cancelled. An unwelcome piece of news was that the charge for hiring Swedenborg Hall SPECIAL CHRISTMAS EVENTS had been increased by £40 an evening. Carol Chapman, who has been extremely active in The next two talks to be given there have arranging fund-raising events to support the Dickens House, has provided the following details of activities intriguing titles: ' Mr Dickens takes a planned for the forthcoming Christmas Season. th Sabbatical' given by Jean Carroll on 6 th November, and ''Tung Chih, Dionysiac Wednesday 27 November Revels and Christmas' , given by Dr David An evening of classical music with readings of A Christmas Parker on 2 nd December. It will be worth Carol to celebrate the 1867 'Farewell to Dickens'. Special guests will be Henry Dickens Hawksley, President of the coming just to find out what they refer to. Dickens Fellowship, and Lord Lytton Cobbold. This event The last Cedric Dickens Evening this year at will take place in Lodge Room Number 1 of the th Freemasons Hall, Great Queen Street, London, at 7.30pm. Gad's Hill Place on 20 December will be a Tickets cost £18, to include a glass of wine and canapés, musical evening, led by Clare Graydon-James and may be obtained from Carol Chapman, c/o Dickens and Danny Kingshill, a singer and a pianist House, 48 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LX. who are able to generate a wonderful Help with the catering arrangements for this event would atmosphere of goodwill and fun. Arrangements be much appreciated. to attend this and for the Christmas Supper Thursday 5 th December on 7 th December are made by Peter Duggan, A Banquet with a Dickensian Menu, and entertainment whose address and telephone number are to consisting of a costumed reading of , will be found on your membership card. take place at the Woodlands Park Hotel, Cobham, Surrey, at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £45 per person. Please book NEWS FROM VERMONT directly with the hotel (tel. 01372 843993; fax 01372 842704). e were delighted to hear from one of our US members, Justine O'Keefe, a Tuesday 17 th December W teacher who lives in Waterbury, Christmas Readings from Dickens and Hans Christian Vermont. As part of an exercise with her third Andersen at the Danish Church, 4 St Katherine's Precinct, and fourth grade classes in the spring, she Regents Park, London NW1 4HH. Tickets cost £12 per person for adults, and £8 per person for those under 21 or modelled the head of Dickens, an experience over 60. Reservations should be made directly with the which delighted her, and the product of which Danish Church (tel. 0207 935 7584) and cheques made continues to delight her, as it sits on a payable to them. bookshelf at home.

______The Old Curiosity Shop London and Rochester Loving Home Sought on BBC Radio 4 Walks

Trevor Peacock, Julia McKenzie, Jean Haynes, a highly qualified "Loving home wanted for 17 Lindsey Coulson, Alex Jennings London guide and a member of the books (modern) and and Anna Massey will star in a Fellowship, conducts in costume a pamphlets (I think all copies) dramatisation of The Old "Dickens London" walk every Friday, on Dickens' life and love life. Curiosity Shop which starts on starting at 2.30pm from Temple Collected 1970s. + 25 novels the 30 th December 2002 on BBC Underground Station. She also 1890 hardback, Chapman & Radio 4. It will be broadcast in the conducts walks in Rochester and is Hall, library stamped, Woman's Hour drama slot willing to tailor her repertoire to meet imperfect. + 50 pages of my (10.45am, repeated 7.45pm) on specific needs, as she did for the Mum's non-academic weekdays, through to the 31 st Centenary Conference in July. She is research notes re Dickens' January 2003. The production associated with London Walks: love life." Ring Niki Holland on can be heard via the internet with Tel. 020 7624 3978. 01483-275799. Or e-mail: audio on demand at E-mail: [email protected] nikiholland@ www.bbc.co.uk/radio4 . Website: www.walks.com partnershipsinchange.com

______2003 Annual Conference: Dickens - An Author in an Age of Change , Bristol University, 24 th to 29 th July. See Bristol branch website at: http://www.dickens-society.org.uk/ .

Headquarters website: http://www.dickens.fellowship.btinternet.co.uk