General interest

After more than two years, Gad’s Hill place re-opened for visitors on Sunday 9^th October. All the tours were sold out. Chairman of the Rochester & Chatham Branch, Nick Baines, member Claire Hitchcock, Honorary Secretary Steve Martin, and former branch Treasurer Peter Fairbrace, were at Gad's Hill School on 8^th October for their open day. Claire has recently taken over from Jennifer Ide as tour organiser of Gad's Hill Place. Jennifer, as most will know, has done a sterling job as tour guide organiser for many years. Marion Dickens was in attendance also supporting the event.

Claire is actively looking to recruit volunteer helpers and trainee tour guides for Gad's Hill Place. Any volunteers to join the team should contact Steve on 01474 560250. 

Photo courtesy of Claire Hitchcock.

The Friends of Kensal Green Cemetery are conducting a Dickens themed guided tour on Saturday 8^th October starting at 10.30 am. The cost will be £12 per head. 
Many of us step in the world of Victorian England through the books of the period’s most famous writers. Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray, Wilkie Collins and Anthony Trollope gave us timeless classics still popular today. Alongside literary luminaries there were many others who may not be so widely known nowadays, but were household names at the time, such as William Harrison Ainsworth and Thomas Mayne Reid.
They lived and worked at the time when Kensal Green became the country’s most prestigious cemetery, and they, along with their friends, rivals, colleagues and associates came to rest here (Charles Dickens wished to be buried in Kensal Green but was buried at Westminster Abbey instead). As we walk among the splendour of Kensal Green's early Victorian funerary architecture, we’ll learn about these writers' lives and times, their friendships and rivalries, and will come closer to the England of 150 years ago.

 To book: https://www.kensalgreen.co.uk/booking.php