Why I didn't go to The Dickensian Christmas

Kent is rich in historical places, people and events. Medway in particular has these nuggets of gold that make me proud of where I come from.

One of the things I love is the community spirit and the events that are held.

Regular readers of the blog know that the family and I often go to events held locally.

Charles Dickens lived locally and some sites locally were included in his books. Subsequently in the summer we have the Dickens festival and in the winter we have Dickensian Christmas market and the Dickens Christmas festival.

These events have been a staple of my life since I was a child.
Along Rochester you would have businesses, pubs and restaurants sharing in the event. There would be stalls and characters walking up and down the high street. Food and drink to suit the Victorian era and music all around us.

I loved it but so did the community. Up to 60,000 people descend into Rochester for it.

With the arrival of the boys I made sure that they too got to experience what I once did.

Every year we would attend the summer and winter festivals.

That was until this year.

Over the last 3 years the festival has changed.

There were less businesses on the high street. Only to be told that payment and over taxation from the local council was the cause.

Then the festival was rearranged.

Instead of having street acts, stalls and historical points spread around Rochester it had moved to the castle area.

Up in the castle ground they had a new marquee where craft stalls were selling homemade gifts; something, at the time, I was in support of.

However, following this the items on the stalls were at least double the normal pricing of craft stalls. After investigating it I found that the stallholders had to put their prices up due to the stall price.

The queues getting into the marquee seemed to double too.

Initially I thought this was due to popular demand but I was wrong.

The marquee and stalls around it were the only thing of community up in the grounds.

The grounds also hosted a fun fair, food and drink kiosks and live music. Expensive prices for everything.

The community spirit in someway was still there. People were still bringing their families up to go on the fun fair and people were still sitting around enjoying good food and drink but it didn’t feel the same. The historical community aspect was gone.

All remaining stall holders were now lining the streets heading to the castle.

Yet, being regular customers to these I started hearing discontent. Their stalls were being charged more than previous years. To the point that they were promoting the local farmers markets in Rochester and Chatham more than the festival!

The order of the festival changed too.

Most years they had 2 parades; one would be around lunch time and the other around 4pm.

However, this got stripped down to one parade.

I still don’t know why they did this.

This then lead to less characters coming to the festival. Our favourites to bump into and get a photo were nowhere to be seen.

These people were all volunteers. They came because they enjoyed dressing up and being part of the community. Although there were still some it wasn’t even close to half.

Last year was a massive disappointment.

It was cold, windy and a little bit wet.

With less characters than normal. There was nothing in the high street. No street performers entertaining us. Stall holders were unhappy and didn’t greet you with their normal smile.

The castle area was packed. Why wouldn’t it be?

That’s the only place to go. Queues everywhere. Those 60,000 people (even if their were a few less characters) had to still go somewhere!

The parade was missed because we didn’t make it there in time being unaware that the timings changed.

I won’t even mention what the accessibility was like for a wheelchair user.

It is for the reasons listed above that I refused to go.
Hannah, still fairly new to Medway still wanted to take her 2 down.

It was something that I hoped she would come back and tell me how wrong I was to miss out.

Yet, she didn’t stay long.

It was exactly how it had been. To the point that she said it was slightly worse.

Adults knocking children out of the way. One child was spotted lost and separated from their parents.

Regular stall holders weren’t there and the castle was just packed with people drinking, going on the fun fair or spending an hour to queue for the craft marquee.

I don’t know why so much needed to be changed.
The council clearly has upped the prices for stall holders and businesses. Organisation and layout is just designed to send people to spend money rather than be part of the community.

It is with such sadness that I feel alienated from an event that I’ve been to since I was a child.

I had hope that they would have learnt from previous years and changed things back but alas not.

If the money wheel is still turning for them then why would they?

I suppose I just hope that we haven’t totally lost a  41 year old event, that brings us together as a community, embraces our heritage and culture just so the council can fund their pockets.

Otherwise, this year won’t be the only year I don’t go to the festival.