Dickens Fellowship International Conference 2008

Outline Time-table:

Wednesday 30th July

Arrivals during the afternoon

Dinner, followed by welcome by the Lord Mayor at the Town Hall, (where Charles Dickens appeared on his 1858 reading tour) followed by a performance by Gerald Dickens.

Thursday 31st July

Lectures then, after coffee, we board buses to the famous open-air Beamish Museum where you can glimpse life in the north east in bygone times. (packed lunch provided)

Return for dinner and entertainment SNUG – Special Needs Unity Group – a wonderful group of talented young people bring their own brand of harmony and humour.

Friday 1st August

Lectures.

After lunch we travel by train to Newcastle (looking out for the “Angel of the North” en route) where we can:

• see the places Dickens visited and performed
• visit the historic Guildhall with its 18th Century courtroom
• visit other historic sites - the Norman keep, art galleries, Literary & Philosophical Society – or do a lot of shopping!

Return in your own time for dinner at 6.30pm followed by A night at the (silent) movies – David Williams, retired Durham University lecturer in film presents some Dickens adaptations, with live piano accompaniment by George Hetherington.

Saturday 2nd August

Fellowship Annual General meeting; lecture after coffee.

In the afternoon, a trip to Barnard Castle & Bowes Village, visited by Charles Dickens in when researching the Yorkshire schools for Nicholas Nickleby, and the Bowes Museum .

We return to find the place transformed for the Banquet in a marquee in the grounds of Chad ’s College.

Sunday 3rd August

Lectures.

In the afternoon, time in Durham and Evensong at the Cathedral; precise timings await word form the Cathedral.

Dinner and entertainment by the North East England Branch.

Monday 4th August

Breakfast & departures.

It may be possible to arrange a visit to Washington Old Hall, the ancestral home of George Washington’s family, on Monday morning. If you would be interested in adding this visit, please contact Ruth Crofton – cost will depend on numbers.

Speakers at the Conference include:

Malcolm Andrews, Alan Dilnot, Wendy Jacobson, Paul Schlike, Michael Slater, Tony Williams.

An updated list will appear on the website

www.charlesdickens-ne.co.uk

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