GREAT RECITATIONS DICKENS FESTIVAL 2026

welcome to the home page of our Dickens Festival
Saturday 7th – Sunday 8th February 2026

Our link with Dickens can be found here
Tickets for festival available here
Click the links to each event to discover more details!
Exclusive – click to read “The Lamplighter’s Secret”, an original Dickens-themed story by Leena Batchelor

SAT 7th 10:30am – Festival opens with Mayor of Worcester, Matt Lamb Join our parade from the Cornmarket, the site of the Public Hall where Dickens read his masterpiece “A Christmas Carol” to Worcester audiences up to Script Haven, the former Swan Hotel visited by the author during his visit in 1858

11:30am – join in with free Victorian themed games in Cathedral Square, browse the amazing selection of books in Script Haven, enjoy drinks and themed cakes

5pm – meet Lucinda Dickens Hawksley, renowned autor & historian, 3x great-granddaughter of Charles Dickens for tickets and details click here

7pm – Don’t go into the Cellar! presents “Edwin Drood” for tickets and details click here

SUN 8th 11:30am – the games continue : free Victorian themed games in Cathedral Square, browse the amazing selection of books in Script Haven, enjoy drinks and themed cakes

5pm – Prof. Christine Skelton presents “Dickens – the man” for tickets and details click here

7:30pm – Great Recitations Charity Ball frivolity, fun, and fundraising for tickets and details click here

Charles Dickens & Script Haven

When Script Haven opened in 2023, during its first summer, a conversation took place between owner, Leena, and a customer, about the history of the building. It went something like this….

Customer ‘You know this used to be a hotel?’

Leena ‘I didn’t, but looking at the style of the building I can imagine that, like a small stop over place for travellers near the city walls.’

C ‘Yeah, and Charle Dickens came here when it was the hotel’

L ‘Now I think you’re teasing me….’

L ‘Nope. Check out the Pilgrim Edition of his letters, and look for 11th August 1858.’

Thus ensued a mini expedition to the local library, and there it was! The day Charles Dickens came to Worcester to read ‘A Christmas Carol’ as part of his UK tour (they were a thing even back then!) he visited The Swan Hotel, 104 High Street and wrote to his good friend Wilkie Collins (and others). After more research and evidence gathering, a request was submitted to the Worcester Civic Society and council to install a blue plaque on the shop – et voila, they agreed and the ideas for a festival to celebrate the link and the author’s birthday was born.

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