A Potted History of the Rochester Pickwick Club
In the five years immediately following the commencement of the Rochester Dickens' Festivals in 1979, Cyril Baldwin, a Medway auctioneer and estate agent who had been portraying the Dickens' character Samuel Pickwick, realised that he was meeting the same group of gentlemen on a regular basis both in the parades and the local hostelries.
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He therefore decided to invite 11 of them to join him on Monday, the 3rd day of September, in the year 1984 at the Royal Victoria and Bull Hotel for the formation and Inaugural Meeting of 'The Rochester Pickwick Club'. The significance of 12 members was explained as the number sitting around the table in the illustrated editions of "The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club".
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Each of the 11 received a letter which read "If you are a fun loving extrovert who enjoys eating and drinking, dressing up in Victorian clothes and attending the Dickens' Festivals, please open the enclosed envelope; if you are not, it would be better that you destroyed it un-opened and you would never be upset at what you had missed". Needless to say curiosity prompted the opening of the envelope to find the invitation to the inaugural dinner, which also set out the agenda for the meeting "…….and it is anticipated for all subsequent meetings"
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Grace said by the General Chairman, Samuel Pickwick
Meal with Toasts to Her Majesty the Queen. and humorous, or serious toasts to anyone who since the last meeting has achieved notable success in any field whatsoever.
A member to read a short passage from "the beloved Pickwick Papers" which was to be heard with polite attention.
In line with the Club proceedings in the original book, members were to be invited to give details of "some extraordinary fact which they had learnt or discovered since the last meeting".
A Member was to deliver a five minute toast "To the Immortal Memory" which was "to be entertaining, although not frivolous, and should be relatively factual".
Members were required to attend in period costumes.
All the invited guests did accept and so began the history of the rather unique Rochester Pickwick Club. Unique because it has one significant difference from the Pickwick Cycling Club, The Dickens' Pickwick Club, the Boz Club, The Pickwick Club of Philadelphia, in fact all the other Pickwick Clubs worldwide because of the requirement that Members and Guests must always be in suitable costume when sitting down to dine or appearing as a club in public.
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Whilst it was inevitable that the membership would change as Members left, moved, or sadly passed away, the objects of the Rochester Pickwick Club have remained unchanged, i.e. ‘To foster Rochester and the Dickens' festivals and to promote the works of Charles Dickens'.
Membership has changed. An Associate level of membership has been adopted for worthy members who are perhaps overseas or cannot make the commitment required by Full Membership. In recognition of the support given by our Ladies they now have their own dress badge and are collectively known as The Victorian Ladies. Both the Ladies and the Associates now provide very valued support.
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Dinners have continued to be a focal point, often, by invitation at far flung locations– many of which were slightly unconventional, such as dining in the middle of the road at Covent Garden or on one occasion, a three hour meal in the window of departmental store in Royal Tunbridge Wells during the local festival. However, stemming from a Club which was essentially a dining club, there has evolved a group ready to fulfil a greater role in the community. In addition to appearing at fetes, school sports, leading the parade of characters over Tower Bridge at its re-opening, playing in Victorian cricket matches, representing Rochester at the World Travel Fair at Olympia and appearing in various televised programmes, charity fundraising began to develop with support for charities such as Children in Need, The Air Ambulance and McMillan Nurses.
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There is now an established annual Christmas morning visit to the local hospitals and The Molly Wisdom Hospice. Every Christmas morning costumed Members and their Ladies are welcomed by the Hospice staff and patients before going on to tour the local hospitals visiting the patients and giving each a Christmas card. When the Hospice was opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Mr. Pickwick was invited to meet Her Majesty in Rochester High Street; an occasion when he was so unusually overcome that by the time he had reached home, he could not remember a word of their conversation.
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For many years The Club have turned out in force to attend the annual Dickens' Memorial Service in Rochester Cathedral and place a wreath on the author's memorial and in the year 2001, The Pickwick Club founder Cyril Baldwin accepted the honour to give the Dickens' Oration at this service.
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The Club can also be justifiably proud of its relationship with other supporters of the twice-yearly Dickens Festivals in Rochester who in turn have become keen followers of events run by The Club. The 21st anniversary dinner, the day trip to Dickens' House and the Westminster Abbey Memorial service and the cheese and wine evening at Eastgate House have all been 'sell outs', where people have left asking, "do let us know when you are putting on something else". Because this relationship is one The Club values, it is almost now incumbent upon them to arrange some open event on an annual basis.
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In recent years there has been an open appreciation by successive Mayors of the efforts made by the Club in supporting the twice-yearly Dickens Festivals and its input into the local community of Rochester. The Club has in turn recognised this civic link and has reciprocated by having each successive Mayor as its guest at its last night dinner of the Summer Dickens' Festival.
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This has been but a short précis of The Club's formation and its activities to date, but hopefully it will have given an insight into the proud heritage and history which goes with membership of "The Rochester Pickwick Club".