Upcoming Events

Regular meeting venue: Community Room of Taraval Police Station, SF
Contact:  Marguerite Romanello, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 14159940568

The SF branch is a small but lively group that concentrates on reading and discussion of Dickens works, keeping a theme in mind. The group has agreed to add works of other Victorian writers that compliment the themes of the Dickens works or were championed by or worked with Dickens. So, the fellowship has added Trollope, Scott, Gaskell, Fielding, Sterne, Austen, Collins, Poe (whom he met), and Twain. The members also have spent some time reading books that Dickens read and may have influenced his writing, such as The Arabian Nights. The members are willing to explore many avenues of interest with Dickens as the lodestone.

Website: www.thefriendsofdickens.org

Address : P.O.Box 2743, 450 Lexington Ave, New York, N. Y. 10163

Regular meetings: First Saturday of every month
Director, webmaster and newsletter editor: James Armstrong, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Secretary, contact: Carrie Lee, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The Friends of Dickens New York (FODNY) is a literary, cultural, and educational organization dedicated to the works of Charles Dickens. Our motto is FUN, FRIENDSHIP AND LEARNING! Fun, because we get together regularly to read, dramatize, and discuss the works of Charles Dickens. Friendship, because the group encourages and cements unity, understanding and cooperation among people. Learning, because great literature adds to our knowledge and understanding of one another and the world.

The Worcester Dickens Fellowship in Massachusetts has been flourishing for over half a century. Originally founded in London in 1902, the Dickens Fellowship's aim was to "knit" together in a common bond of friendship lovers of the great master of humour and pathos, Charles Dickens. We in the Worcester Fellowship have thrived on the traditions of fellowship and scholarship.

Officers and Committees

President Richard Fenton
Vice President Robert Steele
Treasurer Michael Badger
Corresponding Secretary Anita Fenton
Recording Secretary Carrie Corcoran
Membership Kathy McFarland
Skits Joan Townsend (Chair), Joel Brattin, Kit Polga, Robert Steele
Holiday Luncheon Kit Polga, Kathy McFarland

2024-2025 Program

Wednesday, 9 October, 7:00 p.m.

Reading: Chapters 1 – 9 of David Copperfield
Program: Discussion led by Anita Fenton and skit
Co-Host/Refreshments: Kathy McFarland at Elms Library at Briarwood

Wednesday, 13 November, 7:00 p.m.

Reading: Chapters 10 – 18 of David Copperfield
Program: Discussion led by Kit Polga, and skit
Co-Host/Refreshments: Mike Badger at Elms Library at Briarwood

Saturday, 21 December, 12:30 p.m.

Holiday Luncheon at The Publick House, Sturbridge, MA
Gift exchange and skit
Hosts: Kit Polga and Kathy McFarland

Saturday, 8 February, 2:00 p.m. Dickens’s Birthday Tea

Reading: Chapters 19 - 29 of David Copperfield
Program: Essay by Fellman Prize winner.
Skit: “Miss Mowcher Consents to Live.”
Chapter discussion led by Mike Badger.
Co-Host/Location: Joel Brattin at the WPI Library (Fellman Reading
Room), Worc. (refreshments: Fellowship members)

Wednesday, 12 March, 7:00 p.m.

Reading: Chapters 30 – 40 of David Copperfield
Program: Selection from BBC video “David Copperfield”
Discussion led by Carrie Corcoran and Robert Steele, and skit.
Co-Host/Refreshments: Anita Fenton at Elms Library at Briarwood

Wednesday, 9 April, 7:00 p.m. 

Reading: Chapters 41 – 50 of David Copperfield
Program: Presentation by Joel Brattin: “’Let Me Pause Again’: Dickens Manuscript Revisions in the Retrospective Chapters of David Copperfield”
Chapter discussion led by Joel Brattin.
Host: Robert Armstrong at Elms Library at Briarwood
Co-Host/refreshments: Kathy McFarland

Wednesday, 14 May, 7:00 p.m.

Reading: Chapters 51 - 64 of David Copperfield
Program: Discussion led by Mike Badger
Planning 2025-26: Selection of book and nomination of officers
Co-Host/Refreshments: Anita Fenton at Elms Library at Briarwood

Website:
Regular meeting venue:   2pm on the first Saturday of every month from March to November in the staff room of Hagley Community College
Contact: Annabel Gormack – This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Alternative:

Welcome to the Christchurch Branch of the Dickens Fellowship. All public are very welcome at our meetings. You do not need to have read Dickens or be an afficionado to enjoy the meetings. We have members from all walks of life and all ages. Every year, the Fellowship studies one of Dickens' major works, and several minor ones. One member of the Fellowship presents a programme each month, in which a section of the novel studied is covered, by sketches and readings. We also have video afternoons, mid-year and Christmas parties, and other forms of entertainment.

We are due to celebrate our 90^th year as a branch this coming Saturday June 19^th. 

This year (2025), our major novel for study is Little Dorrit and we will also be studying George Silverman's Explanation and No Thoroughfare at the end of the year.

Newsletter 2025

This issue and all back copies can be found on our website christchurchdickensfellowship.nz 

Website: www.dickens.jp/index-e.html

Regular meeting venue: Our AGM takes place at a different venue every year.
President:  Yasuhiko Matsumoto,This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., +81 4 7124 1501
Vice President: Fumie Tamai, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Although, at present, most members of the Japan Branch are researchers, teachers or students of universities in Japan, membership is open to anyone who loves the person and works of Charles Dickens. The main branch activities include AGM in October and the annual publication of 'The Japan Branch Bulletin'. Visit our website where you can watch the videos from our past meetings and read our members’ essays and articles (some of them are written in English) on Dickens.