Items Sought for Dickens Auction

With just £17,500 to go to reach our fundraising target, we have decided to run an international fundraising auction of Dickens memorabilia during Summer 2013, and we are now seeking items for auction lots!

The key items already pledged include manuscripts, figurines and books, with pieces de resistance being a limited edition (1/25, numbered) bronze maquette of the statue by Martin Jennings FRBS, and a bust of the great man by Martin also, cast in bronze and 18cm high. An internationally-renowned auctioneer is linked to the auction, but we're not yet telling you who....!

All images © Martin Jennings

If you would like to present any Dickens-related items for auction, please contact the Charles Dickens Statue Fund on info [at] kingsdale-consultancy [dot] com for more

information; the division of proceeds between the donor and the Statue Fund can be determined on an individual basis.

Follow our email/RSS subscription or check back here regularly for information about the auction as it progresses!

 

Our Patron, Gillian Anderson, on BBC South

The outstanding actress Gillian Anderson has very kindly agreed to become the Charles Dickens Statue Fund's Patron and she has just done her first interview in this role, with David Allard of BBC South.

There will be teasers of this interview today (Wednesday 23rd January) on both BBC Solent radio and BBC South Today, with the full interview being broadcast as part of the main 6:30pm time slot. This will be the first opportunity to see the final maquette (model) of Martin Jennings' stunning statue. If you don't live in the BBC South or Solent regions, you will be able to view the interview on the BBC South website once it has aired, so check back here for the link.

Ian Dickens, great-great-grandson of Charles Dickens, thanked Gillian on all our behalf for her support of the campaign:

'Everyone involved in the statue project was hugely grateful that you could fit a visit to Portsmouth...We are equally grateful for you agreeing to support the statue project and your profile and reputation will do much to bring in the final £25,000 needed. I can’t wait for the moment when we can give the foundry the go-ahead to start preparing the bronze for pouring and seeing the full size piece come together.'

If you would like to donate to the Statue Fund, please click the Paypal 'Donate ' button on the top right-hand-side of the page. 

'A Christmas Carol' on Tour, with Gerald Dickens

Further to our last post about the wonderful funds raised by Gerald Dickens and Byers' Choice's in the US, we can now announce that Gerald Dickens will be continuing his work there, but this time with a special run of 'A Christmas Carol' performances in the run up to Christmas.

So if you are in the US, pop along and see this wonderful show, and all donations to the Charles Dickens Statue Fund would be gratefully received! For a list of shows and dates, click here.

Huge Thanks!

We have huge thanks to say today - first to Byers Choice Ltd. in Pennsylvania in the US, who raised an astonishing $2000 for the Charles Dickens Statue Fund, and secondly to the Dickens Fellowship Nottingham who have donated a wonderful £100 to the cause!

We are thrilled to count them amongst our wonderful supporters and just know that the great man himself is thanking them from the bottom of his heart.

If you'd like to get involved, or need any help with fundraising ideas you might have, please contact us here.

Dickens Walk Arrives into Portsmouth!

Ian and Gerald arrive into Portsmouth's Guildhall Square

As no doubt you will have read and seen in the media, Ian and Gerald Dickens, great-great-grandsons of the great Charles Dickens, arrived triumphant into Portsmouth Guildhall Square on the 9th August 2012, having walked all the way from London to Portsmouth over five days to raise money for the Charles Dickens Statue Fund. 

The route they followed was the same one taken by Nicholas Nickleby and Smike in Dickens's novel of the same name. To find out more about the walk and to read Ian's daily blogs of their progress, please see the special Toil of Two Cities blog.

The walk, which also raised funds for the National Literacy Trust, did wonderfully well as raising money for these very special causes, and the Dickens brothers revelled in the attention that their top hats, sandwich boards and T-shirts garnered them along the way. Even though they have now hung up their walking boots for the moment, donations to the Charles Dickens Statue Fund would be most gratefully received to help us reach our target: to donate, please click on the 'Donate' Paypal button on the top right of the page. 

All donors and donations will be celebrated in a special commemorative Statue Fund book, that will chart the journey of the statue from initial idea to final unveiling in Portsmouth's Guildhall Square, so donate now and associate your good name with Dickens's memory forever more!

Greeting them as they arrived into the Square, very tired and sore of foot, were the 150 delegates of the International Dickens Fellowship Conference, who had this year come to Portsmouth to spend four days learning, celebrating and talking about Dickens in the city of his birth. Watch the video below to see their rapturous welcome:

 

And now some more photos of their jubilant arrival into Portsmouth!

Professor Tony Pointon of the Dickens Fellowship looks proudly on!

Ian and Gerald raise a hat to themselves, with Lord Mayor of Portsmouth Frank Jonas.

Wonderful traditional Victorian dress.

Some other members of the Dickens family, with the youngest member, little Joe, hiding behind his flag on the right!

International Dickens Fellowship Conference delegates celebrate the brothers' arrival with flags.

Gerald with an adoring fan.

Ian giving an interview to Portsmouth's local paper, The News.

More delegates in the sunshine.

More fabulous Dickensian dress.

Delegates came from all over the world to learn about Dickens and welcome the brothers back into Dickens's home town.

An excited crowd.

Lord Mayor of Portsmouth Frank Jonas congratulates the Dickens boys on their achievement. Nicholas and Smike would be proud!

Ian is welcomed by the Lord Mayor of Portsmouth...

...as is Gerald!

Raise a hat for the Dickens Statue Fund!

Shortly before the brothers regaled the Fellowship Conference with their exploits and then had a well-deserved rest!

Welcome Dickens Fans!

Hello everyone...

...and welcome to the newly created Dickens Statue Fundraising site, which will be a centre of information and knowledge about the statue of Charles Dickens planned for Portsmouth's Guildhall Square.

Did you know that this will be the first statue of Dickens to ever exist in either the UK or Europe? We're excited to be the first to permanently honour this great man, and we look forward to your lovely support, be it talking about it with your friends and family, donating directly into the Statue Fund using the Paypal button to the left, or by joining us on 'The Dickens Trail' in August to help us raise the needed funds!

 Have a look around this site, and if you would like any further information, or to get involved, please email us at info [at] kingsdale-consultancy [dot] com.

The Charles Dickens Statue Fund Bicentennial Celebrations on 7th February 2012; © Pam Johns