Pevensey Dickens Evening : Saturday 6 December 2014, 5:00pm—8:00pm
The Dickens Evening at Pevensey was promoted with a roll of honour that included carols, a tall Christmas tree, a Santa Claus procession with children in tow lighting the way, and the bells of St. Nicolas ringing out across the community.
Did the event deliver? Christmas came early to Pevensey with the best organised event imaginable. As a mainstay event run every year, with the Wealden Food and Drink Festival as the home produced sandwich in the middle of summer, the village could be on to a winner.
At least 400 people turned out in the cold crisp winter air to see what the Dickens Evening would bring.
Wrapped up against the cold, many in Victorian dress, plucky stallholders laid out their wares as the yellow vested stewards were seen checking that everything was in its place.
Both the Royal Oak and Castle and the Smugglers Inn were humming with people come 4:30pm. Then on cue the event started with the bells of St. Nicolas ringing out. Huddled for warmth together, over 30 carol singers stood underneath the Victorian lamplight at the Eastern Gate of Pevensey Castle and began to sing.
“Oi, over here, Pickwick!”. At 4:52pm, with precision timing, one of the organisers shouted to the master of ceremonies, as the suitably dressed Beadle for the occasion, prepared to lead the Santa procession. ‘Make way for Santa’ he bellowed in a suitably Victorian beadle way.
A clatter moments before as the growing crowd welcomed Monty and Winston, two faithful drays, pure bred registered shire horses, from Harvey Brewery in Lewes, up the High Street.
Of course Disney can do a Victorian Christmas, but how to match real history when it comes to a stunning stage set dressed for the occasion?
Anyone blinking could have imagined themselves back in the history books, at a place of their own Christmas choosing.
Start with a 2,000 year old castle as a backdrop, a thousand year old High Street, one of the oldest Norman Churches in the country, the smallest old court house in England, a cattle market car park, dray horses and Victorian dress. They are the kind of props that location mangers dream of when it comes to sourcing sets for Christmas special dramas on BBC1.
In Pevensey, as the sun rises each day, the scene is set. St. Nicolas Church was founded before Francis of Assisi was born. With or without its namecheck on the Bayeux Tapestry, it is not difficult to see why the villages occupies a very special place in the story of England.
Why not utilise the set for the Dickens of an early evening? One of those pre-lightbulb moments from the organisers.
Will we be seeing these kinds of evening as a regular fixture on the seasonal calendar of the village? How welcome would that be for the social and economic wellbeing of all the residents and people living in the locality?
As the carols on cue followed the bell ringing and Mr, Pickwick led the procession, Santa waved to the growing crowd.
The magic of seeing children all beaming in the candle lit procession that followed, was a poignant reminder that Christmas as a celebration is all about families, friends and communities joining together at a very special time of the year.
The moment the tree was switched on, there was a small sense of wonder. People went pell-mell to the Priory Court Hotel to catch the funfair ride, the sweet chilli hot dogs, sounds of Czech carols and then on to the Smugglers Inn to Santa’s Grotto.
In St. Nicolas Church, stalls for everything from the Westham and Pevensey Historical Society to the Stone Cross Windmill were strung round the aisles.
Stalls, fun, mayhem with families flashing their lights onto the evening programme pinned to the church wall, squinting to see when our very own Czech duo, the Moonbeans, would be playing and where. It was all part of the chaos and excitement.
A traditional Christmas event for all the family, that delivered. Perfect timing by the Pevensey Villages Partnership. They should be congratulated for what was a fantastic event for families with exactly the right kind of magic woven into the planning of the programme.
I paused and stood as the carols singers began to sing, looking up at the moon drawn Eastern Gate, lit by the magic of the Victorian Lamp.
Beside me, people were coming from all directions to gather in the cattle market car park as they must have done for over 200 years. Families with ear muffs holding hands against the cold. Children shrieking with delight as Santa Claus appeared, sliding into view.
Why does this all work so well, I asked myself?
Perhaps the secret is in that Victorian lamp that lights the way through the Eastern Gate of Pevensey Castle.
My mind took me back to the Narnia Chronicles. The first thing Lucy and Peter see when they get to Narnia is a victorian lamplight, just like the lamp that lit up the scene last Saturday.
Literary researchers are still discussing source material. The Eastern Gate in Puck of Pook’s Hill becomes England’s Gate and a magical gateway to Albion. Perfectly possible that C.S, Lewis pinched the idea of ‘a magical gateway’ in the Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, from Kipling. If this is the case, then the scene and its magic is something that writers have noted for some time. Buried in book three of the Narnia Chronicles is the family name of Lucy and Peter, to tease us with a reference. The family name, as every child knows, who has read the books, is Pevensie.
A summer spectacular with the Pevensey Castle Food and Drink Festival. Now the village has a Christmas classic as the other bookend.
A fabulous, home grown, volunteer driven, community event. The very best of its kind.
The church bells, the carol singers, children, the merry go round, china smash, bagatelle, burgers, hot dogs, hog roast, candy floss, stalls, storytelling, morris dancers and voices choir, and the magic of a Victorian lamp post, framing England’s gate, to light the way.
What Pevensey and the locality has needed for five years, to help support the community, is recognition of the unique nature of the history, profile, the social and economic needs of the villages.
The situation needed sources of seedcorn funding so that local people could utilise their organisational and creative skills to make things happen.
This is all now beginning to happen in Pevensey. Communities can support themselves if they are given the opportunities and tools to fashion their own events, initiatives and campaigns.
Communities work through collaboration but there is a framework in which they work. That framework comes from initiatives by forward thinking local authorities that recognise the need to sew the seeds.
Local authorities need to have the confidence to plough small sums of money into the barren economic landscape. The right sums, in the right locations, can create sustainable environments in which local initiatives can sustain themselves and thrive.
Nowhere could this have been better realised than in the money, planning and thinking behind this event.
It is a credit to everyone concerned, from the local authority, to the business sponsors and most importantly to the volunteer labour that led the planning.
Pevensey found its mark. Amongst the apple bobbing, a Dickens evening has written the start of a new chapter in the story of the village.
Simon Montgomery
editor, Bay Life
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