Dickensian Evening is a wonderful occasion in Tavistock — one that marks the start of the Christmas season in the town and one that brings cheer to so many, writes Janna Sanders, manager of Tavistock BID.
This Dickensian – on Friday December 2 - we are celebrating how resilient our high street is with all the challenges that businesses have faced and continue to overcome, and we are thrilled that the evening will largely have returned to normal this year.
The official switch-on of the town’s Christmas lights will take place at 5.45pm followed by entertainment throughout the town featuring Elfic The Jester, The Curiosity Christmas Tree and Corvus Angelicus bringing the WOW factor.
There will be Christmas carols from local school choirs, music from Real Steel and Terrie-Mae McNulty, Morris Dancers, hot chestnuts, stilt walkers, fairground attractions and, of course, Father Christmas will be on hand to spread the festive joy.
Your host for the evening on Bedford Square will be Rob Pudner from Entertainingly Different.
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To complement the town’s shops and eateries, we can also expect a host of other wonderful stalls – selling cider, Christmas puddings, Christmas decorations and mulled wine.
For those looking to join in the lantern parade, it will start at 5pm from St Eustachius Churchyard before heading off to spread magic through the town.
It is not only lovely to see the town ablaze with colour and cheer, but Dickensian Evening is also a great way for us to support our local shops and businesses, most of whom enter into the spirit of things by offering an evening of festivities with their staff in traditional Dickensian dress.
These businesses fund the evening and make it possible — more than ever before, they need your continued support.
Through the recent challenges we have seen what a special community we have here in Tavistock and the survival of our town centre is down to, and because of, you.
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The BID thanks the Town Council Operations Department for its continued support at this time of year — from stewarding on Dickensian Evening and managing road closures to the immense effort put into installing the town’s Christmas lights, which now extend down to Drake Statue.
I hope that you all enjoy the evening. Let’s Christmas Together in Tavistock.
Martin Webb, President of Tavistock Rotary Club writes:
For many local families, Tavistock’s Dickensian Evening sees the start of the real run up to Christmas, and Tavistock Rotary will be there as usual to mark the event, with both Santa and the sleigh.
Then, during the couple of weeks leading up to Christmas itself, the rotary club will be accompanying Santa on his sleigh around the streets of Tavistock and surrounding areas, whilst at the same time hoping to collect donations to help local people and charities.
We are all too well aware of the difficult times we are presently going through, and therefore any charitable donations will be doubly welcome this Christmas.
As in previous years, a diary of just where and when you will be able to see Santa will be posted on the Tavistock Rotary Facebook page in due course, so make sure you come out to say hello!
In the meantime, can I just take this opportunity on behalf of Tavistock Rotary to wish everybody a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Peaceful New Year.
Paul Blowey, President of the Lions Club of Tavistock writes:
Where did this year go? With Dickensian Evening upon us and Christmas just around the corner, may I on behalf of the Lions Club of Tavistock take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and a Healthy and Prosperous New Year.
Our purpose as Lions is to serve our community, to offer support to those in need by raising money for local charities through events which everyone can enjoy and which help to bring our community together.
Our first carnival in three years proved to be a roaring success and the weather was kind to us which helped, but without the support of the schools, local groups, societies, clubs, and businesses within the town, the procession would not be possible or viable. Thank you so much to those who participated this year and we hope to see you all again in next year’s procession. Please consider entering Tavistock Carnival 2023, the theme being The Sound of Musicals, as without your input there simply would not be a carnival.
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Coming out of the last few difficult years, we have been incredibly busy supporting many events in the town and we will continue to do so. There’s something reassuring about seeing the Lions’ red shirts at various events around the town and with the beginning of the reign of King Charles III, we have the beginning of an exciting new era.
With the Trees of Light on the front of the town hall where you can sponsor a light for special people or special memories, we have raised in excess of £138,000 for local charities since 1999. This year’s recipients will be three very worthy causes, Plymouth & Cornwall Cancer Fund, St Luke’s Hospice Plymouth and Children’s Hospice South West.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Simon and Lucie Luke of Morris Brothers (Tavistock) Ltd who are our sponsor, South West Lakes for providing the trees and the staff at Tavistock Town Council for erecting and decorating them.
We are using LED lights again this year which means that in this period of festivity, the cost of lighting the three trees on the town hall is minimal and will hopefully bring some seasonal cheer and hope during this festive period.
Thank you for helping to make Tavistock the very special place it is. Merry Christmas.
Paul Ward, Mayor of Tavistock writes:
Dickensian Evening is one of my favourite Tavistock events. Organised by the Tavistock BID in association with its various partners, it is a chance to do some late-night Christmas shopping in our local shops and markets, whilst enjoying everything our beautiful town has to offer.
I always hope for a cold, crisp dry night, although Dickensian Evening is a treat whatever the weather.
My wife and I start the evening on Bedford Square to watch the lights being switched on and to listen to the children singing. We then stroll along Duke Street and Brook Street to enjoy the intoxicating sights and smells of the food stalls, the colourful shop windows, and the street entertainers. Our route then takes us through the Pannier Market and Butchers’ Hall, where many traders dress up in Victorian costumes, before crossing the road to visit the Christmas tree festival in the parish church. Then we amble along West Street to take in yet more delights.
We love the little surprises, such as walking through a mini blizzard of ‘snow’, sampling chestnuts roasted on a steam engine, discovering a little ‘herd’ of reindeer, being offered a glass of wine in a shop, or having the chance to sample local beers and gins.
My sincere thanks go to everyone involved in organising this year’s Dickensian Evening. It is a huge task. I firmly believe that Tavistock punches way above its weight. This is never truer than during Dickensian Evening. So come along, make the most of it and have fun!
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
THE DICKENSIAN EVENING RUNNING ORDER
5pm -5.30pm Dickensian Lantern Parade - meet in St. Eustachius’ Churchyard.
Bedford Square Stage – with your host Rob Pudner of Entertainingly Different
5.30pm-5.45pm Tavistock Community Primary School Sings
5.45pm-6pm Official Welcome with the Mayor of Tavistock
6.05pm-6.20pm Mary Tavy & Brentor Primary School Sings
6.30pm-6.50pm SJS Arts Performance
7pm-7.15pm St Rumon’s & St Peter’s Sing
7.25pm-7.45pm Wheelhouse Folk Choir
7.50pm-8.05pm Ukranian Carols
8.05pm-8.30pm Local Business Window Dressing & Costume Award Ceremony
8.30pm-8.45pm Carol Singing with the Church Choir and Stannary Brass Band
8.50pm to close Lodestone & Wreckers Morris
Guildhall Car Park
Fairground Attraction – all night
Living Slot Machine – all night
Market Stalls – all night
Upper West Street
Fire Artists – 10 minute performances throughout the evening
Russell Street
6pm-6.45pm Lodestone Morris
Lower West Street (outside Newells)
7pm-7.30pm Curiosity Christmas Tree
7.30pm-8.05pm Stannary Brass Band
Bank Square Car Park
Father Christmas – all night
Coconut Shy – all night
Robey Trust Steam Engine – all night
6pm-6.30pm Curiosity Christmas Tree
6.30pm-7pm Stannary Brass Band
7pm-7.30pm Elfic
7.30-8.15pm Lodestone Morris
Pannier Market – East End
6pm-6.30pm Elfic
7.30pm-8.15pm Wreckers Morris
Duke Street – Old Rest Rooms
6pm-6.45pm Terrie-Mae McNulty
7.15pm-8pm Terrie-Mae McNulty
Paddon’s Row
8pm-8.30pm Elfic
Brook Street (outside the Co-operative)
Robey Trust Steam Engine – all night
6pm-6.45pm Wreckers Morris.
Lawsons Car Park
Real Steel – all night
Rev Matt Godfrey, Priest-in-Charge of Tavistock, Gulworthy and Brent Tor writes:
Welcome to Dickensian Evening in Tavistock!
I’m looking forward to the lights, the crowds, the food stalls and the variety of places to find presents for family and friends. It’s a great place to begin getting into the Christmas spirit – with the Christmas lights switched on, entertainment to enjoy, local businesses to explore and support, and your church full of Christmas trees decorated by local organisations.
But while it’s easy for us all to get caught up in the fun of the season, these are often the extras that have grown up around the heart of Christmas. Spending time with family and friends, eating good food, giving gifts, are all well and good – but the heart of this season of celebration and joy is the birth of a baby 2000 years ago in an occupied land.
We know the story: Mary and Joseph are told to go to Bethlehem to be registered, and so they make a 9-day journey from Nazareth, while Mary is heavily pregnant. But there’s no room anywhere for Mary and Joseph to stay, and they end up in a stable. And there, of all places, is where Jesus is born – not at home, or in the hospital, or in the palace where the Wise Men assumed he would be – but in the chaos of a full-to-bursting town. Surrounded by distant family and relatives, but far from the everyday friends and neighbours who would offer support and encouragement.
We all know the joy and love, exhaustion and frustration that every baby and child offers to their family. The same is true, I am sure, of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, both in the first few days, weeks, and months, but also in the years of childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood.
This story has become and remained important across the millenia and across the changing cultures of our world because as Christians, we believe that Jesus wasn’t any baby; he was God in human form. And what this tells us is that God doesn’t stand aloof, watching the joy and chaos and griefs of our lives, but gets right in the middle of it. God ‘moved into the neighbourhood’, as The Message translates part of the Bible. In Jesus, God grew up in a family, laughed and cried, argued and worked, played and slept; knew everything about what it was to be human.
At the heart of Christmas is the reminder that we are not alone; that God wants to be with us and to know us, intimately. However you’re feeling about the year we’ve just had, the year to come, the next few weeks – whether you’re excited or overwhelmed, afraid or joyful – God knows it all, and understands. You are not alone; God through Jesus offers you comfort and joy, love and peace. And so, my prayer for you all this Christmas, is that you and all those you love might know God’s joy and comfort, love and peace through the gift of Jesus’ presence with us. Merry Christmas to you all.
Sam Bicknell, Chairman of Tavistock Round Table writes:
The Round Table 661 are really looking forward to Dickensian Evening and will be in their usual location, the first (or last) stall on Brook Street, by Vigo Bridge Road near Too Hoppy.
We’ll be cooking up our famous bacon baps and it is great to know when eating them that all the proceeds will be helping to support local charities.
This year the Round Table have provided funding and support for:
Morgan’s Mini Marathon by supplying the children running with their race numbers and cake on completing the course. We have helped Ukrainian Cubs go on local summer camps and also hosted an event to raise funds for gifted women.
We have also provided Christmas trees to local schools to decorate for a Christmas tree decorating competition with prize money to spend on their school. We are also holding a quiz night and raffle at the West Devon Club this Saturday night, starting at 6.30pm. If you’d like to donate prizes for the raffle, buy tickets or get involved with the Tavistock Round Table, email [email protected] or contact us through our Facebook page.
We wish you all a very happy and fun-filled Christmas and New Year!