Exploring London study group
No fixed meeting place (see below)
Group co-ordinators: Bridget & Dennis, 01707 375056
We take a pre-arranged train into London (to take advantage of the lowest fares), and meet at a pre-arranged time and place for a guided tour of varying parts of London. Booking (and payment!) beforehand is required. The walks usually take a couple of hours.
Charles Dickens Exhibition at Museum of London
Cost : £5.00 excluding travel (group of 4 travelling by train together is £8.25 pp from WGC or Hatfield station). If you wish to travel independently please notify us when booking.
Bookings with payment will be taken at Wednesday meetings. Travel details/times will be available at time of booking.
We thought this would be a good follow-up to our December walk. The exhibition is aimed at recreating the atmosphere of Victorian London through sound and projections, you'll be taken on a haunting journey to discover the city that inspired Dickens' writings.
Paintings, photographs, costume and objects illustrate themes that Dickens wove into his works, while rarely seen manuscripts including Bleak House and David Copperfield - written in the author's own hand - offer clues to his creative genius.
During your visit you'll discover how Dickens' childhood experiences of London, working in a blacking factory while his father was locked away in a debtor's prison, were introduced into the stories he wrote. The great social questions of the 19th century, including wealth and poverty, prostitution, childhood mortality and philanthropy, is also be examined, all of which set the scene for Dickens' greatest works.
Highlights of the exhibition include an audio-visual experience bringing to life the famous painting of Dickens' Dream at the desk and chair where he wrote his novels, and a specially commissioned film by one of the UK's leading documentary filmmakers, William Raban, which explores the similarities between London after dark today and the night time city described by Dickens over 150 years ago.