General opening hours and prices: (from 1 April 2023) Fairies and Folklore
Saturday 11 March to Sunday 28 May Discover the wonderful world of fairy tales, Kentish customs and traditions, and a few of the house’s own secrets too. Includes FREE Fairy Doors Trail. General admissions apply. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Saturday 1, Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 April, 11am, 12.30pm, 2pm, 3.30pm and 5pm Back by popular demand, fifty-five magical minutes of interactive fun for all the family,. Tickets: £12 adult, £6 child (up to 17 years), babes in arms free. Really Grimm Fairy Tales Saturday 13 May, 2pm and 3.30pm A deliciously sinister selection of readings from the original unabridged Grimm’s Fairy Tales, published between 1812 and 1814. Suitable for ages 12 and over. Tickets: £10. Medway’s Monarchs: Meet King James I Wednesday 31 May, 11am to 4pm Grab your crown and meet the king who visited Eastgate House in 1606. General admissions apply. Treasured Teddies Saturday 1 July to Sunday 10 September Explore the history of our favourite bears and ‘Find Tudor Ted’ with our FREE family trail. General admissions apply. Teddy Bear’s Picnic Theatre Show Sunday 23 July, 11am and 2.30pm in Eastgate Gardens Presented by Rah Rah Theatre Company, this fun fifty-five minute show features puppets, songs and dancing. Bring along a picnic and your favourite bear! Ideal for children aged 2-6.. Tickets: Adult £8, child £4
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Welcome to 2022 from the Committee of the Friends. We hope that you have managed to survive the trials and tribulations of Covid, and that you, like us, are looking forward to getting out and about in 2022. The committee has not been idle in these difficult times. Necessity is the mother of invention, so when we could not hold indoor meetings to raise money, we looked outside the ‘box’ and signed up for a stall at the artisan markets in Rochester High Street on the 2nd Saturday of April, June, July, August, September and October. We also signed up for a stall at the City of Rochester Society’s Craft Fair for the two weekends either side of the Dickensian Christmas Festival. Our stalls, selling mostly pre-used jewellery as well as other small objects d’art, have raised a healthy sum in 2021 which means we can continue to support work at the House. We also plan to attend the artisan markets in 2022 and the craft fairs organised by the City of Rochester Society. At this point we would like to thank all those who kindly donated items for the stall and helped with the setting up, packing up and lunchtime cover. If you have items you would like to donate - good quality items of jewellery or small objects d'art, please contact us on info@friendsofeastgatehouse.org. Window Work at the House It has long been the aim of the Friends to help with the cost of repairs to the windows at the House. A quote some time ago for all the necessary work came to over £26,000. This is out of our reach at the moment, but we are working on the windows in the meeting room so that they open and close, making it more compliant (and more comfortable) when we hold our talks in that room. There are all sorts of hoops to go through when working on a Grade 1 building, but hopefully the work will be done by the summer. Display about ‘The Worthies’
Those of you who came to Claire Gapper’s talk about the 3rd floor wall paintings will have learned that the figures are referred to as ‘The Worthies’. As the 3rd floor of the House is not yet accessible by the public, the Friends have paid for professional photographs to be taken so that an interpretative display can be set up in the room on the 2nd floor where extensive decorative wall paintings have been uncovered and conserved. A large print will be displayed over the fireplace and the extant wall paintings protected so that the temporary timber and Perspex barrier can be dismantled to allow access into the room. The council will pay for the printing and display work. This will greatly enhance the presentation of this area of the House, and the Friends are pleased to have helped bring this work about. Gardening Group The Gardening Group continues to work on ‘our’ patch just outside the railings, with the help of Norse and Rotary. Watch out for the crocuses and English bluebells in the spring. If you would like to help contact the Friends on info@friendsofeastgatehouse.org. The Friends will be running a stall selling objects d'art and jewellery at the City of Rochester Craft Fair in the Castle Grounds on Saturday and Sunday 27th - 28th November and Saturday and Sunday 11th - 12th December. We are pitch number 10 just down from the Way In door. We hope to see you at some time over the two weekends. Trading is from 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. daily. If you are able to help, cover is especially needed to run the stall at lunchtimes, 1-2 pm, on all four days and also for the last hour of trading on Saturday 11th December in order to give Sue Haydock a break. Stalls must not be left unattended. Help would also be useful for setting up and clearing away. Please contact Sue Haydock 01634 811172 or by email to susanjhaydock@aol.com if you can volunteer to cover one of these slots. Thank you! The Friends' Committee The Council has announced that Eastgate House will reopen on Thursday 28th October 2021.
The house will be decorated for Hallowe'en and there will be a Spooky Treasure Hunt. Free Admission for up to three children from Thursday 28th to Sunday 31st October who must be accompanied by at least one paying adult. Under our EVENTS heading you will find details of our next talk. This will be the first one since lockdown, so I do hope you will want to come along and hear Claire Gapper talk about the wall painting figures on the 3rd floor. This floor is not open to the public, but there is a chance that those at the talk will be allowed up to see them for themselves. Booking starts on 28th September.
Sue Haydock, Chairman |
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