I went to a meeting last night that I was not really looking forward to but was surprised that I actually enjoyed the meeting.

The meeting was the Dickens Christmas Festival Wash Up meeting run by the council for all people involved in the festival (traders etc. ) to come to. I assumed this would be one of those dreary meetings where people would moan at the council about this, that and the other. I went in place of someone but was quite surprised by the meeting itself.

There was some moaning as you would expect, but the overwhelming majority of the time was spent in positive dialogue revolving around making a good event even better. I was also surprised by how much the cathedral is respected by the council and people and has a key role in such events.

After the meeting I got chatting to a great gentleman about his involvement with the festival and he may even have partly convinced me to think about a costume for further Dickens events in Rochester – maybe a Victorian priest – now I’ve started dressing up and do so when the majority of people are in civvies in the congregation it does make a lot of sense to dress up Dickensian style when hundreds of others are …. maybe!

I have returned home energised by the meeting. I guess I had forgotten how much I enjoy this kind of local authority/community gathering uniting around a common purpose and seeking a good way forward. It was great to be thinking in that way and in those circles again.