Welcome
Our mission is to reinvigorate Dickens’ rich heritage in Yorkshire, to follow in his philanthropic and literary footsteps, helping those in need and to enrich education and the arts. We hope you join us. Together we can transform lives in Yorkshire for the better and honour Dickens’ remarkable ghosts of Christmas all year round.
Latest News
The Yorkshire in support of Dickens’ link to Malton
Yorkshire Building Society’s newly opened Malton branch is pleased to announce its support of ‘Dickens Gift to Yorkshire’ and will be the home to all the funds and donations raised by the project. The Society’s branch on Wheelgate has been working with the team behind ‘Dickens Gift to Yorkshire’ to support the creation of the… Read MorePlease Donate
Dickens’ A Christmas Carol not only highlights the blight of poverty and inequality, but also encourages us to support those who are in greater need than ourselves. Although life in Britain has improved dramatically since then, there are still thousands of people in desperate need every winter. In North Yorkshire alone over 90,000 households are… Read More
BBC Breakfast and BBC News 24
Great profile for Dickens Gift to Yorkshire which was featured on BBC Breakfast this morning and will go out throughout the day on BBC News 24. Please donate to help combat fuel poverty. Read More
A Christmas Carol comes to Castle Howard
Vistors to Castle Howard this Christmas can see this special book as part of the Castle’s stunning Christmas festivities until Sunday 16th December, when it reverts to The Talbot Hotel in Malton until January. Castle Howard and Dickens 1. This inscribed copy of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol was presented to the widowed Elizabeth Smithson in April 1844…. Read More
The Telegraph: Selina Scott and friends bring home A Christmas Carol
Last month, 169 years later, that same inscribed book, long in the possession of an American collector, came up for auction in New York, where it was bought for $35,000 (£21,800) by the Yorkshire market town close to my home that is said to have inspired the definitive Yuletide story. And with impeccable timing, this… Read More
A Christmas Carol media launch at Castle Howard 10 December 2012
To great media interest ‘A Christmas Carol’ was welcomed back to Yorkshire today, look out for BBC Look North, BBC Breakfast, Calendar and ITN news coverage. Read More
BBC Breakfast Film in Malton
Jenny Hill from BBC Breakfast and camerman spent four and a half hours in Malton on 6 December to make a film about Dickens Gift to Yorkshire, to be broadcast to up to 7 million viewers on the Breakfast show nearer Christmas. Featuring the volunteers of the Charles Dickens Society of Malton, the TV crew… Read More
Malton and Dickens
Dickens was a frequent visitor and stayed with Smithson at his homes – Easthorpe Hall, and Abbey House, Old Malton. Smithson was buried in the churchyard at St Mary’s, Old Malton: Dickens attended the funeral. There are local connections aplenty in Dickens’ novels. Solicitor Spenlow in David Copperfield died without leaving a will (as did… Read More
From New York to York
The motive: to bring Dickens back to Malton and use his literary legacy to reinvigorate the market town of Malton. The cast of characters: Clair Chadwick, MD of marketing and fundraising agency Cause UK Broadcaster Selina Scott and, Businessman and one of the founders of Malton’s Charles Dickens Society, Stephen Joll Like a classic novel,… Read More
About The Book
On November 5 2012 an auction was held in New York featuring a very special book – a signed edition of a Christmas Carol. The 1844 edition is inscribed: “Mrs Smithson/from/Charles Dickens/18th April 1844.” It was a gift from Dickens to the wife of his close friend, solicitor Charles Smithson. Charles lived in Malton and… Read More