THE costumes of Dickens' time mingled with the jeans and T-shirts of today during a four-day extravaganza that attracted thousands of people to Rochester.

Rain threatened to dampen every day of this year's Dickens Festival but in the end it just about held off and there was even the odd burst of sunshine.

At the end of a week of celebration for the Queen's Jubilee and the World Cup, people from Medway and further afield were still keen to celebrate and thronged the city's historic streets.

From the opening procession on Thursday to the grand parade from The Vines on Sunday, attendance seemed as high as on any of the festival's 24 years.