DESCENDANTS of one of Britain's greatest authors will be in the spotlight during this year's Lymm Festival.

Two of Charles Dickens' great-grandchildren will be in attendance at Lymm Festival.

Gerald Dickens - great, great-grandson of the legendary author - will be bringing his Great Expectations show to the festival on Monday, June 26.

Warrington Guardian: The festival is always a hitThe festival is always a hit (Image: Newsquest)

However, Gerald will not be the only descendant of the great man to be stepping foot in the festival.

Ollie Danby, who is the manager at Lymm Tennis Club, is Dickens' great, great, great-grandson, and he will also be at the festival - meaning that a family reunion is in order.

Speaking ahead of the festival, Ollie said: "I'm fairly sure that I've met Gerald once before, but it was some time ago, when I was a kid.

"I obviously keep in touch with other members of the family (including some of Gerald's cousins) but I've not seen Gerald for a long time and I'm looking forward to the chance to meet up with him once again." 

Ollie added: "It's not obvious that I'm a member of the family - my grandmother was a Dickens who married a Danby - so it's fortunate that someone knew of the connection and mentioned it before the event, or it could have been a missed opportunity.

"I'll be there on the night for the Great Expectations show and the festival organisers have promised to arrange a meeting with Gerald."

He concluded: "I'm sure we'll have plenty to catch up on."

Warrington Guardian: Gerald will be performing his show based on Dickens' 'Great Expectations'Gerald will be performing his show based on Dickens' 'Great Expectations' (Image: Lymm Festival)

Gerald, who will be performing at the festival, said: "It's always interesting to learn how members of the audience have come across Charles Dickens and his work - but it's certainly not every show where I find that there's another member of the family present. 

"I was already looking forward to the Lymm Festival show, having heard about the festival many times before.

"The fact that one of my relatives will also be there means I'm anticipating it even more keenly, and I look forward to getting together with Ollie during my visit to Lymm."

Lymm Festival 2023 takes place between June 22 and July 2.