Since 1998, a Commemoration Service has been held annually on or near 4th March to mark the anniversary of the baptism on that date in 1812 of Charles Dickens in the font which has stood at the west end of the church since it was built and consecrated in January 1914. Local members of the Dickens Fellowship participate in the service, dressed in period costume and specially-selected readings are given from The Holy Bible and from various writings of Dickens.

Occasionally, as in the year 2001, when the anniversary date fell on a Sunday, a live baptism enhances the Commemoration Service. At other times, members of St Alban's Church and the Dickens Fellowship gather around the font, in order to renew baptism vows at an appropriate part of the service.

At the west end of the church is a large "Dickens - Brunel" display board, which was produced in 2001 and presents a brief history of the historical font, with reproductions of sketches and paintings of the original 12th century Norman church, in which the font once stood when Charles Dickens was baptised in 1812 and Isambard Kingdom Brunel before him in 1806. The board also shows pictures of their respective birthplace houses and facsimiles of the entries recording their births in the baptism register at that church. Later in the nineteenth century the church was demolished and rebuilt twice and the original baptism register is now held in the archives of Portsmouth City Records Office. The Dickens birthplace house survived both the devastation of the Second World War and the extensive reconstruction of much of Portsmouth afterwards and is nowadays known as the Dickens Birthplace Museum. Regrettably, the Brunel house in Britain Street survived the war but not the reconstruction, its former position now being marked by a simple commemorative block.

At the time the display board was constructed, a near-replica of the font cover, as depicted in one of the paintings by R. Ubsdell in 1841 of the interior of the original church, was also fabricated and is displayed on its own stand behind the font. It was assumed that the same font cover had existed when Brunel and Dickens were baptised. Mounted in a glass-fronted cabinet on the west wall of the church behind the font is a very plain, temporary cover which was made for the font when the church had been restored after the Second World War. The very ornate, pre-war cover, which had been designed by the church architect Charles Nicholson and installed on the font at Easter 1928, was destroyed when the church was bomb-damaged in 1941. The font was subsequently found lying in pieces on its side beneath the debris and it was most fortunate that although it was damaged it was not beyond repair. It was recovered from the debris and after being repaired it was installed in the large Church Hall, which had been only partially damaged during the bomb blast. After having been repaired, the Hall was used as the temporary place of worship until the main church had been finally restored in 1956. The temporary cover, which is now part of the history of the font, was finally replaced in early 1965 by a new ornate font cover, designed by church architect Stephen Dykes-Bower in the same style as the pre-war cover. The fate of the font cover shown in the 1841 painting is unknown.

With helpful encouragement from local leading members of the Dickens Fellowship, a multicoloured booklet, in A5 landscape format entitled "Home of the Charles Dickens Baptismal Font Today" by Norman Godel, Paul Hadley and edited by Professor Anthony J. Pointon, International Chairman of the Dickens Fellowship, was published in 2000 (ISBN 0-9537738-0-9). The sixteen page booklet contains a brief history of the font with sixteen photographs and sketches, including a facsimile of the entry of Dickens's birth in the Baptism Register.