News & Information

The weather in the UK must improve soon and allow us to visit those places beloved of our ancestors who lived in this part of Somerset!  We are looking forward for a fine day and meeting you on July 14th when we have our Open Day at St Paul's Church Hall (BS23 1DF).  Representatives from neighbouring Family and Local History Societies and Groups will be on hand to answer your questions and hopefully suggest ways of breaking down those brick walls.  It's FREE entry from 10.00am - 4.00pm.  See here for more information.

During the mornings of July 3rd and July 5th we have been invited to help the young people of Worle School who have included Family History Research as one of their options for the end of year enrichment days.  Thank you to those local volunteers who have agreed to take part - It is always enjoyable to be at these sessions and perhaps share our enthusiam for this way of making history come alive by making personal links with the past.

Saturdays July 7th and 21st will be the last Help Sessions in the Library in the Boulevard in Weston.  There will be no library meetings during August and September so please watch this site for information when these sessions will start again in the newly refurbished Library premises in the Town Hall.

Of course if you have any problems about your research you can submit a query to our Research Forum on this site and one of our members may have the answer.  It's always worth a try and as you can see not all the queries are about Weston and District.  Some of our families did not stay in one place for long.

At our monthly meeting on Tuesday, July 31st Elizabeth White, a local historian, who now lives at Pill will be talking about her "Queer Little Village".  Pill, situated mear the mouth of the River Avon has a long connection with the Bristol Channel Pilots who for centuries have guided shipping through the sometimes treacherous waters of the Severn estuary.

There is no monthly meeting in August and at the September meeting we will be looking at the care and restoration of old photographs.  If you are out and about in August with a camera we would be very interested in new photographs of the villages and towns which make up the area covered by the Weston-super-Mare and District family History Society.  Paul Tracey is always interested in items for the Journal, Buckets & Spades, and any picture which illustrates part of your family's history would be welcome.

This month, June, is a hot spot of nostalgia with the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations in full swing.  Perhaps it might inspire some of you to write an article about your Victorian ancestors for a future issue of Buckets & Spades. The next edition should be ready for distrubution at the June meeting but you've plenty of time for the October one!  This magazine is one of the benefits of full membership of our Society and is a credit to the editor, Paul Tracey, who always appreciates pieces for publication.

The society will be at the Wiltshire Family History Open Day on Saturday June 16th for more details see here.

Please make a note of our Open Day on Saturday 14th July at St Paul's Church Hall from 10.00 - 4.00 pm.  Representatives from the Wiltshire, Gwent,  Somerset & Dorset and the Bristol & Avon Family History Societies along with the Guild of One Name Studies will be there to answer your questions and there will be Help Desks in operation.  Local History Groups from Hutton, Kewstoke, Banwell and Worle will also be on hand with all their local knowledge.  Entry is free and refreshments will be available.

Ancestry has updated the Index for Wills and Administrations for England and Wales so that it now covers from 1858 to 1966.  This really is a help and of course may be available in your local Library.

An early warning notice - there will be no Saturday afternoon Help Sessions during August and September of this year and neither will the North Somerset Archivist be visiting Weston during those months.  This is to allow the Library to prepare for its move to the new premises at the Town Hall. 

The Bristol Records Office has announced some changes to the procedure when you visit - full details can be seen here

Our next meeting which is a Members' Evening is on the last Tuesday of June - June 26th - and the topic is "Problem Solving" As you will have seen on our published programme we have been asking for questions for the Panel to be submitted to the Secretary by June 12th - I'm not sure how many we have (if any!) but no question is too silly - A different perpective on your problem will often evoke a new line of enquiry.  If you have a discovered a new resource this can also be of interest at this meeting. We hope that this will result in some productive discussion and exchange of ideas.

May 1st sees the first instalment in a new series of Family History programmes entitled "War Hero in my Family" which can be seen on Channel 5 looking at the experiences of relations of well known celebrities during WW2.  If you are near Clevedon on May 15th you could attend a talk covering a much earlier period of Military History given by our member David Milner.

Perhaps you will find time during May to visit some of the places which were well known to your ancestors.  I see that Graham Payne has been out and about photographing the tomb stones in Puxton Church Yard.  If you are a full member, the results can be seen with our Parish Transcripts under the heading "Monumental Inscriptions". 

Photographing documents can be a quick and accurate method of recording information, which can be transcribed at a later date, but you should be aware that since the beginning of April this year if you wish to use a camera in the Bristol Record Office you will need to purchase a daily licence which will cost you £5.00.

The free Help Sessions continue at the Library on the 1st & 3rd Saturday afternoons of each month when, because the North Somerset Library subscribes to Ancestry, you are able to access information about your family through censuses and other sources. April saw the addition of some Yorkshire non-conformist registers, London & Surrey marriage bonds and yet more Titanic records.  It's always a good idea to revisit sites to find out what has been added since you last looked.

The topic for the next Society meeting on the 29th May is "Was your Ancestor a Gypsy" and we will welcome Beverley Walker, the membership secretary of the Romany & Traveller Family History Society who will share some tips on researching these elusive ancestors.

April the 1st and I'm sure you can think of several of your ancestors who played (perhaps unintentional?) jokes on you by slightly embroidering the truth when they filled in official documents!

Following the AGM - I'm happy to be continuing in the Chair for at least another year and look forward to a productive year. It was agreed would that we would call ourselves the Weston-super-Mare & District FHS to more accurately describe the area in which we have an interest. Take a look at the Index of Parish Registers which we have available to members to see just how wide that area is.

We will be in the Library in the Boulevard next Saturday (April 7th) as usual - you don't have to be a member to come in but don't forget that if you have a query with your research you can also ask it here on this web site under the Research Forum.  That way it is open to more people than just those who volunteer at the library. Even if you are not researching the same family reading the items often triggers off an idea of what you could be doing and suggests new avenues of research. It is encouraging that there is starting to be more use made of this facility.

The Society will be represented at the Gloucestershire Family History Open Day on Satuday 14th April at Weston Library again of the 21st April and our speaker on Tuesday 24th April will be Prof. Graham Davis who will be talking about the Langtons of Newton Park. 

If you couldn't get to Olympia in February for the Who do you think you are? Live show the Society of Genealogists  has made the handouts from the talks avaiable as a free download 

http://www.sog.org.uk/events/2012show-handouts.shtml

Finally. my tip for this month is to take another look at some of the web sites which you have already used because more and more information is coming online including digital images of original documents.  There is a real problem with family history research and that is  - it never finishes!

• This month we have our AGM on Tues 27th March, when we review our activities and look ahead.  Please come to the AGM if you can and give your views on how you see the Society progressing in the future. The meeting will be followed by an update on resources available - If you know of any new resources please bring details so that these can be shared.
• Before each meeting starts we have a Help Desk running to assist you to make the most of what is available online and after the AGM we will have several computers showing different web sites and how to use them.
• March 1st brings the monthly visit from Jane De Gruchi, the North Somerset Archivist, to the Weston Library.  If you haven't already done so, it's too late to order documents for March but why not think ahead to April and contact her, Tel: 01823 278805 or E-mail: archives@somerset.gov.uk  to explain your requirements.  If you are researching any person, place or event in Somerset take a look at http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/archives/ to consult the Somerset Heritage Centre's online catalogue and to discover if there is anything there which could help you.  You do not need to be a member to use this facility.
• The Local Studies Room in Weston Library has a wealth of information about people and places in North Somerset including local newspapers on film from about 1850, Street Directories from the 1890s, Electoral Rolls from 1838 and files on local personalities, buildings, events etc 
• If you have any family history queries why not take advantage of the Saturday Help Sessions at the Weston Library on March 3rd and March 17th between 2.00pm and 3.30pm?  You do not need to be a member, or to be researching Somerset ancestors to come along and ask for help from volunteer members of the Society who may be able to point you in the right direction.
• Weston Museum  http://www.weston-super-maretowncouncil.gov.uk/museum.aspx is the place to visit for a background to the social history of the area.  During March, the Museum is also hosting a Craft Fair on Saturday March 10th and an Antiques Valuation Day on Saturday March 24th    

• This month sees our society’s visit to the National Archives at Kew on Feb 21^st.  It is a good idea to spend some time planning your visit, and to be realistic in your expectations – take a look at their web site http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ to help you make the most of your visit. 

• If you are planning to visit other Archives, please check their web sites for revised opening hours because many changes are currently taking place. For example the Devon Record Office in Exeter will be closed for two weeks 6^th – 19^th February - see http://www.devon.gov.uk/record_office.htm 

• Don’t forget that the North Somerset Archivist visits Weston-super-Mare Library from the Somerset Heritage Centre on the 1^st Thursday of each month and will bring documents for you to examine.  Look at http://www1.somerset.gov.uk/archives/ to consult their online catalogue.  To order documents please contact Jane de Gruchy, North Somerset Archivist, Tel: 01823 278805 or E-mail: archives@somerset.gov.uk  to explain your requirements.

• Who do you think you are? Live is at Olympia 24-26 February and although we are not taking a stand there, a great deal of information can be gained by visiting any Family History orientated event and meeting with people with similar interests and/or expertise – for more details see http://www.whodoyouthinkyouarelive.com/

• A personal reminder that the talk this month on February 28th is about "My Family and Jack the Ripper" - I don't promise to solve any mysteries but I hope that it may be an interesting caomparison between the lives of two parts of the same family.