Today we say adieu to an old friend - the Weston-super-Mare & District Family History Society website.
The site has been in existence from at least 2001 and it is interesting to note that back then we covered not just the parishes we do today but also Brislington, Bedminster, Litton, Chewton Mendip, Meare, North Wootton, Wookey and Wells!
In 2001 the website carried indexes for just 6 of the transcripts produced by the society - baptisms and burials for Hutton, Uphill and St John the Baptist, Weston - nowadays of course we have the whole transcript - not just the index - online, and there is rather more than 6 of them!
At the beginning of 2011 the Society's website changed under the leadership of Paul Tracey (who was also editing the journal at the time!) to provide more functionality, including the ability for Members to access more of the Societies facilities from home. Additionally Members had complete control over the Membership Interests posted to the website. The site gained the look and feel that it does to this day.
Paul along with Graham Payne extended the functionality of the website and in 2012 the society were awarded the Federation of Family History Societies Geoff Riggs Award for the best website for a Medium sized society.
In 2018/19 the backend - the behind the scenes part of the website - had a major rewrite. David Williams of ITS Weston under Paul's guidance produced in essence a brand new site (although it looked the same as the previous one) - this site helped the society through the Covid pandemic as members were able to stay in contact via the website with the help of Zoom. The site had/has some very advanced features - some of which we have had to leave out from the new site as are unable to replicate them.
Our new site is more visual than the old one, once you have got used it it will be easier to use - it will be able to do more exciting things as we have complete control over it. It does however carry the same DNA as the earlier sites and hopefully will help the society and it's members in their exploration of the past as the previous incarnations have done so successfully in the last few years.
Thank you to all those who helped our website be so successful in the years gone by and I hope that all of your best stuff is preserved in the new one.
Rob Clarke
PS This site is not disappearing anytime soon - it will be still be accessible for at least the whole of 2025 - so if we have left anything behind we have time to retrieve it and move it to the new one!
For those of you that have been waiting patiently the big day has finally arrived.
Family Tree Maker 2024 has been shipped!
Before you rush out and install it please take a copy of your existing family files and make a note that these files were made with an earlier version.
I have set up a new Members Forum about Family Tree Maker 2024 on the new website so once set up you will be able to access any information and hints that members have come across.
As well as the old way of ordering certificates from the General Record Office – paper £12.50 – PDF copy £8.00 – don't forget that you can order a Digital Image* for £3.00.
As well as being cheaper – the results are instant.
*Digital Images are currently only available for Births 1837-1923 and Deaths 1837-1957.
There is a vote at the moment on the new website asking Would you like a guide to ordering and using GRO Digital Images?
Here is a list of unclaimed estates for people who have died in Weston-super-Mare.
Unclaimed estates must be claimed within 30 years of the person’s death. If you think you are eligible to claim, all you need to do is prove it with a family tree!
Our help sessions at Weston-Super-Mare Library on the first Saturday of the month have been so popular that we have collaborated with the library to offer additional sessions on the third Monday of each month starting 19th May 2025. We hope that this will provide a greater opportunity for members and the public to access help with their family history.
If you are a member who enjoys helping others with the challenges of tracing their family history we would welcome you to join our band of volunteers. We find it very rewarding and always learn something of interest. You don’t have to commit to attending every session, or even a whole session, just what you can manage. If you are interested and would like to give it a go please contact Samantha Taylor in person at meetings or via the contact tab on the website.
Sessions are held at:
Weston-super-Mare Library
Town Hall
Walliscote Grove Road
Weston-super-Mare
BS23 1UJ
Monthly on:
First Saturday 2pm to 3.30pm
Third Monday 10.30am to 1pm (starting 19th May 2025)
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