Today is July 1st and the nation is commemorating 100 years since the start of the Battle of the Somme where many of our ancestors or their relatives lost their lives. Looking at those people who are remembered on the Grove Park Memorial in Weston it is sobering to note that nearly 30 of those named are also named on the Theipval Memorial, and that 3 died on that very first day, July 1st. They were L. Cpl Norman William CHANDLER, Private Ernest Charles Edwin COLES and L. Cpl John James PRICE.
At the end of this document is a link so that you can read the Obituary of Private Ernest COLES as reported in the Weston Mercury - transcribed by Davis Tyler – other obituaries can be seen in a file David has given to Weston Library.
- The Imperial War Museum has launched a free online learning resource to coincide with the centenary of The Battle of the Somme
- Findmypast is offering free research to coincide with the events to commemorate the Somme
- Ancestry is also making access to the records, and other WWI collections, free between 8pm on June 30 and midnight on July 4 – 100 hours to mark 100 years.
- To commemorate those lost on the Somme, Forces War Records is offering FREE access for a few days to an interactive map of Troop Movements based upon Order of Battle of Divisions (ORBATS). The offering includes a new interactive feature on the Forces War Records website.
- The BBC has a story about some letters written from the Somme by a Brian BOYD. Brian Boyd survived the Somme but a year later at Messines in Belgium he went "over the top" carrying his battalion colours and was among the first to fall.
Change of Location for our monthly meeting
- Due to changes and proposed building work at St Paul’s Church Hall it had become necessary to look for alternative accommodation
- I can now announce that arrangements have been made for the Society to change the location of its monthly meetings from 27th September to the Vintage Church in Hughenden Road, Weston-super-Mare, BS23 2UR
- The doors will open at 7.00pm as before and the meeting will start at 7.30pm
- Please note that we will be meeting on the 4th Tuesday of each month, instead of the last Tuesday of the month.
- This will not affect the dates of the September and October meetings
- Change of date for AGM – this will now take place on Tuesday 22nd Nov 2016
- The July meeting will be the last one at St Paul’s as we do not meet in August.
June Members' Evening
- At the Members’ Evening in June we remembered David Milner and valued the support he had given to the Society as Treasurer and Editor over the years.
- As an interim measure we are very grateful that Roy Smith has agreed to act as Treasurer until a replacement can be formally elected at our AGM in November.
- Another request was made for assistance for Paul Tracey in editing Buckets and Spades – if you yourself, or you know of anyone who may be interested please can you or they contact Paul by using the "Contact Us" at the top of the home page and choosing "Journal Editor" from the Categories
- We considered the lives of our female relatives. Thank you to those who contributed but what about those who appeared not to have any female relatives?! Can you suggest topics for future members’ evenings which would be of interest and to which more members can contribute?
Help Sessions
There is a slight change to the timing of one of our new Help Sessions. Starting on July 19th the timing of the Help Session at the Healthy Learning Centre will be from 10.00am to 12 noon on the 3rd Tuesday of each month.
News of Resources
- New to Ancestry are Prison Records for Gloucestershire - I think I’ve located a direct ancestor which will need some following up – he’s charged with abandoning his wife! You can read more about this resource by looking at the Who Do You Think You Are? magazine
- I have several times recommended the free Trove site for Australian newspapers but it seems that there may be changes ahead. This blog by Jennifer McLaren reports some disappointing news about its funding
- We recently recommended a website about the history of Banwell – Have you seen these Banwell videos? If any of you have ancestors from Banwell these are well worth a viewing.
- Wrington researchers may also be interested in these Wrington videos – not so historical but a marvellous chance to see a modern village at work and play.
- This series of still photographs under the title of Bygone Images show some of the recent history of Portishead and Pill – there are others for various places in North Somerset – just search for the village name and video to see what is available.
Society Information for July
Our next meeting – the last one at St Paul’s Church Hall - is on July 26th when we will welcome Ian Sage with his talk – “Desperately seeking Cyril” – which he describes as "A German immigrant family's journey from Sherlock Holmes to James Bond – via the Western Front". Ian has ancestors from Nailsea and therefore has connections with this part of the country. He also acts as the Somerset OPC Project Coordinator.
Throughout July and August the usual Help Sessions will continue, so please come along with your questions or to help others.
There is no meeting in August and then we move to Hughenden Road for the September meeting.
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