News & Information

Hopefully many of you are enjoying this spell of Summer weather - although as I write this - it's raining!  Thanks to all of you who helped out at the SWAG Fair on one of the hottest days of the year.

• At our July monthly meeting, Christine Thomas brought her own expertise and insight into the story of a number of Bristol Policemen who joined the Hong Kong Police.  They included men from Yatton and Congresbury and she explained the background to the situation and traced each man through his service, retirement and subsequent death demonstrating how pieces of information about people can be discovered in unexpected places. You can read more about Christine and her research here

• The new series of “Who do you think you are?” on Wednesday evenings on BBC1 which started last week will no doubt inspire some people to look into their own ancestry.  If you are just starting you might find the the advice on the free Familysearch site on "getting started.  Ancestry is currently offering free access to the 1911 census until midnight on the 14^th Oct 2013 and as this census is a good place to start your research it might be worth seeing what you can find.

• We will be running the Help Sessions throughout August in the Library as usual in very smart new blue polo shirts!   The Library has recently purchased some transcriptions of Bristol Parish Records produced by the Bristol & Avon FHS which you should now be able to consult when you visit – it is surprising how many people from North Somerset went to Bristol to get married.  

• For those who cannot visit the library we have the Research Forum on our web site.  It has been found that messages are more likely to be answered if you type the surnames of your family in capital letters – it makes it easier for a casual viewer to spot a familiar surname and perhaps feel inspired to add their comments.  For example:  If I mention that my husband’s grandparents were John Millard HASE, Mary Ann PUDDY, Harry MARSHALL and Lily Emily GARLAND the surnames stand out and if any of you are researching those names in Somerset I have your interest.

• Members of the Society will be present on Saturday August 10^th when the Chapel in the Cemetery will be open from 1.30pm until 3.30pm. Using our database of burials and memorial inscriptions we will be able to locate the positions of graves. The exhibition of photographs in the Chapel is a result of work undertaken by the pupils of Worle School

• For those of you who are putting together your WW1 research for our project next year - do have a look at this site  it may give you some ideas but also look at its accompanying facebook page  which has some very interesting entries. 

• A reminder that the Lost Cousins Newsletter for July has just gone online, see here for details, and it includes several items which you may find interesting including one which we have discussed at meetings – family trees on Ancestry! 

• At a recent Members' Evening we tried to break down brick walls – there is a very thought provoking podcast on the National Archives site on breaking down brick walls looking at the reasons why we can’t find the information we are looking for and ways of getting around  it.  This is a recording of an illustrated talk (without the illustrations) but it is very easy to follow the details of the talk and worth listening to. 

• We have no meeting in August but for our September meeting we welcome member Pete Williams who will be discussing his research based on the parish of Brean.  I am currently planning the speakers for 2014 and would welcome suggestions and recommendations both for topics and speakers.

So however you spend August we wish you a pleasant time and possibly a chance to put a little more flesh on the skeleton of your family tree.