News & Information

February may be our shortest month but it certainly finished on a high.  Following a successful visit to the National Archives we had an excellent talk from Clive Burlton on "Trenches to Trams" the story of his wife's grandfather's life.  It demonstrated almost a text-book method of family history research starting with information held within the family - (and it must be said, these were of the highest quality!) through resources held in other archives such as the Bristol Record Office, Bristol Museums and the Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum to name but three.  More information about the Gloucesters can be found here and for those of you who missed the talk a brief summary of his book can be found here.

The February edition of Buckets and Spades was another fascinating publication - having whetted our appetite about what can be discovered from postcards last time, Colin Middle has certainly provided food for thought with his article about people portrayed on postcards.  Sheila Mills also contributed a piece about her family and family photographs including a plea for all of us to name our photographs! Weston Rugby Football Club researched by Rod Crocker is another interesting item and is full of names of players and officials of the club. Thanks to those who have supplied items but Paul is always happy to receive more for the next journal.

On March 7th the North Somerset Archivist will be visiting the Library - her visits are not so frequent these days so please make the mose of them - Check with the online catalogue what is available and order in advance of her visit. Order your documents from  Jane de Gruchy, North Somerset Archivist: Tel: 01823 278805 email

Weston Museum is entering the next phase of its Heritage Lottery Funding application and will be consulting the public about its requirements of a local museum.  Look out for invitations to visit the museum and to offer your thoughts on a questionnaire. More information can be obtained here. 

Keep up to date with what is available on the Internet - more documents are appearing almost daily - yes, I know that you do have to pay for some of them but set that against the cost of traveling and the time saved by digital indexing.  Please bring along the links to any sites which you have found helpful to the next meeting because after the AGM we will be looking at this topic.  Nominations for Chairperson, Treasurer and committee members are required by the secretary, Brian Airey, one week before the AGM.