LFHHS Chorley Research Centre at Astley Hall Farmhouse Chorley opened for business today after being closed for 10 months whilst the Chorley Council undrtook a major refurbishment.

Visit the website for details www.cfhrc.com

From the Surname Societies Press Release


NEW SOCIETY LAUNCHES at http://surname-society.org

The founder members are delighted to announce the launch of The Surname Society - the online society for individuals, groups and associations with an interest in surname studies, regardless of their location in the world, the surname they are studying, or their level of research expertise.

Focussing on single surname studies, the society meets the needs of researchers in the world of family history and genealogy as it evolves in the 21st century. The Surname Society’s vision is to connect like-minded people by providing facilities which enable members to share knowledge, data and good practice with others. The society allows members to register both worldwide and limited studies and is entirely online. Collaboration is facilitated and encouraged as it is the core ethos of The Surname Society.

Surname researchers collect data relating to all name bearers, either on a global or restricted basis. The society does not mandate study methods and members are encouraged to develop their own approach to the investigation of their surname to advance their knowledge and expertise in areas such as etymology, DNA, name collection and family reconstruction. The Surname Society will help and advise inexperienced members on ways to conduct their study and how to avoid the pitfalls which can occur!

A truly global organisation from the outset, the committee members are located around the world from Australia to England, Spain and Canada and in the first week since its announcement to those who completed the online questionnaire, the society has almost one hundred new and enthusiastic members. 

The cost of membership to The Surname Society is just £5 per annum with no hidden extras.

You can register as many names as you want on either a restricted or worldwide basis, collaborate with others, share in the educational opportunities offered and a plethora of resources in the Members’ area of the website including a fascinating quarterly e-newsletter and the School of Surnames, with many other developments in the pipeline in due course. 

So, what are you waiting for? Take a look at the website and if you are interested, join! 

The LFHHS Chorley Research Centre re-opens for business on Monday 10th November

Check out the website at www.cfhrc.com






The Centre offers:

Advice and help you with your research from our friendly staff.

A large Resource Library housing a range of Parish Record Transcriptions, Directories, and a wide range of books on various family history related subjects.

Four computers giving us access to the Internet and online genealogy resources, and a large collection of data CD’s

Microfiche Readers and a large library of microfiche containing Parish Records, Monumental Inscriptions, Census Indexes, Parish Record Transcriptions for Lancashire and other counties

Opening Times

Monday           10am to 4.00pm

Wednesday      10am to 4.00pm

Friday             10am to 4.00pm

Saturday          12 noon to 4.00pm (2nd and 3rd Saturdays in the month)

Bookings are always advisable

To book and to make sure that the resources you want will be available for you contact the Resource Centre by email or telephone


                                                                                                           
Telephone    01257 231600 When closed 01257 262028
Astley Hall Farmhouse 
Hallgate, Astley Village,                                                                                                        
Chorley, PR7 1XA                                                                                                  


email  [email protected]

From Find My Past





Explore Findmypast’s billions of historical records for FREE this Remembrance Weekend
 
Free access to all Findmypast’s historical records throughout Remembrance Weekend
Live Broadcast to be held on Saturday afternoon featuring an expert panel of historians and genealogists
 
This Remembrance Weekend, we want to help everyone find their First World War ancestors and learn more about their family history.
 
So we’re delighted to announce that this Remembrance Weekend, we’ll be opening up our archives and giving unlimited free access to billions of records and newspaper pages from all over the world. That means that between midday on Friday, November 7th and midday on Monday, November 10th (GMT), absolutely everyone will have access to all our historical records, including:
·         Millions of birth, marriage and death records
·         Census, land and substitute records from the US, UK, Ireland and Australia
·         Millions of newspaper pages from all over the world
·         Travel and migration records
·         Military records from all over the world, including World War 1 records
As well as millions of other records that will give everyone the opportunity to explore their family history and bring their past to life.
It’s not only new users who will be able to take their family history research further this weekend. Those with current Findmypast Local subscriptions (with an active Britain, Ireland, US & Canada or Australia & New Zealand subscription) will be able to access all our historical World records during the free access weekend. Those with active World subscriptions will have an additional three days added on to their subscription.
Find out more at our dedicated Free Weekend page.
 
Live Broadcast
This Saturday 8th November, we will be hosting our first ever Live Broadcast. Featuring an expert panel including Findmypast’s Director of Family History, Joshua Taylor, military historian Paul Nixon, and Who Do You Think You Are?’s Lead Genealogist Laura Berry, the broadcast is designed to help everyone get further with their family history research.
The talks will cover a wide range of topics – from getting started to breaking down brick walls – and viewers can choose to watch the entire event, or tune in for specific presentations.
The Live Broadcast will be shown at 3pm (GMT) on Saturday 8th November. All of the presentations can also be watched on demand after the broadcast on the Remembrance Weekend section of our blog.
 
See the programme below, and read more about the speakers, their talks and how to watch them on our blog.
 
Live Broadcast Programme

• 3.00pm:  Joshua Taylor, Director Family History, Findmypast:Welcome
• 3.02pm:  Amy Sell, Family Historian, Findmypast: Getting Started
• 3.20pm:  Myko Clelland, Family Historian, Findmypast: Top Tips for Researching Your Family History
• 3.40pm:  Amy Sell:  What the Censuses Tell Us
• 4.00pm:  Laura Berry, Lead Genealogist, BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are?: Exploring British Newspapers
• 4.20pm:  Paul Nixon, Military Expert, Findmypast:  Discover Your Ancestors in the Military Records
• 4.40pm:  Brian Donovan, Director, Findmypast Ireland:  Tracing Your Irish Ancestors
• 5.00pm:  Joshua Taylor: Discover Your Ancestors in International Records
• 5.20pm:  Joshua Taylor: Closing remarks
• 5.30pm – 6.30pm: Facebook Q&A with the Findmypast Experts on our global Facebook page.

 
 
Live Family History Facebook Q&A
 
Directly after our Live Broadcast, we’ll also be hosting a live Q&A on family history researching on our global Facebook page with some of our speakers. Join us between 5.30 and 6.30pm (GMT) to join the discussion on how to get started or break down your family history brick walls.
 
You can submit your questions in advance to our Facebook wall, send them @Findmypast on Twitter using the hashtag #FMPLive, or join us live on Facebook on Saturday evening.
 
Follow @Findmypast on Twitter and use the hashtag #FMPLive to follow our event updates.

Free records of WW1 Red Cross volunteers go online

The British Red Cross has started digitising index cards containing details of the men and women who signed up to help injured servicemen during First World War



Records of First World War medical volunteers have been made available online for the first time.

The British Red Cross has started uploading scans and transcriptions of over 236,000 paper index cards to its website, each providing details of Voluntary Aid Detachment personnel, known as ‘VADs’, who signed up to help sick and injured servicemen.

Created following an £80,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the free web resource can reveal an array of details about the volunteer including their name, address, dates of engagement and a description of their duties.

For example, the entry for Vera Brittain – who wrote about her First World War experiences in the memoir Testament of Youth – reveals that she began service in August 1915, before being posted out to work at auxiliary hospitals in Malta and on the Western Front.

Although the database currently only includes index cards for volunteers with surnames beginning with A or B, the rest of the collection will be released in several tranches over the course of the next 12 months.

Speaking earlier this year, Sue Bowers, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund London, said:

“The VAD indexes are a largely untapped source of information about the significant contribution made by women in particular to the Home Front.”

“It is quite incredible that these records have survived in their original form for a century but now the information they contain can be saved to the benefit of historians, academics and people tracing family histories.”
 

TAKE IT FURTHER

► Search the records for free at www.redcross.org.uk/ww1