One Day We Shall All Be Ancestors

Posted by Geoffrey Dennish on Fri, 19th Apr 2019

This is the theme for the June issue of our quarterly journal, Suffolk Roots.

Your thoughts will be welcome on Who amongst our living family should be remembered by future generations; What we think our descendants should know about us; When should we add to, or explain, what public records say about us; Where is the best place to preserve our story; Why do our lives and times matter to those who come after us and How do we compile the essence of our lives into a lasting record?

Pages are still available to publish your response(s) to these questions. These may reflect your thoughts on your own information legacy - or make suggestions to others wondering how to record important aspects of their lives.

Please send  your articles and any pictures you would like to include to editor@suffolkfhs.co.uk by the end of April

And, of course you have another story that ’ does not ‘fit’ the above topic, why not suggest a new theme to cover the article which you would like to write - or just write it up and send it in anyway?

Your contributions are always very  welcome.

Support Your Local Record Office

Posted by K Pulford on Wed, 10th Apr 2019

Norfolk Family History Special Meeting

Posted by K Pulford on Mon, 8th Apr 2019

Members Interests

Posted by K Pulford on Thu, 28th Feb 2019

Members can now update their research interests on line from the members interests menu. If you log in to the members area you will see your name as the top item on the Members Area menu. If you click on this it will take you to a dialogue which allows you to update your details and on there is a link to the members interests update page as shown below.

Once you click on the link it will open up a dialogue which lists your existing research interests. From this you can edit an interest , delete one or even add a new one. The dialogue looks like the following.

Good editing.

Bury Record Office Talks for March

Posted by K Pulford on Wed, 20th Feb 2019

Click on the image to get a larger version.

Exchange Journals

Posted by K Pulford on Sun, 17th Feb 2019

We have now arranged with some family history societies to make their journals available to our members. These are mostly from Australian and New Zeland and contain fascinating articles about settlement as well as more general articles on family history rsearch.

The journals which we have so far been made available are from the following societies:

• The Society of Australian Genealogists

• Richmond-Tweed Family History Society Inc. Ballina NSW Australia

• The Heraldry & Genealogy Society of Canberra Inc.

• Queensland Family History Society Inc

• New Zeland Family Tree

You can access these by logging into the members' area and clicking on the Exchange Journals link.

The list of available journals will be added to as time progresses and as we establish agreements with more societies.

We wish to thank our membership secretary, Andy Kerridge, for making the arrangements with the other societies.

Price of Certificates for England & Wales

Posted by Webmaster on Sat, 5th Jan 2019

Are you planning to buy any birth, marriage or death certificates in the near future?

The GRO are raising the price of a birth, marriage or death certificate for England & Wales on 16 February 2019 from £9.25 to £11.00. At the same time, the charge for the PDF version will rise from £6.00 to £7.00.

Therefore, now is the time to place any orders that you are planning and beat the price rise!

Suffolk Record Office Courses

Posted by K Pulford on Wed, 2nd Jan 2019

Think about attending a record office course or talk to enhance your enjoyment of family history. Click on the image to get a larger image.

Society Members Get Prestigious Awards

Posted by K Pulford on Wed, 19th Dec 2018

Four members of the Suffolk Family History Society were presented with awards by the mayor of Haverhill, Tony Brown, on behalf of Haverhill Council, in recognition and appreciation for outstanding dedication and commitment to the Haverhill Armistice 100 Commemorations. The mayor made a surprise visit to the Haverhill’s Group meeting, on 13th December to present awards to Brian Thompson, Charmian Thompson, Alan Bumpstead and Bryan Mills to the surprise and delight of everyone present. Brian and Charmian Thompson lead the Haverhill Group of the Suffolk Family History Society. Alan Bumpstead and Bryan Mills, are both members of our group, and their awards were for their support with the Royal British Legion, for Armistice 100 events

Brian and Charmian Thompson with mayor Tony Brown	Alan Bumpstead with Mayor Tony Brown	Bryan Mills with Mayor Tony Brown

Brian and Charmian with the Haverhill Group, organised a number of events for the Armistice 100 celebrations marking the Centenary of the end of the Great War. Using a very generous grant from the Co-op Communities for use in education within schools, they arranged for two showings of the film 'Journey's End' for over 340 students and staff at the local Arts Centre.

Amongst the many other events that they were involved in was a display held throughout November entitled 'What did your Ancestor do during the Great War?' where members and friends of the group shared their discoveries.  In conjunction with this, an exhibition 'Haverhill in the Great War' was held in the Haverhill Arts Centre Studio. Local schools were invited to attend and over 120 students and staff came along to view the display and exhibition and to take part in various workshops which included learning a World War One marching song.

On Saturday 10th November, at the Old Independent Church, they hosted the ‘Haverhill Remembers – Lest We Forget’ event. The evening of music, words and images celebrated the Centenary of the end of the Great War. Members of Haverhill group were joined by the Haverhill Silver Band, Haverhill Singers, Operatic Society and Samuel Ward Academy Choir who took part in this memorable performance. The Group are extremely grateful to the Haverhill Town Council who supported the concert and the Arts Centre technical and backroom team who worked tirelessly throughout the day to ensure that there was lighting, sound and a recording of the whole event which was streamed live on Facebook.

To complement the events a silhouette for each of the 145 casualties named on the Haverhill memorial was placed in the windows of shops and business premises throughout the town centre.

In the spirit of trying to engage with other local groups they were pleased that they were able to encourage ‘Haverhill Rocks’ to produce some stunning painted rocks remembering the fallen during the Great War which were placed in strategic places throughout the town.

Brian and Charmian said that although they bore the responsibility of arranging these events they would like to empathise that without the commitment and help from group members none of the events could have taken place.

Beginners Palaeography Course

Posted by K Pulford on Fri, 14th Dec 2018