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

Book With Local Suffolk Family / History Interest

Posted by K Pulford on Wed, 14th Nov 2018

Jonathan Porter has recently self-published his first book ‘Zero Hour Z Day,’ Operations between Maricourt – Mametz 1^st July 1916, the opening day of The Battle of the Somme. 

 Zero Hour Z Day was a huge undertaking with 10 years of research (much in East Anglia) and 4years full time writing.  The work sets out to chronicle in greater detail than ever before the story of the successful assaults by 18^th (Eastern) and 30th Divisions. The book seeks to determine why this success was attained, when so many other units along the front barely crossed No-Man's-Land.  I used previously unseen and new material and utilised untold accounts.  The book also includes over 650 bios and images of those who took part with many from Suffolk - Norfolk.  

As you will know 18^th (Eastern) Division recruited mainly from East Anglia and as such contained many local regiments including the Suffolk and Norfolk Regiments. 

He self-published the book, which allowed him to regain control over the finished work.  Cutting out the middleman has allowed me to keep the price low for the huge size of book and number of colour illustrations.  The only disadvantage being I have to market and sell the book without the marketing power a publishing company would bring.

The work has been well received within the military history community and beyond and has achieved glowing reviews from several renowned military historians.  It has been described as the new benchmark for those studying the Somme battles. 

The book has achieved ‘book of the month’ in Britain at War magazine and has had number one position in The Western Front Association book reviews.

Due to the local connection this book will be of interest to some within socity's membership.  

The book is good quality, size A4, 512 pages, 150gsm silk, full colour throughout with ISBN number.

• 512 pages (size A4) weighing 2.8kg.
• 650 bios and images of the men who took part.
• 79 colour maps.
• 83 colour and b/w annotated aerial photographs.
• 142 b/w photographs (many previously unpublished).
• 41 colour photographs
• 38 sketches.
• Appendix of 125 gallantry awards.
• A4 Hardback ISBN 978-0-9956911-0-0 £30.
• A4 Soft-cover ISBN 978-0-9956911-1-7 £25.
• Information, historical background & sample chapters available at www.zerohourzday.com

The book is exclusively available via his website www.zerohourzday.com on the buy a book page.  Alternatively email info@zerohourzday.com to pay by UK cheque.  All books are signed copies.  The website has pages covering historical information and has the capability to download several sample chapters.

 His efforts will make a positive contribution to the records of the Great War and particularly to the memory of the men from Suffolk and the wider East Anglia who served with 18^th (Eastern) Division.

Latest Baptism Index CD

Posted by Webmaster on Sun, 11th Nov 2018

We are pleased to bring you another Baptism Index CD, this one covering Blackbourn Deanery baptisms between the years 1650 and 1753.

Blackbourn Deanery covers 33 parishes to the north of Bury St. Edmunds and bordering Norfolk and should be a great help to those with family roots there.

For details of each parish and the exact years covered, see Suffolk Parishes or purchase from our Shop where the CD is now available for £15.32 + p&p.

Our thanks to our dedicated team of helpers, mainly at the Suffolk Record Office Bury St Edmunds, for their dedicated work in bringing you this latest CD.

Suffolk Roots December issue

Posted by Geoffrey Dennish on Fri, 26th Oct 2018

If you were unable to attend the AGM and Fair, the December issue of "Roots" will contain a report and pictures of both events together with a commemoration of the centenery of the ending of World War One.

There will be many local and national tributes to those who fought and those who fell in the conflict, at the end of which returning personnel faced many more challenges. Personal relationships were frequently damaged by separation and experience of front-line trauma; families and businesses had to be rebuilt and the nation faced essential changes in order to go forward.

If you or your family or business have photographs, a story or memoir to relate about the challenges that were faced and overcome - or the difficulties that proved to be too great -  please send them in as soon as possible for inclusion in the December issue. Let us make this a fitting tribute to the tasks our ancestors were set and tackled and a contribution to the local history of change.

Editor
Suffolk Roots

Latest Marriage Index CD

Posted by Webmaster on Thu, 27th Sep 2018

Our latest CD, now available, covers Fordham Deanery marriages between the years 1650 and 1753 and so should be great help to those with early ancestors in this NW corner of the county.

Fordham Deanery covers a large area bordering Cambridgeshire & Norfolk and it’s parishes including Newmarket (2) in the south and Mildenhall and Brandon in the north. For details of each parish and the available years* covered see Suffolk Parishes or visit our Shop where the CD is now available, price £10.00 + p&p

Our thanks to Pamela and her team of helpers, whose dedicated work on these often difficult to read early registers is much appreciated.

A Talk from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Posted by K Pulford on Fri, 21st Sep 2018

Haverhill Aviation Society

www.havavsoc.org.uk

STIRLING HOUSE

Highpoint

CB8 9YL

Thursday 18th October 2018 at 7.30pm

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

"Its History and Work Today"

A talk by Anna Photi

CWGC Eastern Region

Visitors welcome

£3.00 including refreshments

Contact: 07913102356

Email: havavsoc@gmail.com

Free Parking

Please arrive before 7.15pm

www.havavsoc.org.uk

Latest Baptism Index CD

Posted by Webmaster on Wed, 5th Sep 2018

Our latest CD, now available, covers Ipswich Deanery baptisms between the years 1650 and 1753 and as the first of this series in the East of the county it should be a great help to those with family roots there. .

Ipswich Deanery comprises 12 parishes with most having surviving registers for the period. For details of each parish and the available years* covered see Suffolk Parishes or visit our Shop where the CD is now available, price £15.32 + p&p

Our thanks to all our team of helpers, mainly at the Suffolk Record Office Ipswich, whose dedicated work on these often difficult to read early registers is much appreciated