Shape of Things to Come

NEWS

Yesterday I received a circular from David Holman, Chairman of the FFHS, imploring us all to act to help prevent pending cuts at Cornwall Record Office and the Cornish Studies Library.  The proposed changes can be seen here, and the gist of what David is saying is that this is the ‘thin end of the wedge’ for us countrywide.  And of course he’s right.  A pdf document was attached to the circular – a text which does not seem to be available online, so I will happily send it to anyone who is interested (contact me at micksouthwick@blueyonder.co.uk).  Otherwise, you should contact the repositories direct with your comments via the first link, above.  We should all be very wary of what is going on up and down the country in this respect, and be ready to act when we have to.  And, of course, to actually use the repositories as much as we can!

My usual Tuesday ‘Events Listing’ seems to get bigger every week.  And now I plan on including such items as ‘postcard fairs’, too, so brace yourselves…

• Wednesday 14th September – Cirencester Postcard Fair;
• Saturday 17th September – ‘Dig Up Your Roots in West Lancashire’ Family History Day, Ormskirk;
• Saturday 17th September – North Berwick Postcard Fair (St.Andrew Blackadder Church Hall, High Street, North Berwick – contact Gareth Burgess on 01368 860365 before setting out);
• Saturday 17th September – Chester Postcard Fair;
• Saturday 17th September – Powick Postcard Fair;
• Saturday 17th September – Lichfield Book Fair;
• Sunday 18th September – London (Alexander Palace) Book Fair;
• Sunday 18th September – Arkholme Book Fair;
• Sunday 18th September – Hungerford Book Fair;
• Sunday 18th September – London (Holiday Inn) Book Fair.

On the subject of ‘events’, now seems a good time to remind you all of the forthcoming ‘Exploring Local History’ Lecture Series at PRONI.

Oh, and here’s another one: TNA’s one day conference, ‘Titanic 2012’, is now open for early bird discount bookings.  The event takes place on 14th April next year.

Ancestry are offering us the chance to brush up on our genealogical knowledge (and push a few of their products, too, no doubt!), by way of their week-long (I think) ‘Ancestry Academy’.  Not tried it myself, but you can investigate here.

ARTICLES

A quite extraordinary genealogical story has appeared on the MailOnline website – see here.

OTHER STUFF

And though it’s not very ‘genealogical’, blogger John Reid points to a nice post about ‘Life’s Instructions’ – see his little intro here, where you will find the link in question.