Our group has about 20 members, with an attendance at our monthly meetings of about 12. None of us are experts, but members have experience in different aspects, and are willing to share these with the group. We also run sessions for absolute beginners. We have persuaded some members to explore a particular subject. Interest in family history is more than just drawing up a family tree. If you find that an ancestor worked in a certain trade, or lived in a certain way you want to know about it, and therefore extend your interest into social history.

As a result of all this, we have been able to put on presentations, given by our members, on such matters as Getting Started, Army Records, Dating Photographs, Dating Cloths, Old Postcards, Dating your House, The Huguenots, Lace Makers, and The Workhouse. We have had paid speakers on Recording Church Memorials and Interpretation of Old Handwriting. We have organised visits to The National Archives, The Society of Genealogists and the Essex Records Office. We aim to keep this up in the future, so whether you are a beginner or expert or somewhere in-between, please come along.

This is our planned programme for 2011/12

 

Month	Memories	Main topic	Speaker