Join us in celebrating all things Family History!
Everyone who delves into their family history loves to meet fellow enthusiasts, share experiences and discuss seemingly insoluble problems. This is why we in GFHS are so delighted to host a Family History Fair between 10am and 4pm on Saturday 2nd November as one of the very popular monthly Heritage Hub Open Days.
So what’s going on?
Our own volunteers will be on hand to talk about some of the projects we’ve been working on over the last few years. One of the most innovative projects we’ll be highlighting involved a collaboration with a variety of partners including the Civic Trust and Gloucestershire College and culminated in exhibitions in both St Nicholas’s church in Gloucester and the Cathedral. Our part of the project involved researching the residents of a variety of properties in Westgate Street. Then the College students took our research results and created a series of striking images inspired by the many unusual stories we’d found. This picture shows just how astonishing the final result was.
We’re welcoming two amazing speakers
Dr Nick Barratt who needs no introduction! His talks about family and local history and their future are always thought-provoking, inspiring and not-to-be missed. Our other speaker is Joanna Teague who is a locally-based textile historian, researcher and artist. Our volunteers have helped her to reinterpret the lives of the girls in the Cheltenham Female Orphan Asylum in the past and now we’re involved in her latest project ‘Stitching Lives Together’ which celebrates the many Gloucester residents who worked with fabric in its widest sense: from dress makers to pin makers. She’ll tell us more about this project and how research can inspire art which in turn encourages many different people to engage with heritage - something we’re all very keen to do!
Although entry to the Fair is free-of-charge, booking for the talks is essential - please book through the Heritage Hub website: heritagehub.org.uk
Alongside all this, we’ve invited FH Societies from the neighbouring counties and other heritage groups to come to offer their specialist help and advice. We’re also very grateful to the staff from Gloucestershire Archives who will be providing behind-the-scenes tours, advice about preserving family memorabilia and a display of some of the Archives’ treasures.
A problem shared…
Visit our Research Centre to discover just how to kickstart your own research, starting from family memories, memorabilia or oldphotographs. If you’ve already done ‘the basics’ and either have hit a brick wall or want to find out more about where (or how) your family lived, talk to our volunteers and see what we can help you find. Over the years we’ve compiled indexes to a wide variety of sources including local births, marriages and deaths from 1837, monumental inscriptions and war memorials so there is a good chance you’ll find something to interest you.
No need to worry if your family doesn’t come from Gloucestershire - many of the resources in our Centre cover not only the UK but also the world, so we’ll do our best to help you!