LANARKSHIRE FAMILY HISTORY SOCIETY
LOCAL AND FAMILY HISTORY SHOW AUGUST 2014
Following the success of last year’s Local and Family History Show, Lanarkshire Family History Society (http://www.lanarkshirefhs.org.uk) will be staging another event this summer, as part of Homecoming Scotland 2014.
Celebrating Scotland’s Heritage, which takes place on Saturday 23rd August in Motherwell Theatre and Concert Hall, will be a great day out for anyone interested in local or family history, with keynote speakers, more than 50 exhibitors and many free activities for children.
Lanarkshire FHS is delighted to announce that four high profile speakers will be taking part in the event;
Historian, author and broadcaster Dr Fiona Watson is a member of the Academic Advisory Panel on the Battle of Bannockburn. A Research Fellow at the University of Dundee, Fiona has written widely on the Wars of Independence. To mark its 700th anniversary, she will speak about the Battle of Bannockburn, challenging many of the perceptions about this iconic Scottish battle, from why it was fought to what difference it made.
Dr Bruce Durie is one of Scotland’s premier authorities on genealogy, known particularly for his teaching, writing and broadcasting. He started the much-acclaimed Genealogical, Heraldic and Palaeographic Studies Programme at the University of Strathclyde. Bruce will lecture on Scottish Heraldry, including guiding us through the way to blazon (describe) arms, exploring their relevance to genealogy and explaining the workings of the Lyon Court.
Dr Irene O’Brien is City Archivist for Glasgow as well as Chair of the Scottish Council on Archives. She looks after Scotland’s largest civic archive, the Mitchell Library, and has an encyclopaedic knowledge of its records and how they can help us discover more about our ancestors, the lives they lived and the world they inhabited. Irene’s talk will be on Family History at the Mitchell: The Family History Centre and the Website.
Chris Paton is a professional genealogist, lecturer and author, well known in the UK, Canada and Australasia. Originally from Northern Ireland, with both Scottish and Irish roots, Chris will speak about Irish Resources for Family History. While many of the nation’s primary records were lost, Chris will show that not only has a great deal of information survived, but much of what is available is increasingly being digitised and put online.
Some of the major names from the worlds of genealogy and local history will be attending, including the online forum RootsChat.com, FamilySearch.org, the Mitchell Library’s Family History Centre, the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historic Monuments Scotland (RCAHMS) and its online presence SCRAN, genealogical supplies companies My History and Genealogy Printers, and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI), making a much-appreciated trip across the Irish Sea for the Show.
The World Heritage site of New Lanark, Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life, the David Livingstone Centre and Hamilton’s Low Parks Museum are some of the local attractions being represented on the day. Lanarkshire Yeomanry, the Lanarkshire Police Historical Society, Scottish Genealogy Society, Scottish Local History Forum, Scottish Monumental Inscriptions, Scottish DNA and the Universities of Strathclyde and Dundee will also be there.
Family History Societies from throughout Scotland will include Glasgow & West of Scotland, Renfrewshire, West Lothian, Dumfries and Galloway, Moray & Nairn, East Ayrshire and Troon. Heritage groups from both North and South Lanarkshire will display artefacts, photographs and other aspects of their research; while local schoolchildren will showcase their work, including Hamilton Grammar School’s WW1 Memorial Art Project.
As well as the main speakers, there will be workshops on Starting Your Family Tree – aimed both at adults and at parents with their older children (aged 10-15); and a presentation by the Head of Public Services at PRONI on the records held there, both on and off-line. Free one-to-one advice will be available for those just starting out in family history research or who’ve hit a “brick wall”.
Children’s activities will include storytelling, face painting, hand loom weaving and a quiz; there’ll also be the chance for youngsters to have photographs taken in historic costume or with an owl (additional charge). Food and refreshments will be available all day and there’s free parking at the venue.
Tickets will be on sale from July through the Show website http://lfhsshow2014.weebly.com/ or by post from Lanarkshire FHS, c/o North Lanarkshire Heritage Centre, 1 High Road, Motherwell ML1 3HU. Entry is £2 per person, with talks costing £4 each or £14 for all four. Buying one or more talk tickets allows free entry to the show. Children under 12 are admitted free with a paying adult.
Local and Family History Show 2014 ‘Celebrating Scotland’s Heritage’
Saturday 23rd August 2013
9.30 am to 4.30 pm
Motherwell Concert Hall and Theatre, Civic Centre, Motherwell ML1 1AB
(With thanks to Elizabeth Irving, Press & Publicity Co-ordinator for Lanarkshire Family History Society, and member of the Scottish Genealogy Network)
Chris
Now available for UK research is the new second edition of the best selling Tracing Your Family History on the Internet: A Guide for Family Historians, whilst my new book British and Irish Newspapers is also now out. And FindmyPast - please reinstate the original Scottish census citations on your new site.
Chris the lectures sound interesting. Any thought given to podcasts that we overseas folks could purchase and download via Paypal or some such secure payment option. The Mitchell lecture in particular interests me. Though I've visited 4 times I am sure there is much to learn about what is available.
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