Powys War Memorials Project competition

From Heritage of Wales news, the blog of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales:

Powys County Council has secured funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), Cadw (Welsh Government) and the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority for the Powys War Memorials Project 2014-2018: A Mark of Respect. This project commemorates the centenary of World I and is now holding a World War I memorial photography competition as part of the project. 

Nathan Davies, the Powys War Memorials Project Officer explains, “We know of about 300 war memorials in Powys ranging from stone crosses to stained glass windows, plaques to statues. However, there are likely to be considerably more than this. One aim of the project is to find, record and catalogue all the World War I memorials in the county. All you need to do is find a war memorial, take a photograph of it, complete the entry form and email it to us. That’s it ! You’ll be commemorating the centenary of World War 1 and will have the chance to win a share of the £200 prize fund.”

For fuhttp://heritageofwalesnews.blogspot.ca/2016/04/powys-war-memorials-project-free.html
ll details of the competition, and on how to submit entries, please visit the full post at

Chris

For details on my genealogy guide books, including A Decade of Irish Centenaries: Researching Ireland 1912-1923, Discover Scottish Church Records (2nd edition), Discover Irish Land Records and Down and Out in Scotland: Researching Ancestral Crisis, please visit http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html. My Pinterest account is at https://www.pinterest.com/chrismpaton/.

Saint Patrick's Day - competition time!

Hi folks,

It's COMPETITION TIME!!!!

Well we're well and truly on the lead up to Saint Paddy's Day now, when Irishmen north and south, and across the world, remember that the one thing that makes us all the same is that we all end up forgetting our toleration levels with Guinness.

So, here's the craic - I'm tripping over goodies here to offer by way of a competition to celebrate the fact that our national day is on the horizon, but also to celebrate the release of my latest book. The spirit of generosity knows no bounds when it comes to Saint Paddy's Day however - and as such, I also have some goodies kindly donated by Bob Blatchford, by way of the latest Family and Local History Handbooks (http://genealogical.co.uk), British and Irish, and equally new on the scene this month.

Here are the prizes...!

FIRST PRIZE: A copy of my newly released book, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet AND a copy the Family and Local History Handbook 14

SECOND PRIZE: A copy of the Irish Family and Local History Handbook 2 AND a copy of my most recent Australian produced publication, Discover Scottish Land Records

There is a catch - you have to answer a question! And to keep it in the spirit of all things genealogical, here it is:

Q:  In April 1845, the partial civil registration of marriage commenced in Ireland (non-Roman Catholic religious weddings and civil marriages) - but in what year did the civil registration of ALL births, marriages and deaths finally get underway on the island?

The deadline for answers is Monday 18th March 2013, at 12pm UK time. Please send your answer to christopherpaton @ tiscali.co.uk with the subject heading THREE CHEERS FOR SAINT PADDY!

You have to be in it to win it - good luck!

(With thanks to Bob Blatchford and Rupert Harding)

Chris

My new book, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet, is now available from Pen and Sword. For my other genealogy books, please visit  http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html; whilst for my online Scottish based genealogy courses please visit the Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd site.

FFHS competition - last call for entries

From the Federation of Family History Societies (www.ffhs.org.uk)

Have you a Sportsman or Sportswoman in your family tree?

Last night Olympic gold medallist and Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins was voted the 2012 BBC Sports Personality of the Year

Why not tell us about your special sportsman or woman, their story might win you a prize!

While you are tucking into the mince pies, if you have a some time to spare and you need a break from all the festivities there will still be time to get your entry in to us for our 2012 competition.

Write an account of the special sportsman or sportswoman in your family tree.

1st Prize - 1 year subscription to findmypast.co.uk + £150 + publication in 'Your Family History' magazine.
2nd Prize - 1 year subscription to MyHeritage.com
3rd Prize - 1 year subscription to ancestry.co.uk
4th Prize - 1 year subscription to theGenealogist.co.uk

Full details of the competition are on our website www.ffhs.org.uk
But please hurry -Only 14 days left to submit your entry!

Happy Christmas!

(With thanks to Philippa McCray)

Chris

Having a Christmas present crisis?! Check out my range of genealogy books at http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html - perfect for the family historian's Christmas stocking...! Also now out - new Kindle edition of Tracing Your Family History on the Internet, from http://tinyurl.com/d3vqtz5

Who Do You Think You Are Live competitions

The Who Do You Think You Are Live website has announced a series of competitions on its site, with prizes ranging from genealogy courses with Pharos Teaching and Tutoring Ltd, to a year's subscription to the Radio Times.

For further details visit www.whodoyouthinkyouarelive.com/competitions.

(With thanks to @WDYTYALIVE)

Chris

Having a Christmas present crisis?! Check out my range of genealogy books at http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-books.html - perfect for the family historian's Christmas stocking...! Also now out - new Kindle edition of Tracing Your Family History on the Internet, from http://tinyurl.com/d3vqtz5

FFHS writing competition

Last year the Federation of Family History Societies (www.ffhs.org.uk) ran a competition in which they asked folk to write about their most interesting ancestor. The winners were to Who Do You Think You Are? Live where Nick Barratt presented them with prizes, and where they met representatives of the companies that had sponsored the competition.

The FFHS is running another competition this year, this time asking folk to write about their sporting ancestor! To give an example of the sort of thing they're looking, the FFHS's Philippa McCray has sent me a tale written by Steve Benson, the organisation's publicity officer, which describes his grandmother's take:

My maternal grandfather William Turner born 2nd March 1896 was quite a fit man in his youth. He went off to World War 1 (after lying about his age) with the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment and after training became a sniper. His shooting skill was excellent and he apparently represented the regiment at competitions at Bisley. On his 21st birthday while sniping in France near the front line he was blown out of a church spire by enemy artillery and badly wounded by shrapnel. But we are not concerned with this aspect of his sporting ability.

After the war he resumed his trade as a Master Butcher and slaughterman. His hobby on a sunny afternoon was to go Crown Green Bowling at the local social club over a couple of pints of bitter. He was a member of the bowling club there for many years. The club also had a very active fishing section which he was a member of for many years until he eventually fell out with the committee because they banned him from entering the annual fishing competition because he won every year!

Towards the end of his life (he died on 26 September 1968) I accompanied him on the train from Preston to Plymouth to my Uncle’s house, where he was going to stay for a few weeks. It was the night Sir Francis Chichester arrived back after sailing around the world single-handed.

He was also a bookie’s runner when this was highly illegal in the days before Betting Shops were legalised. I was regularly sent up to the Bookmakers each week with the clock full of bets for the horses and dogs and in those days I was on about three shillings pocket money a week but the bookie always gave me ten shillings if I took the clock up to his office. To a 12 year old this was a fortune at that time. I don’t think we can count a bookie’s runner as a category of sportsman though!

If you can come up with something similar, the FFHS would love to hear from you! The closing date is 31st December - full details can be found on their website at www.ffhs.org.uk/tips/competition2012.php.

(With thanks to Philippa)

Chris

Scotland 1750-1850 - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 2 NOV 2012 - see www.pharostutors.com
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)

Competition winners

We have two winners in the latest British GENES competition!

Up for grabs were two copies of my latest book, Discover Scottish Land Records, and the question was to name the Scottish villages that make up the Barony of the Four Towns of Lochmaben - the answer was Greenhill, Heck, Hightae and Smallholm.

My trusty sidekick, number one son Calum, was home a few moments ago for his lunch break, and drew the winners from an impromptu drum which is in no way at all my other son's Blues Brothers hat! :)

The winners then...

• Catherine Christie from Arroyo Grande in California, USA
• Susan Berry, Leigh in Lancashire, England

Congratulations to both of you, and I'll get the books to you in the post in the next couple of days!

You'll note Calum has two arms in bandages, by the way - he decided last week to celebrate gravity by falling out of a tree and fracturing both wrists! (He's fine now, after a crazy week last week with several hospital appointments etc)

I'll hopefully run another competition soon!

Chris

Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)

Another British GENES competition!

A new series of Who Do You Think You Are starts this evening in the UK on BBC1 at 9pm, and by Jiminy I know a bandwagon when I see one - so here it is, a second British GENES competition!

Up for grabs are two copies of my latest book, Discover Scottish Land Records, now available from Unlock the Past in Australia! (See http://britishgenes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/new-book-due-soon-discover-scottish.html)

Here's the question:

Q. The main form of land tenure that we will come across when researching land records in Scotland was 'feudalism', finally abolished in the country in 2004.

There were exceptions, however. One of these concerned a small area in Dumfriesshire known as the Barony of the Four Towns of Lochmaben, which was comprised of a series of four villages near the royal burgh of Lochmaben.

What were the names of these four villages? 

(Hint - the answer lies within www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=43460 !)


To enter, please send the answer on an email to enquiry@scotlandsgreateststory.co.uk with BRITISH GENES COMPETITION as the subject header. Please at this stage simply give me your name, the answer, and the village/town/city where you live (if overseas, help me out a bit with the country also!). Winners will be contacted for further details in due course.

The closing date for the competition is Wednesday 22nd August 2012 at 12pm GMT. The winners will be announced on this blog shortly after.

Good luck! :)

Chris

Check out my Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
New book: It's Perthshire 1866 - there's been a murder... www.thehistorypress.co.uk/products/The-Mount-Stewart-Murder.aspx (from June 12th 2012)

Saint Paddy's Day discounts with FindmyPast Ireland

FindmyPast Ireland is running a Saint Paddy's Day offer also, of 10% discount on annual subscriptions if you sign up between Friday 16th and Monday 19th March. There's also competition prizes galore:

Each day here on the site and via our facebook, Google+ and twitter we’ll post a question for you to answer. At the end of the week we’ll ask you to send all your answers to support@findmypast.ie with “St. Patrick’s Entry” as the subject line, to be in with a chance of winning a 12 month subscription to findmypast.ie plus a brand new digital camera!

Full details at www.findmypast.ie/content/stpatricks-festival - beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh!

(With thanks to FindmyPast Ireland)

Chris

British GENES on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BritishGENES and Twitter @chrismpaton

Scotland's Greatest Story research service www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk and www.facebook.com/ScottishGenealogyResearch

British GENES competition winners

So here we have it folks, the grand draw to win two copies of my latest book, Irish Family History Resources Online!



Congratulations to Bob Fraser of Sterling, Massachusetts, USA, and Diane Bamberger of Toronto, Ontario, Canada!

Just to give the answer again - we could each theoretically have 4096 ten times great grandparents if none of our ancestors were cousins who married. Here's the table:

2 parents
4 grandparents
8 great grandparents
16 two x great grandparents
32 three x great grandparents
64 four x great grandparents
128 five x great grandparents
256 six x great grandparents
512 seven x great grandparents
1024 eight x great grandparents
2048 nine x great grandparents
4096 ten x great grandparents

And theoretically, if you keep going back, by the time you get to your twenty times great grandparents you would have 4,194,304 ancestors within that generation - but that's a bit unlikely! We'd be well into the realms of cousins intermarrying by this point - not least of which because we'd probably have more ancestors than the population of Britain!

Congratulations again to the winners, the books will be posted to you in the next few days, and thanks to all who participated.

If you would like to get a copy of Irish Family History Resources Online it can be purchased from Gould Genealogy at www.gould.com.au/Irish-Family-History-Resources-Online-p/utp0282.htm - the international postage rate from the company is the same rate as postage would be within Australia.

Chris

British GENES competition!

Hope you all had a great day yesterday and that you're still talking to at least some of your relatives!!! (Keep them on board, important genealogical resource!)

As it is Start Your Family Tree Week from today, I am going to join in the festive fun with a competition to allow two readers a chance to win copies of my latest book, Irish Family History Resources Online. The book is not available for sale in the UK, as it has been published by Unlock the Past (www.unlockthepast.com.au) in Australia, and so the small pile I have here in my house may well be the only copies in Britain - so there's no better reason to try to win a copy now! The book is packed not only with links on useful Irish resources, but all sorts of useful tips on what to do with them - how to save money by using particular research strategies on some sites, clues not to miss with other resources that you may happily glide by without realising the importance of and so much more. Bear in mind that with my wife and myself coming from opposite ends of the island of Ireland and each kicking with a different foot, you'll find I've been dabbling into all sorts for all sorts in the book!

So here's the question...

Q: In our trees, we each have two parents, four grandparents and eight great grandparents. But how many ten times great grandparents do we each have?! (The maximum possible, excluding cousin marriages etc!)

That should give you something to work on for a minute or two! (I was tempted to throw in a bonus question offering another copy to anyone who could name them all, but have decided against!)

To enter, please send the answer on an email to enquiry@scotlandsgreateststory.co.uk with BRITISH GENES COMPETITION as the subject header. Please at this stage simply give me your name, the answer, and the village/town/city where you live (if overseas, help me out a bit with the country also!). Winners will be contacted for further details in due course.

The closing date for the competition is Friday 30th December at 12pm GMT. The winners will be announced on this blog shortly after.

For more on Start Your Family Tree Week, visit FindmyPast's handy week planner at www.findmypast.co.uk/content/start-your-family-tree-week/index

Good luck!

Chris

Nollaig Chridheil from British GENES!

Nollaig Chridheil / Merry Christmas to all British GENES readers. I hope your turkey is suitably big and your glass well filled throughout the day tomorrow!

I'm doing traditional this year tomorrow, but for Boxing Day I've decided to try something a little different, in the form of two zebra burgers purchased from my local butchers in Largs. Never tried zebra before...!

Remember to visit the blog next Monday when I will be holding my first ever competition to tie in with Start Your Family Tree Week. Two copies of my new book, Irish Family History Resources Online, are up for grabs, and the question will be easy peasy - but bring your calculator with you....! (hint!)

See you all on the other side...!

Chris

British GENES competition - coming soon!

Next week sees Start Your Family History Week, and I know a bandwagon when I see one! :)

So keep your eyes out next Monday for my first ever competition on the British GENES blog, when I'll post a question so devastating in its complexity that everyone will be able to answer it!

Up for grabs will be two copies of my new book, Irish Family History Resources Online, published down under in Australia by Unlock the Past.

I'll announce the winners when I run out of turkey next Friday, and my head's cleared a bit from all the Christmas cheer I foresee heading my way (it's called Laphraoig, and has been blessed by God himself)!

Hopefully see you then!

Chris