Sunday 30 September 2012

Scottish Genealogy Network meeting in Edinburgh

We had yet another great meeting of the Scottish Genealogy Network yesterday in Edinburgh, with I think the largest number of attendees yet. I did not arrive at the venue personally until just after 5pm, as I had an earlier commitment in Coatbridge, but I had hoped to at least catch the last hour or so - in fact, many of our band of merry men and women continued on to just after 9pm, which I think is a great testimony to just how useful we're all finding our monthly meets. It was great to catch up with several new members, including Graham and Emma Maxwell who travelled all the way from Dumfriesshire, and Penny Lewis from Perthshire, and I know there were a few others there for the first time that I unfortunately missed, who left before I was able to arrive, but who I hope to meet at future events!

As ever, the range of discussion was incredibly varied, with all sorts up for grabs, from rules surrounding various groups of record sets that can and cannot be photographed at the NRS, the best ways to get datasets online for eejits like me who view HTML as a cousin language to Klingon, and a great story from Chris Halliday who recently made the papers in Peebleshire over a spectacular find connected to the gates of Traquair House (which will remain closed until a Stuart king returns to the throne!). Steve McLeish commented on his success exhibiting at the National Family History Fair a few weeks ago, and our good chum Ali McDonald discussed our DNA haplogroups (I'm as common as muck apparently! lol) - and those are just some of the chats I got involved in!

One of the great things about the group is the sheer variety of areas that we cover in our work, and I think it is fair to say that each new member brings something a little new to the party, so please do consider coming along to future meets if you work within the Scottish genealogical scene - be that as a researcher, tutor, archivist, running an FHS, ancestral tour group, or something else associated. We'd love to meet you! Next month the venue looks set to be a little closer to home for me personally here in Largs, Ayrshire - more news on that soon. In the meantime, if you do work professionally within the Scottish genealogical scene, and would like to be added to our mailing list for future meetings please drop me a note at christopherpaton @ tiscali.co.uk or to Kirsty Wilkinson at enquiries @ myainfolk.com. There are no fees to join, it is simply an opportunity to meet up and chat, and to enjoy a good bit of craic at the same time!

Chris

Scottish Research Online - 5 weeks online Pharos course, £45.99, taught by Chris Paton from 26 SEP 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)

No comments:

Post a Comment