A Chance to Catch Up - a change from the advertised meeting.
The Medway Discussion Group spent the afternoon sharing updates on our various family history searches, swapping tips and insights and reminiscing about past endeavours.
Amongst the topics under discussion, one member spoke about being asked for help by another family member who has started their own journey into the family tree. Research methods were compared, alongside the various merits and pitfalls of sources for military records. Group members shared their experiences of using both Ministry of Defence and Forces War Records.
Another member reported on her recent trip to South Africa, which included visits to places related to Boer War battles. At one of these, it was still possible to quite literally scratch the surface of the earth and find fragments of artefacts from past events.
A success story for one group member was shared when she managed to finally identify an ancestor from two possibilities with the same name, born in the same location in the same year. This was achieved by tracing the ‘wrong’ person until information on their death certificate proved decisive in ruling them out. Little victories!
Finally, we were treated to the story of one member’s endeavour in creating a video about changes in fashion from Victorian times through to the present day. This included references to the Charleston, a pair of large handkerchiefs, Jane Russell and even Howard Hughes!
Report by Helen Stenhouse