The Hereford Times

Residents turn over a new leaf to trace their family tree

5:10pm Wednesday 16th April 2008

RACECOURSE visitors remembered the past at a family history fair.

Hundreds of families travelled to the event to see if they could find out more about their relatives.

Genealogy is one of the country’s most popular pastimes and it can be a minefield. But, with more than 70 stalls attending, co-ordinator Phil Bufton said the fair was a great place to start researching.

“Sometimes people haven’t got an idea about how to get started, but lots of societies can help,” he said.

“It varies in difficulty – if it’s a local family then we can usually trace it back. If they can get back to 1901 then we can look at the census which will take us back even further, sometimes to 1851.” Most families have an Army connection and can trace a distant relative to the First World War. Marches-based research group, Western Front Association, offers a vast catalogue of personnel records.

“If you had a relative who you know was killed in the First World War then we’ll have their name – I’ve got a disk with three-quarters of a million names on it,” said the association’s Steve Moorhouse.

“We’ve been helping people for years and every discovery is amazing, but we are also encouraging people to remember.” Last month’s fair wasn’t just about genealogy – it was a great place for residents to discover more about their village, with history groups from Bromyard, Leintwardine and others throughout Herefordshire attending.

“Other than the Herefordshire Records office we are the largest history society in the county,” said Brian Rollings, of the Bromyard Local History Society. “Sometimes they’ll come to us wanting to know more about their village, sometimes they want help in tracking down their family – and we can usually help out.” The fair is due to return to the Racecourse in June.

5 Bromyard and District Local History Society’s Brian Rollings and Mandy Palmer. 081429-3.

Below right: Chris Walsh with an example of an heraldic name certificate. 081429-1.