Bromyard residents can learn more easily about their family background after archives were moved to a new home.

Bromyard Local History Society completed the move from its cramped Little Hereford Street base to Sherford Street at the weekend.

The new resource centre will be open to the public from Thursday, May 1, and the group will be undertaking general maintenance work on the site until then.

An extensive range of archives will be found at the centre. They include wills dating from mediaeval times, copies of the Bromyard Record, the town newspaper which folded in the 1970s, since the 1800s and an archive looking at hop growing.

The resources allow people to learn more about their background, using a genealogy search, and the archives have been made more user-friendly with the acquisition of a £5,000 microfiche reader and printer.

It is also hoped local schools will be able to make use of the resources through an information pack created by the society.

"The facilities at Sherford Street are fantastic," said the society's chairman Alex Hoyle.

"People come from all over the country to research their family and while no archives have been added, the ability to delve into them has been made easier.

"It became apparent that using a room in Little Hereford Street was not the ideal because it was being lent to us. The society couldn't really grow until it got its own premises.

"The Sherford Street site is three or four times the size of the Little Hereford Street room. It includes lifts for the disabled and a heating system which will keep the archives at just the right temperature."

The move has been funded through a £92,000 grant from National Lottery funds. The final cost of the relocation is expected to be around £80,000. The centre will be kept running through fundraising.

From May, the centre will be open on Thursdays from 10am to 12.30pm and 2pm to 4.30pm, Fridays from 10am to noon and on Saturdays from 10am to 12.30pm.