Free family history courses will be on offer to local residents, starting in December, through B&NES Council’s Bath Record Office and thanks to a recent grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
There are two types of courses: one for people who are just beginning their family history, or have made a start, perhaps using family history websites, but have not got very far; and courses for more advanced researchers, focussing on less well-known sources.
The courses will include the chance for one-to-one help with your own family tree, as well as more formal sessions.
Councillor Patrick Anketell-Jones (Conservative, Lansdown), Bath & North East Somerset Council’s Cabinet Member for Economic Development, said: “This is a great opportunity for local residents to learn more about their family histories and I would like to thank the Heritage Lottery Fund for making these possible.
“Thanks to the popularity of programmes such as Who Do You Think You Are? we expect these to prove incredibly popular.”
The courses will run as follows:
Friday 4th December, 2015
Beginners Family History at Keynsham Community Space
Monday 11th January, 2016
Beginners Family History at the Guildhall, Bath
Tuesday 26th January, 2016
Beginners Family History at Paulton Library @ The Hub
Monday 22nd February, 2016
Advanced Family History at the Guildhall, Bath
Saturday 5th March, 2016
Beginners Family History at Keynsham Community Space
Saturday 19th March, 2016
Beginners Family History at the Guildhall, Bath
Saturday 7th May, 2016
Advanced Family History at the Guildhall, Bath
The courses at Keynsham will run from 10.30am until 3pm, with free lunch and refreshments
The courses at The Guildhall and Paulton will run from 10.30am until 3.30pm, again with free lunch and refreshments.
Please book a place by contacting [email protected], or on 01225 477421.
The courses are being funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund as part of ‘Our Heritage, Your Story: explore the past with Bath Record Office’, which is enabling Record Office staff to bring archives to life for new audiences.
Bath Record Office has received a grant of £75,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for a programme of events and projects with local community groups, together with a volunteer project to catalogue records.
It aims to reveal fascinating records to many people who may never have never thought of using archives.mThe project started in early June, and will run for fifteen months until September 2016.