LANCASHIRE FAMILY HISTORY AND HERALDRY SOCIETY
Rossendale Branch Newsletter May 1999
Our out visit to Grane.
Please assemble at the Clough Head Information Office on Grane Road, Haslingden at 7-30 pm. Car Parking facilities are plentiful. Anyone needing a lift or directions please contact me.
The walk round Calf Hey Reservoir is only one and a half miles on a well laid out path with plenty of seating available. For those wishing to go a little further, there will be an opportunity to see the ruins of Bentley House. Hidden away in the trees, it achieved some notoriety as the home of Jonathan Haworth one of Grane's illegal whisky distillers. In the event of rain, we may repair to a nearby hostelry to sample a legal brew.
Did you miss ...
....Our AGM We had a very good attendance at the AGM. I counted 28 members present. The business of the meeting was speedily transacted. The existing committee were all re-elected. Two additional members were also elected. Wilf Day has agreed to help Michael as project organiser. His brief is to act as liaison with the library and keep us informed about projects being undertaken in the reference library. Anyone wishing to undertake indexing in the warmth instead of in the graveyard should have a word with Wilf.
....Marge Cross's talk. Following the AGM Marge told us about two visits she has made to the northern frontier of Pakistan and her frustration at not being able to quite reach the birth place of her ancestor. For political reasons she was not able to finish her journey but like Moses she had to view the scene from afar. Marge made this journey alone to the consternation of the local Pakistani men! To supplement the talk she brought a splendid exhibition of maps, photographs, certificates and items from the military archives.
If anyone else has ancestors who spent time in the Indian sub continent they might be interested to know that there is a "Families in British India Society." For more details contact Tony Fuller, Secretary, FIBIS, 81 Rosewood Avenue, Elm Park, Hornchurch, Essex RM12 5LD.
Coming Events.
Talks, Conferences, Exhibitions. Saturday 8 May LFH&HS One Day Conference and AGM at the University of Central Lancashire Preston. 10.00am -5.00pm £14.00. Details enclosed in your February magazine.
Saturday 26 June Yorkshire FH Fair, Knavesmere Stand, York Racecourse.
Saturday 3 July Family History Fair. SW Group of Family History Societies 10.00 am to 4.00pm at the Winter Gardens, Royal Parade, Western Super Mare.
Sunday 4 July East Anglian FH Fair at Needham Market.
Monday 12 - Friday 16 July. The Public Record Office Summer School. There are four themes to choose from Beginners Guide to the PRO; For King and Country -armed forces records; Pre 1689 records and how to read them; and Tracing immigrants. Further information from the Events Manager, PRO, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 4 DU Tel. 0181 392 5297.
Friday 15 October. The LFH&HS's annual dinner will this year be hosted by the Lancaster and Morecambe Group. The details will be available in your May magazine.
Saturday 30 October 1999 NW Group Family History Fair (sometimes known as the Stockport Fair) will this year be held at the Guild Hall, Preston.
Rossendale Ancestry.
Mrs Ursula Maden, 26 Clive Road, Balsall Common, Coventry CV7 7DW is seeking information on Richard Maden who married Margaret Roberts at Newchurch PC in 1867.
They lived at Dobbin Lane in the 1881 census. Richard's father was John Maden.
Projects
Michael has given me another note:
In order to supplement our monumental inscriptions now ready for checking for St. Nicholas Newchurch. I have started to transcribe the burial records (from microfilm) from 12 June 1970 (end of reel) to 14 June 1945. That's 1,125 entries.
Just a thought...... each of these entries represents the end of a life which began with a birth and probably a baptism followed by a marriage...... so many projects... so little time....
Michael spent a whole week of his holiday doing these transcripts. I went to Haslingden library several times and he was always on the reader, head down, writing names and reflecting on the passage of time.
Book Sales
John Griffiths the Society's Publications Officer resigned on 12 April. If you wish to order any books (either our own publications or those produced by the Federation) please contact Maureen Hodgkinson who will obtain them from Terry Walsh who is hoping to take over this post at the AGM. As you know Terry is at present Chairman of the Society. He would like to relinquish this post as soon as a replacement can be found.
The Society's Administrative HQ and Library facilities.
Negotiations are still in progress. It seems likely that we will have some accommodation in Blackburn town centre. Talks have been taking place with the Cathedral authorities with regard to a shop in the Cathedral Precincts and also with Blackburn Reference Library who have made a very attractive offer regarding storage and research facilities at the library.