Lea Valley U3A

Leader: Mary Cole

The group aims to assist members to research their own Family History by getting to know the various resources which are available to members of the general public.

Since December 2008 we have met as a whole group approximately once a month to discuss problems with tracing our ancestors and to plan visits to local archives etc.
Meetings take place on the first Monday morning in each month, (except for August and Bank Holiday Mondays). at the Hoddesdon Methodist Church Hall, Middlefield Rd., Hoddesdon.
There is normally ample car parking space at the Hall.

At the meeting on 1st February it was agreed that in order to ensure sufficient money is to hand to pay for the hall hire there would, in future, be a fixed annual group membership fee.
This cost has been set at £12 per member per annum starting from 1st September 2010.

Regular meeting dates up until the end of the Group year are therefore as follows:-
June 6th & July 4th 2011

The "Visits Programme" for the next 3 months was arranged at the meeting on Monday 7th March. The final visit was planned as being :-

Thurs. 26th May - London Family History Centre, Kensington..

It was also decided that an approach should be made to a local school for a late afternoon Genealogy "on-line" computer training session. This has now been agreed in principle with both the school and group members. We now await confirmation of suitable dates for the school.

Hoddesdon Heritage Weekend

Members of our group were involved with the Hoddesdon Heritage Weekend which took place from Saturday 30th April to Monday 2nd May 2011.
On the Saturday between 10.00 and 13.00hrs we ran a Family History Help Desk at Hoddesdon Library which went well and the Library may well be seeking our co-operation in putting on similar session later in the year.

On the Sunday afternoon between 14.00 and 15.00hrs at Mayhem Theatre Arts in Brewery Road there was a talk on family history study given by author Sue Fifer.A limited number of copies of Sue's book, "Family History for the Older and Wiser" are now in stock at Books@Hoddesdon which you might well be of interest to members of our group and others. If you buy a copy of the book and would like it signed by Sue please let me know.

Group Members visiting the
National Archives in June 2010.

The group are keen to welcome new members, particularly those who are new to researching their Family History, or those who have got so far and have encountered problems.

STOP PRESS:-

The London Metropolitan Archives inconjunction with "Ancestry.co.uk" are well on the way to completing putting all Greater London Parish Records "On-Line". They are also working with the Guildhall Library to add the City of London Parish Records.
If you are not already aware Hertfordshire Library Services currently hold a licence for residents with Library tickets to access "Ancestry.co.uk" free of charge at local libraries. This will certainly save on the cost of visits to London to view these Parish Records if you do not already have your own account with "Ancestry".

For those who aren't already aware the 1911 Census is available "on-line" but there is a charge to view the Transcripts or Original Images.

"FindMyPast" have now introduced a system whereby paying an additional annual fee to the current "Explorer" membership gives direct access to the 1911 Census.

People who go to The National Archives at Kew can still view all Census images from 1841 to 1911 without having to pay.

The "Findmypast" website has recently uploaded new images of the 1881 Census Returns which are of high quality. If you had problems with reading these on other websites check again here.
They have now uploaded the full 1851 Census to their website. They have also now provide on-line access to the National Archives Class WO97 (Soldiers Records).

If you are interested in Ships Passengers who left the U.K. after 1890 then these are available on "FindMy Past". If you want to check on Passengers returning to the U.K. then you need to use "Ancestry".

The latest additions to the "FindMy Past" website are Chelsea Army Pensions Records.
These should be of interest to those of you who are researching ex-soldiers who may have retired with an Army Pension prior to WW1. Not all the records are yet on-line so a regular cross-check is recommended.

For more information please e-mail  :- lvu3a@live.co.uk

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