Yesterday our Runcorn Group hosted a very successful Members Day and AGM for 2009. I must thank Linda and all of her team for the excellent organisation. I turned up early to help but everything was already in place. Well done to everyone.

A special thanks to all the hard work in the running of the kitchen and all the preparation. The home baked cakes were truly excellent.

Click on the new photogallery link in the left-hand menu for a couple of photographs of the day.

Today I have pleasure in announcing the launch of a new web-site created from a collaboration between the staff of Tatton Park and FHSC.

http://tattonpark.cheshirealan.org.uk/

This is launched today as we are giving a lecture at Tatton this lunchtime.

The contents of the web-site will grow over time to become a major resource for those with interests in the people who lived and worked there.

 

Welcome to the FFHS Forum:

 http://www.ffhs.org.uk/forum/index.php

The FFHS Forum was established in 2008 as a benefit of Membership but also with a wider focus on Family Historians and those with similar interests, to bring you into the arena of Family History Societies.  In this respect the FFHS Forum is open for all to use.  You can place a notice of an event, initiate or contribute to an online discussion on an issue, developing trends, access to archives or even place a request for advice.  It is not intended to replace the existing excellent lists that can be found online but to add another dimension for you.  This is a global facility for those who are administering, have interests in or have links with Family History research in the UK.

 

The following advert should appear in the Congleton Chronicle on Thursday of this week. It has been submitted by Congleton Library:-

 

Family History Day

Congleton Library

Saturday 4^th April, 10 ~ 2pm

 

Family History Society of Cheshire

Book Stall, Advice, Internet Help Desk

Parish Registers (Talk)

Saving Your Family History (Talk)

All welcome ~ check with library for details

 

We are providing the support for this event.

 

The library asked for additional information regarding what will be available, here it is:-

 

 The programme is:

11.00 - 11.30 Question & Answer Session - Beginners (Subject to demand)

 

13.00 - 13.30 Parish Registers for Family Historians ~ an Introduction - Lesley Smetham

13.30 - 14.00 Saving Your Family History - Phil Walton

 

The talks at 13:00 and 13:30 will be in the downstairs meeting room.

The QA session will be less formal and will be upstairs in the general library.

 

The help desks will be based around the library’s computers. The library has access to ancestry.com which has more records than ancestry.co.uk

 

I am sorry to say that once again the Cheshire Surnames Directory has suffered at the hands of hackers. My web-space provider has shut it down. I need to work out a strategy for making it secure from further attack.

All of the current data is safe in a database. The hackers were using the site to send spam email around the world.

Once I have worked out a method of securing it from this form of attack I will be back on air.

This may take some time.

Sorry for any inconvenience.

Regards
Alan

Dear All

Will anyone who is or has worked on any LDS transcription projects please contact Peter Davenport via the Contact Us page.

Kind Regards
Alan Bennett
Chairman

Today I have pleasure in officially launching the 'Members Interests' on the Web-Site.

This facility has always been a regular inclusion in Cheshire Ancestor. The limited space in that august journal has meant, however, that each month we are only able to publish the latest additions to the interests (including contact details).

The web based search facility is a MEMBERS ONLY feature found on the Members Only Menu once you have logged in. The database that is searched contains ALL of the members interests but ONLY for current members.

You can also check your own entries (My Members Interests)

I get a lot of recurring themes in emails I receive:

• Why can't I ............login?

• How do I ............. change my password?

The answers to these and other common questions can be found at Frequently Asked Questions

Please check there first and if you are still having problems then contact me

Regards
Alan

Dear All

Following a few teething problems whilst adding members to the user database we have changed our plans.

From now on we will be setting members up with their membership numbers as ther user ids.

You will all receive, assuming we have your current valid email address, a new email in the next day or so stating that you have been registerd for access to the site. The email will contain your new user id and password. Prior to this I

The FHSC are considering offering a Genealogy web-site hosting service for member of the FHSC.
This service would be free of charge for members.

The software I would probably use is phpgedview.

Here is a sample site built with this software:

http://genealogy.my-mindseye.co.uk/I

Please send an email to me via the Contact Us menu if you would be interested in such a service.
Please let me know if you are an existing member or would consider becoming a member if this service was offered.

Alan Bennett
Chairman - FHSC

Dear All

There seems to be a confusion about the Cheshire Surnames Directory and its association with this site.

I run the Cheshire Surnames Directory independently of the FHSC site because it is not limited to FHSC members. It does not share user id/passwords with this site.

If you wish to use its facilities you need to follow the registration process as advertised on its home page. Any attempt to use your FHSC password will result in an error.

Kind Regards
Alan Bennett
Cheshire Surname DIrectory Administrator
(...... and your Chairman)

Births:

1,000 for Tranmere, registers at Wirral (1903-1904)

 Marriages:

528 for Over, St Chad, registers at Cheshire Central (1951-1974)

Dear Members of the FHSC

All of those of you who have valid email addresses registered with us should now have had an email with your usename and password.

Some of you have been having difficulties entering these details. If this applies to you then make life asy for yourselves by copying and pasting the details from the email into the login fields which you will find in the right hand column of this home page. If you can't see it then try using any scroll bars you can see.

If you are a member and haven't had an email then we don't have a valid email address for you. Please send your email address to the Renewals Secretaty via the email facility you will find from the Membership Menu link. If you haven't got an email address and want to use the site then contact the Chairman via the Contact Us menu link.

There is very little members only content at present but this will grow over the coming months.

Kind Regards
Alan
Chairman

Dear All

 I have taken on board some feedback from users with smaller monitors and have made some major changes to the layout.

The home page is now the only one with the right hand column, i.e. :

• logo
• calendar
• login
• polls

This gives more space for the artices. Publications listings were the biggest issue.

 I have added a Publications review section where I hope we can add those from ancestor and any others we can get our hands on.

The publications news will be used for new or forthcoming publication launches.

 I have moved sub-menus to a separate menu on the top right as not everyone was seeing them.

 I have started to add a download menu item for the groups (Chester only at present).

 I also fixed a few minor typos and bugs.

 Hope you approve

Alan

PS I have added a new poll to gauge your response to this.

Dear All

Sorry for the issues when we went live. I tried a facility that should have made it easier for search engines to find the new site ................ but it obviously didn't work.

That problem is now fixed and I have also responded to early feedback and added Quick LInks.

As a result I have reset the Poll to capture new feedback.

Click on Read More to find out about registering for logins and much more.

Read more...