There were two lecture streams both on Friday and Saturday, one comprised of DNA based topics, the other on all other matters family history, and Martin McDowell of the NIFHS and all who helped out and who spoke are to be truly commended. I managed to sit in for Andrew Kane's excellent talk on the NIFHS, also briefly to listen to Ken and Alison Tait's DNA talk, and I understand from Irene O' Brien of Glasgow City Archives that she had a well attended talk also, as did Jonny Perl and Debbie Kennett with their respective DNA talks. It was also great to meet Jonny of DNA Painter (https://dnapainter.com) for the first time, and to twig his own Norn Irish connections!
I had intended to give a review on the Back To Our Past event itself, but it is not an understatement or in any way an exaggeration to say that there really was very little to review.
This is the third time I have been to a BTOP event. The first was in the RDS in Dublin a few years back, with an entire hall filled with vendors from across the genealogical spectrum. My second visit was two years ago, when the event visited Belfast for the first time, at the slightly out of the way Titanic Centre - there were a fair few vendors, on a smaller scale than the Dublin event, but with a lot of energy, albeit not being particularly well signposted from the ground floor, which I imagine must have affected footfall.
Then there was today's event, where the following genealogy related bodies exhibited:
- North of Ireland Family History Society
- FamilyTreeDNA
- PRONI
- National Archives of Ireland
- Accredited Genealogists Ireland
And unless I missed anybody, I think that was it. The first two were based in the corridor outside the main hall, the rest were in the corner of the main exhibition room, which was predominatly filled with exhibitors for the Over 50s show. One of the tables just along from the genealogy tables was a funeral directors, with not even a registrar in attendance, talk about a missed opportunity! I spoke to most of the genie heroes who were present and exhibiting, and their dedication in attending was genuinely respected and appreciated.
But really - is this supposed to be the premier genealogy event in Northern Ireland?
Northern Ireland has some of the most wonderful archives, libraries and committed family historians I have ever met, and also some of the funniest and most decent people on the planet. I hope one day there will be a truly national family history event in Ulster within which they can all shine, supported by the media, and with many exhibitors from the Republic, Britain and beyond, in a world class accessible venue.
I have no idea why it has become so diminished, but I left Belfast utterly convinced that, unless there is a massive change in the future, Back To Our Past is really just not going to be that platform.
Chris
You can pre-order my new book, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 (out April). Also available, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.
Not sure what happened to my comment but short version is that most who are interested in the Irish and U.K. genealogy live too far away to attend. I think most locals either know their history, since they stayed put, or they aren't interested.
ReplyDeleteI could not disagree more. In a troubled area like Northern Ireland, people spent many years avoiding talking about the past - "sure what would you want to know that for". The Decade of Centenaries has been such a triumph because with the passage of a century, and the peace that we now have, it is now seen as OK to start asking questions, no matter where that leads us.
ReplyDeleteHi Chris,
ReplyDeleteI also attended the event and agree with some of your observations. NIFHS are an excellent organisation and to be commended for their fantastic work in the field of genealogy. The event was not as well attended as I thought it might have been. For starters, wrong time of year, dreich weather did us no favours. Perhaps too many genealogy fairs, conferences etc leading to saturation of the market. On a personal note, living in Ayrshire I am surprised that there has been no move to combine the annual SAFHS conference with a Genetic Genealogical dimension perhaps hosted by Strathclyde Universities Genealogical and Heraldic Department.
This with the proviso that it is held in the Summer or Autumn not February!