Fire at London's College of Arms

Eight fire engines were called out to the College of Arms in London this morning, to put out a major fire in the premises. The fire was brought under control by forty firemen by early afternoon. Nobody was injured, and it is believed that no documents have been destroyed.

The College of Arms holds many important heraldic records for England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Commonwealth.

For more on the story, visit http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7872224.stm and http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5669426.ece .

Chris

www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Scotland's Greatest Story
Professional family history research & genealogical problem solving

New Scottish Register of Tartans website

As part of the recent Act passed to create a Scottish Register of Tartans, one stipulation was to make the information in the register available to the general public. As of today this requirement has been fulfilled with the online launch of the Scottish Register of Tartans website at www.tartanregister.gov.uk.

The site is fully searchable, and holds thousands of designs, including many held by the Scottish Tartans Authority and the Scottish Tartans World Register. The site also allows you to register a new design and to obtain detailed technical information on the many designs already held (colours, thread counts etc).

Chris

www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Scotland's Greatest Story
Professional family history research & genealogical problem solving

Find medals with FindaMedal.com

If you have a military ancestor, a new website might be able to help you locate a medal to which he was entitled. The site is located at www.findamedal.com.

Chris

www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Scotland's Greatest Story
Professional family history research & genealogical problem solving

Scotland's images at ScotlandsImages.com

A major new resource from Scotland's leading archives and libraries has been launched in the form of ScotlandsImages.com.

From the website:

SCOTLANDSIMAGES.COM is a picture library taken from Scotland's national collections. The National Archives of Scotland, in partnership with The National Library of Scotland, National Museums Scotland, The National Trust for Scotland and The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, have developed this image library to make available for licensed reuse selected images from the extensive, and often unique, holdings of Scotland's national collections.

It is possible to search for images and save them to a personal lightbox on the site, and also to purchase prints. The site is embryonic, and represents a small fraction of the collections of the institutions involved, but new content will be added constantly.

For more information, visit www.scotlandsimages.com .

Chris

www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Scotland's Greatest Story
Professional family history research & genealogical problem solving

Discover my Past Scotland issue 3 now online

Issue 3 of the new Scottish family history magazine Discover my Past Scotland is now available online. Downloadable in PDF format, or readable online, the magazine contains a wealth of articles and information for thse with Scottish heritage.

In this issue, FindmyPast's Debra Chatfield discusses the outbound passenger lists available from the retailer (www.findmypast.com), Anthony Adolph discusses names, John Hannavy looks at Edwardian postcards, Ruth Symes examines 19th Century birthday books as a genealogical resource, Mary Richmond looks at family history resources in the Scottish Borders, and Rachel Bellerby traces ancestors on the Isle of Skye. Regular features include events in your area over the next month and the bygone days photo feature, whilst yours truly provides a round up of the latest Scottish family history news and products for your family history library.

Never mind Discover my Past - Discover Your Past! Online at www.discovermypast.co.uk for a genealogically friendly £2.50. Such good value, it would make a grown man weep in the street...!

Chris

www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk

Scotland's Greatest Story

Professional family history research & genealogical problem solving

Teaghlach Wood - The Gathering 2009 initiative

The Gathering 2009 is aiming to help plant 10,000 trees to commemorate Scotland’s greatest ever international gathering of the clans. The Teaghlach Wood ('teaghlach' is Gaelic for 'family') is situated near the village of Comrie, in Perthshire, on the banks of the River Earn. The Wood aims to play its part in restoring Scotland’s landscape back to its traditional woodland state.

All of the trees planted will be traditional woodland varieties such as oak, birch, ash, beech and rowan. Buying a tree for the wood will not only bring traditional broadleaf species back to the heart of Scotland, but also regenerate wildlife habitats and combat climate change.

If you wish to have a tree planted, it will cost £10, for which you will receive a presentation certificate. To find out more, please log on to www.teaghlachwood.com/plant-some-trees

Chris

www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Scotland's Greatest Story
Professional family history research & genealogical problem solving

Heraldry lecture in Glasgow

On Wednesday, February 18th, 2009, at 5.30pm for 6.00pm start, Lecture Room 1, McCance Building, 16 Richmond Street, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow.

Supporters in Heraldry by David Sellar, FSA Scot, FR Hist S, Lord Lyon, King of Arms.

Admission by ticket only. Tickets from Centre for Lifelong Learning, Level 7, Graham Hill Building, 40, George St.,Glasgow, G1 1QE.0140-1 548 4828: e-mail: mary.mcwhinnie@strath.ac.uk

(With thanks to Ronnie Scott)

Chris

www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Scotland's Greatest Story
Professional family history research & genealogical problem solving

Return of Who Do You Think You Are to BBC1

Who Do You Think You Are? returned tonight to BBC1 in Britain at 9.00pm. It clashed with '24' on Sky1, and so I didn't think I would get a chance to view this until tomorrow, but fortunately I was able to watch it on BBC1 Northern Ireland, which is showing the series at 10.35pm - top tip if there is something else on you may wish to see! The show is also on BBC2 Tuesdays at 7.00pm, and repeated on the BBC iPlayer at www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer.

A good strong opener - if anyone asks why you obsess so much about pulling your family history together, ask them if they ever saw the WDYTYA with Rory Bremner, and if they saw how much effort Rory's mum had put into preserving their history before her death - and how much it meant to him.

I'll post the overnights when I get them...

UPDATE: The programme came second in the viewing for that slot, at 6.3 million viewers, or 23.1% share. On ITV, this was beaten by "Whitechapel", with 8.1 million viewers, or 29.7% of the share.

Chris

www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Scotland's Greatest Story
Professional family history research & genealogical problem solving

Suil Air - BBC Alba archive and history series

An interesting series is currently being transmitted on BBC Alba entitled Suil Air (An Eye On...). It is an archive based programme with each episode providing a Gaelic perspective on the news events of Britain a year at a time. I've just watched 'Suil Air 1985' on the BBC iPlayer which had a detailed account of the visit to Eriskay by the Prince and Princess of Wales after their marriage, the Gaelic news series 'Prosbaig' airing at the time and its coverage of the Tottenham riots, the miners' strike, and more. It's essentially a sort of Scottish Gaelic version of 'Scotland on Film', covering recent historic events alongside new interviews with many who were there at the time.

The series can be watched, along with additional Gaelic programmes, at www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer. The content is subtitled in English throughout.

Chris

www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Scotland's Greatest Story
Professional family history research & genealogical problem solving

Interest in Scottish family history on the increase

A feature in today's Scotland on Sunday discusses the current popularity of genealogy in Scotland, and includes an interview with deputy registrar general Paul Parr of the GROS in Edinburgh.

The article confirms that representatives from both the Mitchell Library and the Burns Centre in Kilmarnock have recently paid a visit to the new family history centre in Dundee to see how they have set themselves up.

The full piece can be read at http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/scotland/Family-tree-craze-spreads-its.4934364.jp.

Chris

www.ScotlandsGreatestStory.co.uk
Scotland's Greatest Story
Professional family history research & genealogical problem solving