Burns Monument Centre in Kilmarnock set to open

The following is an announcement from the new Burns Monument Centre:

The Burns Monument Centre in the Kay Park, Kilmarnock, is a unique ground-breaking development in Scotland.

The centre, which opens its doors to the public on Monday 16 March 2009, houses registrars, librarians, archivists and resources under one roof for the the very first time creating a first class facility for family and local history researchers. Digital Imaging of the Genelaogical Records of Scotland's People (DIGROS) online service allows viewers to access the full range of family research tools including births, deaths and marriages in Scotland from 1855 and the Old Parish registers from 1553-1854.

In another first for Scotland, the centre also houses the only three dimensional digitised representation of Burns' most famous work, 'Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect', which was published in Kilmarnock by printer John Wilson in 1786. This allows visitors to see the Kilmarnock edition exactly as it was printed. This project was developed in collaboration with the National Library of Scotland.

Set in the 30 acre Kay Park the centre also makes a beautiful venue for weddings and other special ceremonies, including civil partnerships and naming ceremonies. The Robert Burns suite can take up to 85 guests and the courtyard, which houses the original Burns statue from 1879, makes an ideal location for photographs.


I'll be attending a media launch for the new centre within the next few days, and will post pics and a review when I return - good to see such a great resource finally up and running just down the road from me!

Chris

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

The Genealogist's Internet - 4th edition

Peter Christian's newly expanded fourth edition of The Genealogist's Internet book is now on sale - and we get a nice plug in the news section, with a half page size screengrab from this blog. So there you have it - we're official!

The book is available from The National Archives (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk) for £14.99.

Chris

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

Genes Reunited to be sold off by ITV

ITV has confirmed that the Genes Reunited website is to be placed up for sale as part of the Friends Reunited group, which the television giant purchased in 2005 for £120 million.

The site, which has recently been considerably revamped with new added features, is now up for tender, and an ITV press spokesperson has confirmed to me that a couple of approaches have already been made with regard to its potential purchase. How this will impact on users of GR has yet to be established.

More news as it comes...

Chris

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

Will Genes Reunited be put up for sale?

The broadcaster ITV is in serious financial difficulties, with further losses of advertising revenue and a pension deficit. It is about to announce its annual results, and there are fears that it may be forced to slash jobs and to sell the Friends Reunited website. Will Genes Reunited (www.genesreunited.com) be included if this happens?

A BBC story on ITV's current woes is available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7922664.stm.

UPDATE: 4 MAR 13.00: Friends Reunited is definitely up for sale, still no word on Genes Reunited - see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7922770.stm. GR is currently referring all enquiries on the subject to ITV.

Chris

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

Discover my Past Scotland issue 4 on sale

The latest issue of Discover my Past Scotland has just gone on sale online at £2.50 with some more great Scottish content.

John Hannavy shows how to date old family photographs; Anthony Adolph explores how to bring your Scottish family history to life; Michelle Higgs describes how to access and use Scottish hospital records; Emma Beeston looks at the brewing and distilling trades; Mary Richmond looks at the town of Paisley; and yours truly examines the story of Scottish civilian POWs interned in Germany in the First World War.

There are also the usual regular features including all the latest Scottish news, the latest products of use to the Scottish family historian, expert Q&A, events listing around Scotland and the monthly Bygone Days feature. Only £2.50? You're having a laugh mate...!

Chris

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

Logge Register of PCC Wills

This is not a Scottish story, but I feel duty bound to carry it, as my cousin Carolyn is a member of the Richard III Society! Having caught up with the society at the Who Do You Think You Are? Live event in London, the organisation revealed that it has just published the Logge Register of Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills from 1479 to 1486 in a two volume set, priced £35. I had a look at each book and they are a wonderful publication - each will is written in Latin, transcribed and translated. The first will recorded is that of John Logge, a London woodmonger, and hence the name of the collection.

The volumes are useful for those wishing to practise their palaeography, as they can be compared to downloads from the National Archives' Documents Online site, and in the near future the rapidly growing collection on the Genealogist website from S&N. For the serious social historian, it is much cheaper to buy the volumes than the equivalent downloads online.

For more information visit www.richardiii.net.

Chris

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

Alex Haley had Scottish ancestors

'Roots' author Alex Haley has been shown to have had Scottish ancestors, thanks to a DNA test performed through Ancestry.co.uk. At the Who Do You Think You Are? Live show at London Olympia on Saturday, his nephew Chris Haley was reunited with a distant Scottish cousin, June Jaff-Black.

The full story is available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7917605.stm.

Chris

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

Family History Monthly 168 now on sale

The latest Family History Monthly issue (168, April 09) is now on sale, with the usual detailed features. There are articles on Easter cards, life in the 1930s recession, barging life on Britain's canals, WW2 POWs, the Norwich census of the poor from 1570-72, the English county of Rutland, and more.

Yours truly has an article explaining the 1911 census for England and Wales, and a case study on a family connection to the Irish Civil War of 1922.

Wunderbar, wunderbar, wunderbar...!

Chris

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

Your Family Tree 75 on sale

The latest edition of Your Family Tree magazine (75, April 09) is now on sale.

As well as articles on tracing London ancestors, the 1911 census, tracing criminals online, getting started with the internet, and the Lothians, yours truly has written a history of the Jacobites and Culloden, and a case study looking at Paton Street in Brisbane, Australia.

All the usual regular articles are also there, including the news, the regular projects pages and a data CD.

Deliciously good value!

Chris

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

Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2009 report

I finally got back to Largs at midnight last night from four days in London for the Who Do You Think You Are? Live show, and had a great time, with lots of wonderful discoveries made. I was helping Bob and Liz Blatchford on their stall - the couple publish the Family and Local History Handbook (www.genealogical.co.uk), which we were selling fast and furiously on the stall. Whilst the new edition is still some months away, the couple had decided to place all previous editions on a CD edition, and to say it went like hot cakes would be an understatement! A huge thanks to Bob and Liz for their hospitality and generosity, and above all else, the great craic!


There was a great deal of Scottish material there, more than I expected considering that no FHSs were present from north of the border. In addition to the universities of Strathclyde and Dundee, ScotlandsPeople and NAS were present, as was the Gathering 2009 and a professional genealogy firm. With Saturday being 'Scottish Saturday', there was also the stirring music of Celtic Pride, all the way from Glasgow, including that well known traditional pipe tune, "We Will Rock You"!

However, there were also some useful finds, including the fact that Deceased Online (www.deceasedonline.com), launched several months ago, has finally uploaded new data, including burials information from Angus for the civil registration era - these were uploaded on servers at the venue, and will be going fully online in the next week or so. World Burials Index (www.worldburialindex.com) also launched its website, which includes burials at Edinburgh's Greyfriars churchyard.

Other finds included the fact that the Commonwealth War Graves Commission is about to build its first memorial since WW2, to commemorate almost 400 souls lost at Fromelles in WW1; the fact that the National Archives of Ireland has a MAJOR project on the go which may be online by the end of this year; the fact that FindmyPast is now working on the Chelsea Pension documents from TNA; plans for the future of the Who Do You Think You Are TV series from Alex Graham, the Glaswegian head honcho of independent television production company Wall to Wall; and much more.

There will be a full Scottish write up in a forthcoming edition of Discover my Past Scotland - but here are a few pics in the meantime...!



Chris

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