Online Talks & Gatherings

For the future, the attractions of Zoom meetings and talks is bright.  Gone is driving in the dark, with a lack of parking and a hard chair to a meeting. Since lockdown, the West Middlesex FHS has set an excellent example of all the pros and the cons of Zoom.

East Surrey Family History Society, Southwark Branch

 ​Monday 8th June - 'The Parish Chest'
About this topic:  The Parish Chest is an invaluable source used in conjunction with the parish registers as they help to show how people lived and include the overseers accounts, the highway accounts and settlement and removal orders.
Here is a short clip from the questions and answers session of the Zoom meeting

Hartfield History Group, East Sussex

Wednesday 28th October - 'Kill or Cure, Medicine in the 19th Century'
(a video recording of the event is available on Vimeo)
About this topic:  What were you most likely to die from, or did you survive some of the early “remedies” and live to tell the tale?  What was it like to be in hospital, how long were you there for, how well did you get treated and what were some of the other patients like?  What were the pros and cons of vaccination?  How did you qualify as a doctor, nurse or midwife?  What was it like having an operation?   What was dentistry like?  What were some of the strange cures, bizarre-sounding ailments and odd causes of death cited in the 19th century?

Sussex Family History Group

Tuesday 11th August - 'Kill or Cure, Medicine in the 19th Century'
100 people registered for the zoom talk, a large and enthusiast gathering with at least 12 questions asked in the Q&As.

Kent Family History Society, Deal Branch

Tuesday 30th June - 'I Never Thought of That'
68 people registered for the zoom talk including one person from Australia where it was 11 o’clock in the evening, one from Oxford and one from Somerset.
About this topic:  A second look at problems.  So often over the years people have told me that they have reached a brick wall in their research and sometimes I have been able to make a suggestion or suggested a source which they have not thought of which has supplied the answer.