Tag: WDYTYA? LIVE

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Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2017 round up.

Who Do You Think You Are? Live at the NEC
Who Do You Think You Are? Live at the NEC – the queue of excited family historians waiting for the doors of the hall to open.

 

Having returned from my trip to Birmingham and this year’s Who Do You Think You Are? Live, it is only now that I can look back and consider what I thought of the show.

 

WDYTYA? Live 2017
Hush before the the doors opened for the day!

 

Overall it was a very enjoyable event, even if I was a bit disappointed by the lack of certain family history societies that had not made it to the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) this year.

Full marks go to those who did lay their stalls out. I think that FHS stands are an important component of a family history show and I would hate it if more stayed away.

Looking back to the years at Olympia, there always seemed to be more societies there than currently exhibiting in Birmingham. I also got the impression that several small genealogical businesses had bowed out this year and was equally disappointed that even The National Archives were not present at the show!

 

TheGenealogist stand at the Who Do You Think You Are? Live show at the NEC Birmingham
TheGenealogist stand at the Who Do You Think You Are? Live show at the NEC Birmingham

 

While all the big family history companies were there as usual, I couldn’t help notice the number of charity stands in the shell-scheme section of the hall and the small number of exhibitors that were unrelated to family history – I can only assume that their presence was as a result of canny businesspeople believing that the profile of the visitor to WDYTYA? LIVE would be a match to their own potential customer. I didn’t photograph any of these stands, so I am not referring to any that appear below!

 

WDYTYA? LIVE 2017 stand
WDYTYA? LIVE 2017 National Memorial Arboretum stand

 

S&N Genealogy Supplies
S&N Genealogy Supplies

 

WDYTYA? LIVE 2017 MoD stand
WDYTYA? LIVE 2017 MOD stand

 

Living DNA
Living DNA were at the show – look out for more in a later post!

 

Among some of the other interesting family history stands that got my attention were…

Writing the Past, run by Michael Sharpe, a genealogist, researcher and writer. As well as providing research services he also offers to create a book or a website to present your family history. I hope to look at Writing the Past in a bit more detail in a later post.

Writing the Past stand at WDYTYA? LIVE 2017
Writing the Past stand at WDYTYA? LIVE 2017

 

I had intended to post a video in the next few days, but I am just battling with a slight technical issue with some of my video files from the show – so fingers crossed that I get this sorted!

 

Searching for Theatrical Ancestors was yet another stand that caught my eye. Here I spoke to Professor Katherine Cockin from the University of Hull about their Ellen Terry and Edith Craig Datebase at ellenterryarchive.hull.ac.uk

I hope to be able to post a video here shortly, so watch this space!

WDYTYA? LIVE 2017 University of Hull stand Search for Theatrical Ancestors
WDYTYA? LIVE 2017 University of Hull stand Search for Theatrical Ancestors

 

And then there was the breathtakingly beautiful family trees created by Genealogy Art. I spent some time with Wladimir Carlos Ledochowski and with luck my video with him will be posted here in the near future. In the mean time take a look at his website at: www.genealogy-art.com

Genealogy Art stand at the WDYTYA? LIVE 2017
Genealogy Art stand at the WDYTYA? LIVE 2017

 

More posts to come from this year’s Who Do You Think You Are? Live show soon…

 

In the mean time I am already looking forward to York in June and the Yorkshire Family History Fair.

 

Yorkshire Family History Fair

 

 

 

Disclosure: Compensated affiliate links are used in this post to TheGenealogist and Living DNA

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Are you going to the Who Do You Think You Are? Live show?

Last weekend to SAVE and BUY tickets to the show

who do you think you are show event at the nec

I’m on my way to the Who Do You Think You Are? Live show in Birmingham, via a detour to trace a bit of history up in Yorkshire this weekend.

Next week I am going to be helping my friends on TheGenealogist stand, as well as going around the show hopefully picking up some news from the other exhibitors that I can share here on this blog.

Who Do You Think You Are? Live show TheGenealogist stand
Who Do You Think You Are? Live show TheGenealogist stand

If you haven’t already got your tickets then remember that now it’s the last weekend to purchase them if you want to get them at a special ticket offer price. You can have 2 tickets for only £26 (SAVING £22!*) valid for this weekend only! Check out the offer at: http://wdytya.seetickets.com/tour/who-do-you-think-you-are-live

This year’s show promises to be the biggest and best yet, with over 130 exhibitors, plenty of great talks such as the free ones offered by various experts in the talks theatre next to TheGenealogist’s stand as well as a timetable full of inspiring expert workshops featuring Sir Tony Robinson courtesy of AncestryDNA, and a guest appearance from Strictly Come Dancing and Casualty star Sunetra Sarker. At the show you will also enjoy rare military vehicles, a 1940s sitting room, Photo Daters, a Military History checkpoint, access to billions of free records and much, much more.

Don’t miss your chance to attend this event – undoubtedly the highlight of the genealogy calendar and a fantastic day out where you’ll be sure to find all the expert advice, tips and guidance you need to enhance your own family history discoveries. 

For more information, and to start planning your day click HERE.

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2016 WDYTYA? Live

I’m just back home after my trip away to dear old ‘Brum’ to see the Who Do You Think You Are? Live show (some of my own family history relates to this city).

Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2016 at the NEC

In its second year at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham it certainly continues to meet expectations as being the world’s largest family history show. There were all levels of researchers attending over the three day event. From talking with many of them I could quickly see that some were quite clearly just starting out in tracing their family trees and looking for some help with where to find their forebears.

There were also those more experienced researchers wanting to see if any of the new records and tools, that the major sites were offering, would help them discover more about their elusive ancestors. A number of professional genealogists were at the event to network and give lecture talks, or work on the many stands that packed the hall.

TheGenealogist.co.uk
TheGenealogist.co.uk stand and presentation theatre

 

I really enjoyed mixing with my fellow minded family historians at the show and catching some of the really interesting talks such as those by leading genealogists Laura Berry and Celia Heritage, plus the Breaking down brick walls talk by Mark Bayley on TheGenealogist stand.

I also got to talk to some old and new friends and catch up with some of my fellow bloggers in the family history blogosphere. Dick Eastman, from Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter and I shared commiserations about how tired our feet felt by the Saturday and it was really good to meet up in person with John D. Reid from Canada’s Anglo-Celtic Connections blog.

I shall be posting some videos from the event shortly, but in the mean time here are a few photo’s to give a flavour of the show.

Celia Heritage gives a genealogy tutorial on TheGenealogist stand
Celia Heritage gives a genealogy tutorial on TheGenealogist stand.

 

Lectures were held in several SoG theatres throughout the hall
Lectures were held in several theatres throughout the hall.

 

Genealogy products for sale at the S&N Genealogy Supplies stand
Genealogy products for sale at the S&N Genealogy Supplies stand.

 

Stands at the WDYTYA? Live 2015.
Some of the stands at the WDYTYA? Live 2015.

 

Spitfire on display at the NEC for the WDYTYA? Live
A Spitfire on display at the NEC for the WDYTYA? Live.

 

Family history societies showing at the WDYTYA? Live show
Many Family history societies were attending at the WDYTYA? Live show.

 

Professional Genealogist Laura Berry
Laura Berry, a Professional Genealogist who has worked as one of the lead researchers on family history television programmes and written the book Discover Your Ancestor’s Occupation.

 

Professional genealogist Celia Heritage
Professional genealogist, writer and teacher: Celia Heritage.

 

Andrew Chapman, Editor of Discover Your Ancestor's Magazine
Andrew Chapman, the Editor of Discover Your Ancestor’s Magazine.

 

 

 

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Who Do You Think You Are? LIVE 2016…are you going?

Who Do You Think You Are? Live
For all of us that enjoy finding out about our ancestors and what they did, then the annual treat of the Who Do You Think You Are? Live show is coming next week to the National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham.

I’m looking forward to being there to see what new tips I can pick up, catch up with like minded folk – who are not embarrassed about talking about family history – and seeing what new records have been made available.

If you like the idea then why not come along to ‘Who Do You Think You Are? Live’ – the world’s largest family history show – on from the 7th to the 9th April? This year there is also the ‘Antiques for Everyone’ show in one of the other halls at the NEC between 7th and the 10th April so you can really immerse yourself in celebrating the past.

At Who Do You Think You Are? Live, Antiques Roadshow experts and heirloom detectives, Eric Knowles and Marc Allum, will be on hand to help date any family treasures and place them in their social context. Or pop along to the photograph daters who will be looking at the styling, dress and background of your old photographs to unlock the secrets that they contain. The Society of Genealogists will be offering one-to-one guidance on your family history research and there are many talks to listen to both on the stands and in the theatres around the hall. You can listen to TV presenter and Strictly star Anita Rani whose WDYTYA? TV episode was so emotionally interesting. There are a whole host of seminars, presentations and workshops about DNA and tracing your family tree and breaking down your brick walls. Plus there will even be a full-size replica Spitfire at the show complete with its own ground crew and WW2 props.

While at Antiques for Everyone more than 230 specialist dealers will be in attendance offering a huge variety of desirable and unusual items. The fair is known for its ceramics, glass, paintings and British and continental furniture, jewellery and vintage clothing, art deco items, silver, decorative collectables, to 20th century design and contemporary pieces.

 

Antiques for Everyone will be at the NEC, Halls 18-19. from April 7 to 10. Admission costs from £12. For further information and to book advance ticket visit www.antiquesforeveryone.co.uk

Who Do You Think You Are? Live is also at the NEC, hall 2. from April 7 to 9. Admission costs from £16. All workshops must be booked in advance. For further information visit: www.whodoyouthinkyouarelive.com

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If you want to discover your elusive English/Welsh ancestors then learn more about how to research and where to find the records and resources.

Join the many satisfied subscribers to the Family History Researcher Academy now!

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Hit a brick wall with your English/Welsh ancestors?

Learn how to discover where to find the many records and resources that will help you to find your forebears.

Join the Family History Researcher Course online.

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Who Do You Think You Are? Live: the world largest family history show.

Who Do You Think You Are? Live: the world’s largest family history show is only a few weeks away!

MPU2It is back! The annual genealogy event, sponsored by Ancestry.co.uk, returns to London’s Olympia on 20-22 February, 2014.

I’m getting ready for my first ever time exhibiting there and as the weeks roll on I’m getting more and more excited about it. Come and see me at Table 56 where I shall be promoting my Family History Researcher course in English and Welsh Family History.

Piecing together your family history is a deeply rewarding experience. Nothing can beat the excitement of making new discoveries and identifying lost relatives. However, if you’ve recently hit a brick wall with your research, or you are daunted by all the options available for those starting their family tree, then help is at hand at Who Do You Think You Are? Live.

Every year, hundreds of genealogy experts from the major subscription sites, museums, archives and family history societies descend on Olympia for the world’s largest family history show. If you need a helping hand to uncover your family secrets, there’s no better place to go.

They’ll be new features at the 2014 show including commemorating the centenary of WWI and a new celebrity line-up to add to the usual popular features. You can:

  • Attend over 100 workshops in the Society of Genealogists’ Workshop Programme
  • Investigate family photographs with their experts
  • Spend one-to-one time with an expert in a subject of your choice,
  • Learn how DNA can help with research
  • Visit family history societies from all over the UK
  • Hear how celebrities from the television show felt about their discoveries, starting with Natasha Kaplinsky on the Thursday.
  • Explore over 120 exhibitors all specialising in family history

Don’t miss your chance to extend your research and share in the passion and enthusiasm of thousands of fellow family historians!

 

For more information and the very latest in show news, please visit www.whodoyouthinkyouarelive.co.uk.

 

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WDYTYA? LIVE Stand That Caught My Eye: Drawing On The Past

Drawing on Past smile.MOV_000001868Another fascinating stand at the Who Do You Think You Are? LIVE show this year was one run by Anne Daniels for her Drawing On The Past business.

She creates totally unique artwork using photographs of your ancestors and incorporating both hand drawn and digital imaging techniques, the finished design is then printed using a high quality fine art printing process.

Anne says that when you commission a piece of work from Drawing On The Past you can be assured of receiving a unique artwork, drawn from your own personal history.

I was really impressed by the finished articles. If this is something that would appeal to you then contact her via her website at:

http://drawingonthepast.co.uk/

Finally, here are a couple of examples of her work. Click on the images to see them up close!

drawingonthepast 

Screen shot 2013-02-11 at 14.24.04

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Princess Maria Sviatopolk-Mirski at Who Do You Think You Are? LIVE

I was due to meet Anthony Adolph at the Who Do You Think you Are? LIVE show where he was signing copies of his book: Tracing Your Aristocratic Ancestors: A Guide for Family Historians, available now by clicking the link.

 

As he began signing the books on the Pen & Sword stand he was joined by the Princess Maria Sviatopolk-Mirski, a Russian Princess who had grown up in straiten circumstances and now lives in London.

She has now traced her family history back and finds that her family had once had possession of Mir Castle in Belarus. Her success in finding her aristocratic ancestry is one that many family historians would like to replicate!

Princess Maria Sviatopolk-Mirski and Anthony Adolph
Princess Maria Sviatopolk-Mirski and Author Anthony Adolph
Anthony Adolph and Princess Maria Sviatopolk-Mirski
Anthony Adolph and Princess Maria Sviatopolk-Mirski on the Pen & Sword stand at Who Do You Think You Are? LIVE.
Princess Maria Sviatopolk-Mirski
Princess Maria Sviatopolk-Mirski
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No Fog! I’m in London for Who Do You Think You Are? Live

No fog this year to mess up my travel arrangements and keep me away from the 2013 Who Do You Think You Are? LIVE show at Olympia like it did last year when my plane was grounded in Jersey for days!

I can’t wait until tomorrow to take my first look around.

Watch this space for an update!

In the mean time I’ve found this offer for my readers from GenesReunited.

Save 15% on membership between 22 & 28 February using promo code WDYTYA13. Search over 580 million family history records and start connecting with family – past and present – on Genes Reunited.

 

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I Once Lived Near Richard III’s Grave

Like many, I have been fascinated by the reports in the media lately regarding the finding of Richard III’s remains in the former Greyfriars Church in Leicester.

I was a student in Leicester in the early 1980’s. So it was that I walked past the rather nondescript area where King Richard III was buried on a daily basis on my way to and from lectures and never for one instance thinking of the historical importance of the church that had stood there before.

On my most recent visit to the city, back in January, I was aware of the excitement that was building around the find at Greyfriars car park and picked up some leaflets at the tourist office on the subject. Then this week the world’s media covered the announcement that it was “beyond reasonable doubt” the skeleton of the monarch.

100_0051

From my point of view, as a family historian, one of the really interesting things was the use of DNA from a descendent of the dead king’s sister to reach this conclusion.

The team from Leicester University had turned to the historian and author John Ashdown-Hill. Back in 2004 he had been able to tracked down the late Joy Ibsen, a direct descendant of Richard’s sister Anne of York and from her to the Canadian born Michael Ibsen, a cabinet maker in London.

 

Again, of interest to us family historians, is what John Ashdown-Hill said on the BBC’s Radio 4 “Today” programme

“An enormous family tree grew on my computer. You have to trace every possible line of descent because you don’t know which one will die out in 1745 and which one will carry on to the present day – you have to trace them all.”

On the Who Do You Think You Are Magazine’s website it is reported that the team did not rely on just the one line from Anne of York down to Joy Ibsen, as is the impression gained from some of the media reports this week.

Not only did the genealogists find documentary evidence for each ‘link’ of the chain between Anne of York and the late Joy Ibsen, but they were able to make contact with a second maternal line descendant – who wishes remain anonymous – whose DNA was used to confirm a match between genetic material extracted from the skeleton and a swab provided by Joy’s son, Michael.

 

“Right from the start of the project, we did not want to rely entirely on the DNA between Michael and the skeleton. We always wanted to triangulate that wherever possible,” explains Professor Schürer. “We set about trying to secure a second maternal line, and after several weeks of research we actually did discover this person. The documentary evidence again is there to support this.”

Source: http://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/news/genealogists-help-confirm-identity-leicesters-royal-remains

In a couple of weeks the Who Do You Think You Are? LIVE show will be at Olympia and already they have moved the talk by Dr Turi King called “Discovering Richard III” from a smaller area to now be held in the Celebrity Theatre / SOG studio 1 on Saturday, 1.00pm – 1.45pm.

It is billed as telling the story of the research project undertaken at the University of Leicester to discover the burial place of Richard III and the related work to scientifically identify the skeletal remains.

Personally I can’t wait for this year’s WDYTYA? LIVE as I missed last year due to fog disrupting my travel plans!

 

Sign up now for my FREE English and Welsh family history tips by email..

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Genealogy can be frustrating.

Sometimes genealogy can be very frustrating! You can use all the correct procedures to find your ancestors in the data bases and yet they still stubbornly remain hidden from you. A vital document has been destroyed or lost sometime long ago and this vital link in the chain is broken and you are left floundering around wondering where to turn next.

This weekend, 24th to 26th February, I had hoped to be able to visit the Who Do You Think You Are? Live show at Olympia and to report back to my readers on the latest in techniques for carrying forward our research, advice from some of the experts that I would have interviewed on video, new databases to search and news from the subscription sites. Regretfully I have been foiled by a bank of fog in the English Channel that has cancelled flights from my home in Jersey to London since Thursday!

A huge disappointment for me that my travel plans were scuppered, but this got me thinking about just how easy we modern travellers normally have it. So what if I have been hanging around for three fruitless days waiting for my half-an-hour flight to the capital, that never materialised? In the past our ancestors travel was often long, sometimes dangerous and undertaken with some trepidation. I am hugely impressed by some of my seafaring ancestors that braved storms, disease and long periods separated from home and family. What this does is bring into context the pitifully small inconvenience to me that I have lost the chance to do something that I had been so looking forward to. Yes I am fed up, but I believe that I am so lucky to be living today, with all the conveniences I have, even when sometimes they just don’t or can’t operate.

Having said that, however, this still doesn’t detract from the deep fascination that I have with my forebears and their past.

So what has been happening at the WDYTYA? LIVE show?

Ancestry.co.uk

I noticed that Ancestry.co.uk has been streaming live from their theatre in the show this year. Unfortunately the download speed has given me some problems, so that I couldn’t watch the reports properly.

 

Findmypast.co.uk

Findmypast.co.uk announced that we are now able to search 359,000 records of Merchant Navy Seamen for the period 1835-1857 on their site. These 19th century Merchant Navy records become available online for the first time with this brightsolid company’s work in association with The National Archives.

The background to the records is that from 1835, the central government started to monitor a potential reserve of sailors for the Royal Navy, which resulted in the creation of thousands of records that identify individual seamen. The information that these records hold about any of your potential ancestors will obviously vary. Normally, however, they include the name, age, place of birth, a physical description, the name of ship and dates of voyages that the mariner served on. This release adds to the 20th century Merchant Navy Seamen records, which were already published on findmypast.co.uk in September 2011. This means you can now search two centuries of records for your Merchant Navy Seamen ancestors, making it possible for you to trace their service over time.

 

 TheGenealogist.co.uk

Nigel Bayley of The Genealogist.co.ukNigel Bayley Managing Director of The Genealogist.co.uk talking to me at WDYTYA?LIVE last year.

TheGenealogist.co.uk have now released full transcripts for the final eight counties in the 1911 census.

The release of these counties brings the total number of records to over 36 million on their site and completes the 1911 census project. These census records, only available to Diamond subscribers, have been integrated into their existing search tools, so that you are now able to access the transcripts using their very useful House and Street search tool, their Keyword Master search and also their Family Forename search. This can help enormously to track down ancestors in this set.

Take your family history further by considering a subscription to these websites:

 

The Genealogist - UK census, BMDs and more online

 



Disclosure: The Links in the above are Compensated Affiliate links. If you click on them then I may be rewarded by Findmypast.co.uk or The Genealogist.co.uk should you sign up for their subscriptions.

 

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