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May 1, 2026

Glenside Hospital Museum

Glenside Hospital Museum in Bristol has secured funding from Archives Revealed – the UK’s only dedicated programme for cataloguing and unlocking archive collections – to enhance access to nationally significant archives. This grant will shed new light on the history of mental health and learning disability care. The museum holds a unique collection of around 3,000 items dating from the late 1800s to the 1990s, including rare photographs, over 200 oral histories, books, letters, administrative records, and research papers. The newly awarded grant will fund a scoping project to provide a clear plan to modernise systems, strengthen staff and volunteer skills, and develop sustainable approaches to managing and sharing the collection, while also laying the groundwork for future funding. By improving access and care, the project will enable the museum to expand its research, exhibitions, and public programming, supporting academics, students, family historians, and wider audiences to explore connections between medical history, social change, and lived experience.
April 20, 2026

From Chaos to Clarity

On Monday 27th April at 7-30pm there will be a Bath Group meeting and talk when our speaker, Linda Hammond, will reveal how mind mapping your family history might be the gamechanging technique for untangling your family history puzzles. This is an online meeting for members. To join, please visit our website: bafhs.org.uk/support/join
April 13, 2026

Bristol Radical History Society Festival 2026

This year’s festival has four main themes: Propaganda, Utopias, Welsh Risings and the 1926 General Strike. The festival is being held at two main venues: Saturday 25th April at M Shed (next to the cranes) on Bristol’s harbourside and Sunday 26th April at the Cube Microplex, Dove Street South, off the top-left of King Square, Bristol. For further details of this and other events, please visit: https://www.brh.org.uk/site/event-series/bristol-radical-history-festival-2026/
April 6, 2026

Life on the Ocean Waves – Mariners

On Monday 13th April at 7-30pm there will be a Bristol Group meeting and talk when Dr Nicholas Dixon will reveal how he reconstructed the careers of two of his ancestors who were merchant sea captains during the 18th century. There will also be advice about tracing maritime ancestors throughout Britain before and after the Merchant Seaman Act of 1835. This is an online meeting for members. To join, please visit our website: bafhs.org.uk/support/join

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About BAFHS

Founded in 1975, we are a well established Family History Society focussing our activities on Bath, Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire (the former county of Avon 1974 to 1996) and its constituent predecessor and successor counties. We are also frequently referred to by our initials - BAFHS. The hub of our activities is our Research Room where enthusiastic volunteers give their time for the benefit of the Society.

What we do:

  • Encourage the public study of family history with reference to the historic county of Avon and its successor counties.
  • Publish a quarterly Members' Magazine (available in digital or paper format).
  • Transcribe and publish source material of interest to family historians.
  • Hold regular in-person and online meetings with a programme of illustrated talks and lectures.
  • Operate a Research Room where advice and resources are freely available.
  • Operate this website which is dedicated to family history.
  • Organise outings to places of interest.

Members:

Members are at the heart of our Society. By becoming a member, you will be joining a like-minded group of people who support our work. There is also the opportunity to become actively involved with a wide range of activities - you'd be surprised what it takes to run a modern family history society. It is quick and convenient to join online.