January 11, 2024

Date for your Diary – 16th March 2024

The Family History Show Midlands 2024 will be held at the Three Counties Showground in Malvern, on Saturday 16 March. BAFHS will be there! This is a great opportunity to visit a larger family history event relatively close to Bristol. Advance tickets are currently available at £8 each, but BAFHS has a number of tickets for £4 for members – please email awayfairs@bafhs.org.uk for more details.
January 10, 2024

Research Room open!

We’re back after our Christmas break – open Wednesday 10am-1pm, Thursday 1-4pm and 2nd Saturdays 10am-1pm. Bristol Archives take their annual stocktake closure from 15-28 January, but we are open during that period (at the above times). Full details of Research Room Bristol Archives Opening Hours
January 5, 2024

Hidden in Plain Site?

No, it’s not a spelling mistake – it’s next Monday’s Bristol Group meeting! Mia Bennett will be looking at free online sources that are often overlooked in preference for the main commercial websites. This talk gives ideas of where else you could go to expand your hunt for your ancestors’ life stories. The talk is online and begins at 7.30pm (on Monday 8th January) and is available to members only (joining details sent by email). If you are not a member you can join BAFHS. Just visit https://bafhs.org.uk/support/join and enjoy this and many other talks and benefits of being a member.
January 2, 2024

Happy New Year!

Please note that our Research Room is closed until Wednesday 10th January 2024. Also, because the archives are closed, it will only be open on the second Saturday of the month for the time being. Best wishes for a Happy New Year to you all!
December 12, 2023

Are you interested in being our new Journal Editor?

The role involves the preparation of articles, letters and other submissions into a format suitable for publication as the Society’s quarterly Journal. It isn’t necessary to be located in the Bristol area. If you enjoy communicating with members and seeing a project come to fruition, this will prove to be a very interesting and rewarding role. For further details, please contact our Secretary, Clare Hayward at secretary@bafhs.org.uk. Finally, please continue to submit your letters, articles and snippets for the next edition of the Journal to: editor@bafhs.org.uk We look forward to hearing from you!
December 10, 2023

Bristol Archives – change of opening hours

The archives are now closed on Tuesdays as well as Mondays, but open as usual from Wednesday-Friday. They are hoping to reinstate Tuesday opening in early 2024, but from January they will be open on the second Saturday of the month only. Find out more – Opening times | Bristol Archives (bristolmuseums.org.uk)
December 5, 2023

Hannah More – a fresh look – online talk

Please note change of venue for this talk – due to technical difficulties, it has been moved online and will not be at BAWA. Next Monday’s Bristol Group meeting is by John Page – “Hannah More and her Mendip schools: a fresh look at this subject”. Numerous books have been written about Hannah More and her life, but most of what is known about her charitable activities and schools around Mendip has been taken from information sourced from Hannah and her sister Martha. This fresh interpretation uses local sources (mainly from Cheddar) to offer a somewhat different view of events. The talk is online and begins at 7.30pm and is available to members only (joining details sent by email).
November 21, 2023

Keeping your family history records – digitally and online

Join us next Monday for the Bath Group meeting. Mike Slucutt, who many of you will know from our Research Room will be talking about the benefits of keeping your family history records and notes in a digital form rather than on paper. Mike’s talk is online and begins at 7.30pm and is available to members only (joining details sent by email). If you are not a member you can join BAFHS. Just visit https://bafhs.org.uk/support/join and enjoy this and many other talks and benefits of being a member.
November 8, 2023

Find out more about Thankful Villages

Join us next Monday (13th November) for our Bristol Group meeting and talk entitled “Thankful? Villages of Somerset and Gloucestershire with no recorded war dead” by Steve Osman. Steve Osman is Secretary of Wrington Local History Society. Thankful Villages are those with no recorded war dead in 1914, also know as Blessed Villages and settlements from which all their members of the armed forces survived WW1. This is a hybrid event – both in-person (all welcome) and online (members only). Thankful Villages event