Every Man Remembered - Royal British Legion's WW1 sculpture This show is a must for anyone interested in family history and this year’s event moved out of London to be held for the first time at the NEC in Birmingham. We've been every year since the show began. I still find something new at each event and the show is often used to release major new data collections, such as tithe maps released by thegenealogist.co.uk this year, or to launch new genealogy projects, such as Imperial War Museum’s Lives of the First World War at last year’s show. There’s always a good range of topics in the programme of workshops and all the major genealogy organisations have stands. Many family history societies also attend with lots of resources, books and info from their own county.
Is it worth going? Here’s what I got out of this year’s show...
If you haven't been to a family history fair before it's a great day out and there are others during the year, but WDYTYA?live is the biggest show in the UK and claims to be the biggest in the world. Dates for next year’s event have already been released so make a note in your diary now - Thursday 7th to Saturday 9th April 2016 at the NEC, Birmingham - whodoyouthinkyouarelive.com
Is it worth going? Here’s what I got out of this year’s show...
- a clear insight to using WW1 Unit War Diaries held at The National Archives many of which are now online (a workshop held by TNA)
- solution to issues I’ve had using the Gazette website (short TNA workshop)
- information to help move some specific WW1 research forward (detailed chat with a military expert)
- subscribed to Lincolnshire Family History Society (chatted to and browsed many other FHS stands too)
- bought Rebecca Probert’s new book, Divorced, Bigamist, Bereaved? which Rebecca was promoting at the show
- lots of very helpful copyright info relating to use of historical photos etc from the Intellectual Property Office (having a design background this is something I’m very conscious of but in a historic context where the copyright holder is unknown can be tricky to know where you stand)
- met and exchanged contact details with a Belgian genealogist
- info on Ancestry's DNA package (workshop from Ancestry and Sir Tony Robinson) - doubt that I'll use this but you never know!
- packets of Flanders poppy seeds from Commonwealth War Graves Commission stand which I will pass on to my current students.
If you haven't been to a family history fair before it's a great day out and there are others during the year, but WDYTYA?live is the biggest show in the UK and claims to be the biggest in the world. Dates for next year’s event have already been released so make a note in your diary now - Thursday 7th to Saturday 9th April 2016 at the NEC, Birmingham - whodoyouthinkyouarelive.com
