HRH The Princess Royal taking a look at royal charters during the official opening with the head of archives service, Heather Forbes, and Dr Colin R Chapman (photograph by Mikal Ludlow)
Karen Clare reports on the latest genealogy news. Got a story to share? Email editorial@family-tree.ee.co.uk
The Gloucestershire Family History Society (FHS), from its formation in 1979, has always been on good terms with the county archives; unfailingly the FHS committee and volunteers have worked well with the archivists and professional staff. Firm ties were secured in 2009 when the society moved its search rooms and extensive library into a building within the archives compound in Gloucester. The Gloucestershire Records Office, as it was known by many, was accommodated, coincidently from 1979, in a former school opened by the Mayor of Gloucester in October 1926, using a golden key made specifically for the purpose. The society’s Family History Centre alongside the archives was formally opened on 13 August 2009 by a later Mayor of Gloucester, not using a golden key, but simply using scissors to cut a ribbon on that equally auspicious occasion.