Revive your Family's Connections with Berwick-upon-Tweed and Visit in 2015

The Old Bridge, Berwick-upon-Tweed

Throughout 2015, Berwick-upon-Tweed will be celebrating 900 years of its turbulent history and unique cultural heritage and they would like you to attend.

They're planning a dozen themed weekends running from Easter 2015 to the end of October and they'll be celebrating each theme with a mix of exhibitions, events, talks, workshops, plays and hopefully, even a bit of street theatre. The themes are churches and Christianity, the barracks and World War 1, the annual riding of the bounds, fishing, seaside and maritime activities, food and drink, family history, art and crafts, sport, and the Berwick Guild. 

There are many surnames which have had connections with Berwick-upon-Tweed, Tweedmouth and Spittal over the past 900 years. Some of them are ones which can still be found in the area today but many have now disappeared with their descendants living all over the world.  They’re planning to highlight family names and their connection with Berwick whilst fitting in with the overall themes. They want everybody to come to the themed weekends, especially people whose ancestors left the area – they want people to revive their family's connections with Berwick-upon-Tweed and visit in 2015.

Look at the main Berwick 900 website, their Berwick 900 blog,  and follow them on Twitter, @Berwick900. I suggest you subscribe by email to the blog (there’s a subscription box at the top of the blog under the picture) and follow them on Twitter.

Download the provisional Berwick 900 programme.

Why Do We Need the Guild of One Name Studies ?

Our Annual General Meeting is this Sunday, 25th May, at 2.30pm in the Corn Exchange & Ormiston Institute, Market Square, Melrose, TD6 9PN, however, as is usual, we'll have a talk too.  Map.

We desperately need new members to help us run the Society by standing as specific officers and as members of Council.

In particular, we have no nominations for Book-keeper, Treasurer or Editor.

 This Sunday's talk is by Lorna Kinnaird.  Lorna has been a member of the Guild of One Name Studies for over 15 years and is the Regional Representative for Scotland South.  

 A one-name study is a long project researching information about a surname and all the people who have held it, as opposed to a particular family tree (the ancestors of one person) or descendancy (the descendants of one person or couple). Her initial research into the Muat name created a love of genealogy and she now runs her own business, ‘DunEdin Links Genealogy’. She will be sharing her experience of genealogy in this talk with particular focus upon the nature of the Guild of One Name Studies, the benefits that membership of the Guild can offer the genealogist and her own research on the Muat name.  I think you'll find this a very interesting talk whether you're interested in family history, or Muat, Mouat or other spellings. 

Come along and find out why we need the Guild of One Name Studies.

I warmly invite you to attend the talk whether you are a member or not. 

Doors open at 2pm; the AGM begins at 2.30pm and the talk after the AGM, perhaps about 2.45pm. 

It’s free to come in. We'll have a range of family history publications available to buy, and there’ll be light refreshments (donation expected) available after the talk. If you have a problem with your family history, please discuss it (no charge) with one of our volunteers. 

This is the last talk before the summer; the subsequent talk (the first one of the 2014/2015 syllabus) will be on 28^th September.

Search Ireland Census 1821 to 1851 for Free on Find My Past

There's no date specified for this offer so it's not clear how long this is for but you can search the census for Ireland 1821 to 1851 for free on Find My Past.

That may seem great but it's not as marvellous as people think.

The records are only for a few counties and some counties aren't complete:
1821: Antrim, Carlow, Cavan, Dublin, Fermanagh, Galway, Kilkenny, King's, Limerick, Mayo, Meath.
1831: Londonderry (Derry).
1841: Killeshandra, County Cavan.
1851: Parts of County Antrim

Most of these won't give you much useful information except to help you confirm that a person of that name lived there.

There's more information further down the search page (hint, click the chevron or arrow next to the census year).

You'll need to register if you don't have an account and sign in.

As I expected, I haven't found any of my ancestors.