Our Family History Group experience

We’re a small but involved Family History Group in Canterbury, and meet regularly together. We rely upon the library for Family History books, or for ordering them in. It’s a pity that the charges for ordering in from out of area are getting so high that it’s sometimes cheaper to buy from the dreaded Am…. than borrow books.

We’re aware of the family history support, but since we have a certain experience between ourselves, we so far prefer to share knotty problems and get ideas from the other members of the group.

As we’re in the retired bracket, we don’t have a lot of financial wriggle room, and were very relieved that we could continue our searches from home, via Ancestry, during lockdown. It’s disappointing that this has now been curtailed, and you have to access it from a library. It would be enormously helpful to us to have it online again, either as individuals, or when we tackle “brick walls” as a group in our meetings. Structures in our social life have changed, and many of us do not go to a library so often as we used to. Also, very few of us have Kent ancestors, so we search all over the United Kingdom and Eire, as well as Europe, and beyond, making it less useful to have only Kent records online.

Although you (understandably) have to book to attend the main family history resource in Maidstone, we’ve found it a positive experience. It’s a modern centre, with friendly, involved staff who make an effort to help you.