Category: Branch Meeting

An evening designed to encourage open discussion about family history research.

Join Carol Brindley where she describes the more recent history of Cope Hall, the time when it was used as a Women’s Training Colony. A place where “rescued” women, who might otherwise have found themselves in prison.

From fence posts to beams for Chiswick Flyover, join us for a nostalgic talk on Cowley Concrete and its founder Herbert Mullard.

Join writer Tim Healey for a talk on drovers’, their lives, favourite pubs, wilderness paths they travelled and the tell-tale marks they left behind, including the stir they caused driving wild ponies through Abingdon.

Join Melanie King, author of The Secret History of the English Spa (2021), to share some of the Duchess of Marlborough’s adventures as she visits a few English spas.

Aliases, bynames, diminutives, pet names, name variants, surnames, translations – what do you call people?

An important time of the year for any rural community, the Hiring, Mop or Statute Fair reached its peak popularity in the 19th Century as a way to seek and to provide employment. This talk will outline How, when and where the fairs worked; The evidence they leave behind; The campaign against the fairs; Registration…