The Family History Society of Cheshire

A PROSPECT OF ARLEY -Talk by Judy Popley

A poignant journey seen through the eyes of one of the gardeners who worked at Arley Hall in the 1890s. The talk introduces the Estate staff, indoor and outdoor servants and how the gardens have evolved. Slides compare 1890s and 1990s images.

Olivia is a librarian at Sandbach Library and a local historian.   Join us to find out about the pioneering women writers of the Golden Age of Crime Writing, including Agatha Christie and Margery Allingham. Enter a world of eccentric characters, hear about a world renown club that was started to cheer someone up and has an initiation ritual that includes a skull! 

Open Forum -"Families at war" - come along and tell us anything you remember of wartime, rationing or restrications.

Open forums are an opportunity for members and visitors to share their research with the whole group.

We have found these meetings to be very informative and interesting for everyone.

Admission: £2 for members of the FHSC & £2.50 for non-members including light refreshments.

Please note this meeting will be held at Sale Moor Community Centre, Norris Road, Sale M33 2TN

-Auntie Jo is Lost in the Family Tree. Representing women equally in our research is challenging because they are not equally represented in the historical records. Nevertheless, every ancestor deserves thorough, accurate, and honest research, this can be especially hards when researching women. Margaret offers hints and tips to think creatively and expand your perspective, all of which will help you put your female ancestors into their context. 

Derek Arnold  will give a presentation about how the  Mersey Ferry boat Royal Daffodil got its name.

Helen Baggott is a freelance editor and writer from Dorset. Her most recent project is researching the stories behind postcards sent more than 100 years ago. So far, two collections of stories have been published as Posted in the Past and Posted in the Past Second Delivery.

This talk explores the lives and times of our ancestors through the messages they wrote and the postcards they sent: mill workers in Yorkshire, families affected by the first national railway strike, visitors to London and the execution of murderers are just some of the stories included in this talk. Our ancestors left a remarkable record of their lives; will you discover your own ancestors through postcards from the past?

This event is for members only and registration opens on 1st May, when the ‘Register [Individual]’ button will show on the bottom left of the Event details on the FHSC website for you to click and then process your registration, you will receive an email confirmation. Registration will close on 19th May.

The zoom links/meeting protocol will be forwarded the day before the talk.  If you run into any difficulties with this, then please contact us on the dedicated seminar email address – or see the 'Seminar Talks and how to Register' section under 'Online Talks and Meetings' in the FAQ section of the website.

The Seminar series is co-ordinated by Margaret Spate, Jean Laidlaw and Margaret Roberts and ALL correspondence, queries etc should be sent to the dedicated email address -   

PLEASE NOTE WE DO NOT RECORD SEMINAR TALKS

Researching my family heroine By David Phillips.

For further details: 

 Admission charge £2 for members £3 for visitors, including refreshments.

Other records in addition to baptisms, marriages and burials

The May FHSC Cheshire Research Buddies topic of the month is Ellesmere Port - Do you have ancestors in the town, or are you researching a local family and want some help, perhaps on the other hand you live in the locality and could offer help with photographing gravestones or buildings. This is the chance for members to help each other, I'm sure there are many members out there with knowledge of the area that they could share. If you have a research question then please feel free to email me on   and I will circulate it among attendees beforehand.

You will need to register to attend, to do so please click on the 'Register [Individual]' button below on the left and process your registration, you will receive an email confirmation and the zoom links/meeting protocol will be forwarded the morning of the helpdesk meeting. If you run into any difficulties with this then please contact Margaret Roberts on 

NOTE that registration closes at 10am on the morning of the meeting.