Sheila Jones, the Honorary Secretary of FHSC, will be talking about Conscientious Objectors in the First World War.

NOTE:  This meeting is via Zoom and takes place at 2pm 

This event is for members only and registration is open, please press ‘Register [Individual]’ button below on the left and then click 'Process your Registration, you will receive an email confirmation. Registration will close on 13th January at noon and the links will be sent out that afternoon. 

(Image: IWM (Art.IWM PST 0311))

There comes a point in your family history research when you have to stop researching & write up your family history. 

This session will help you generate order from chaos.

The Janaury FHSC Cheshire Research Buddies topic of the month is Nantwich and area  - Do you have ancestors in the area, 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.

Most of us will have seen programs like Heir Hunters and shudder at the issues.

A look at probate records and what they can tell us.

Chris is a graduate of the Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies, Canterbury, where he is a course tutor. He also runs a genealogical research and education business from his home on the Suffolk Coast, specialising in East Anglia and heraldry and is the Chairman of Alde Valley Family History Society

This talk is a gentle introduction to the fascinating world of heraldry and how it can be used to further family history research.

This event is for members only and registration opens on 1st February, 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  16th February.

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 – . 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

The FHSC Annual Quiz 2026 date is announced 

Save the date 19th February 2026 at 7:30pm and register today.

Attendees will be randomly placed into teams of 4 or 5 in breakout rooms - don't worry Zoom will do it all for you - and each team will have a question master.  All teams will be asked the same set of questions and then we shall come back together into the main zoom meeting to discover the answers and see which team is the winner. 

I'm hoping that many members will join us, last year's event was great fun and enjoyed by all who attended. 

You will need to register, registration is open and closes on 17 February 2026. Just press the 'Register [individual]' button below and then process your registration, you will receive an email confirmation of your booking.

Zoom links being sent out on the morning of the quiz - 19th February 2026

Susannah Coster is an archivist at The Postal Museum in London, which is home to The Royal Mail Archive. The archive holds the records for Royal Mail and the Post Office. Susannah has extensive experience of working with the genealogical resources in the archive and of advising family historians with their research.

This talk will guide you through the process of researching your ancestors who worked for the British postal service. The records held in The Royal Mail Archive are a rich resource for family historians. The talk will show which family history records can be accessed remotely. It will also give some insights into how the postal service has shaped our lives and transformed communication; Susannah will be including some Cheshire examples.

Link to the Postal Museum website - https://www.postalmuseum.org/

This event is for members only and registration opens on 1st March, 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 16th March.

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 – . 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

Sarah Wise is an author and her latest book "Inconvenient People: Lunacy, Liberty and the Mad-Doctors in Victorian England" explores how Victorian-era laws were used to confine individuals deemed "inconvenient" by their families, which is the basis for this talk. The 19th century saw a series of scandals concerning sane individuals being locked away in lunatic asylums – the victims of unscrupulous persons, who wanted to be rid of a ‘difficult’ family member, spouse or friend. But who were the victims of this trade? How much can you find out about contested cases, private asylums and dodgy doctors in the surviving archives? Sarah Wise explains what she learnt during research for her book and has some fascinating, if not very sad examples.

This event is for members only and registration opens on 1st April, 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 13th April.

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 – . 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

Clare Wilson is a Professional Genealogist with Treehouse Genealogy based in Central Scotland. Born into the RAF Family, through her own Family History Research Clare would discover a WW1 Ace who was awarded a D.C.M., a family member who was shot down over Germany during WW2 whilst serving with Bomber Command & more about her Fathers Service during the Cold War Period.

During WW2 Men from throughout the Commonwealth & beyond would sign up to serve with the Allied Air Forces. This often-dangerous job would take many of them across the world and would see them fighting alongside men from other nations. This being the case tracking down relevant records can often be tricky. During her presentation Clare will tell the story of a crew shot down over France in 1944, showing the sources and documents used to piece their story together, covering records such as where to find Service Records, records at the National Archives, Air Force Lists, researching Operations, publications useful in your research, Combat Reports, looking for memorials, evaders & POWs, oral histories and much more. Members  will be amazed at the level of information discovered in relation to this crew, meaning that you can replicate this to search for your own WWII airmen.

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 18th 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 – . 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