The Hampshire Family Historian | Vol.49 No.1 | June 2022

Chairman’s Report/Research Centre Report

attend 6 Executive and 3 Development Forum meetings per year if you are available. Since our last edition of the Historian we have lost several members who have passed away. John Heighes, Group Organiser at the Christchurch and New Milton for many years passed away at the age of 93. To still be doing so at that age is commendable. This group is suspended until we can find volunteers to run it. We also lost Dennis Pearce who was very

much involved within the HGS in the early days. Remember if there is anything you can do within the groups or as a volunteer carrying out transcribing or even just writing articles for the Historian, please come forward. Well enjoy the rest of the June Historian and ‘Good Hunting’ Paul Pinhorne Chairman

Research Centre Report The Research Centre has been pleased to welcome many visitors to our Research Desk since we have been here at HRO. As well as local visitors, we have also had visitors from Australia, Canada, Scotland and Wales, all of whom we have been pleased to help with their queries. Research queries also come in via our website, post and phone and volunteers are kept very busy indeed answering them. Our work on various indexes also continues and we have added some Quarter Session and Removal and Settlement records to our website. We also continue to work to bring our Catalogue up-to-date, and have nearly completed updating our Unwanted certificates index, also due to be placed on the website. Another task is working on the Britain’s Dying Overseas Index. Although some of these records are already on our website,

we are preparing many thousands more. The original record cards are being digitised, and a searchable index will be prepared for the website. Another small group of members will shortly begin working in conjunction with HRO to prepare an HGS display for the foyer of HRO. Although it is not due to be displayed until early 2023, preparations have already begun. We would like to thank the teams of volunteers who are working so hard to make all this information available to HGS members. We will always welcome new volunteers to come and join us, whether they would like to work on the research desk, answer queries or work on transcriptions either remotely from home or here in the office – you will be made welcome. Chris Pavey HGS Research Centre Manager

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