The Hampshire Family Historian | Volume 50 No.2 | Sept 2023

HGS News

The Value of Volunteering This review was received from a visitor to our help desk at Hampshire Record Office and highlights the rewards of

find no trace of his shop being there in the local directories. This resulted in me as the family Grandfather deciding to give myself the task of finding out as much as I could about our Master Baker. I returned the following Thursday morning and Sue showed me how to start my investigation by using Ancestry UK and Find My Past, who both offer free trials, and I was hooked!

being a volunteer. HGS is still in need of more volunteers. If you would like to help, please contact Sue Stannard – HGS Office Manager. Email: office@hgs-online.org.uk HGS office Telephone 07769 405195. It all started when my daughter and her husband visited the Hampshire Record Office during the Winchester Heritage Open Weekend. Whilst there they met a volunteer, Susan Stannard, a member of the Hampshire Genealogical Society. Their volunteers have a table in the Record Office to give help to visitors exploring or searching the past. Following this encounter, I visited their table with my daughter and was introduced to Sue who helped us to try and find a relative called Edward WASSELL – a Great Grandfather who was a Master Baker born in Martyr Worthy near Winchester. He had two shops in Winchester and Southampton and was also a lay preacher in the Baptist Church. Although we had taken birth certificates of two of his daughters born in Winchester, which confirmed his occupation as a baker, we could

Edward Wassell

I went back the following Thursday morning with my results and dead ends and Sue, and her patient and kind colleagues helped me. In all I have had five visits (it may be more) and we found Great Grandfather WASSELL and his bakers shop in Southampton, and lots more about him besides!! The service that this charity-based Society gives at Hampshire Record Office is quite unique with their table just inside the door with their volunteers available to help visitors to research the past. An additional joy is that it gives the volunteers as much pleasure as the visitors when the past is uncovered. The Hampshire Genealogical Society’s ‘Table’ is an absolute gem, and it is a great addition

to the Record Office. Anthony Sheppard

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