TV historian to attend first ever Family History Festival

Saturday 21 April 2018

Nick Barratt, UK genealogical expert and consultant for the BBC’s ‘Who do you think you Are?,' will be giving islanders tips about how to research UK genealogy as part of Jersey Heritage first ever Family History Festival.

Nick Barratt will be at Jersey Archive at 14:00 to talk about his experiences and help islanders with their family history issues.

The Archive will be open from 09:00 to 14:00 and staff will be giving talks about how to research Jersey family history and make the best use of the online catalogue. At 09:00, Stuart Nicolle will also take visitors on a 'Treasure Tour,' to show what the archive holds and its purpose built strongrooms. 

Ouaisné will be the subject of the popular ‘What’s your Street’s Story?’ talk, sponsored by Le Gallais and run by Janne White, at 10:00. Michèle Leerson will lead an 'Advance Online Workshop' from 11:30am to show how islanders can delve deeper into the Jersey Records available online.

Other organisations such as the Channel Islands Family History Society, the Superintendent Registrar and Jersey Library will also be contributing talks.

Pictured: Visitors will be able to see inside the Archive's purpose-built strongrooms during the weekend.

On Sunday morning, at 10:00, Nick Barratt will give a talk on the various sources for modern English genealogy, covering the basics as well as some pre-19th century ones.  Stuart Nicolle will then run another 'Treasure Tour' at 12:00.

The afternoon will be an ‘Ask the Expert’ session where members of the public will be able to bring their family history conundrums to Nick Barratt and Jersey Archive staff.

The Jersey Archive Helpdesk area and reading rooms will also be open throughout the weekend to give visitors a chance to put into action the information that they have heard in the talks.

Linda Romeril, Archives and Collections Director, said: “Jersey Heritage is thrilled to host this Family History Festival. Genealogy is incredibly popular and the events that we are holding over the weekend are going to be fascinating for anyone interested in history.

“We’re also extremely excited to have Nick Barratt coming to the Island to talk about his experiences as a genealogist and about UK family resources. Nick is an expert on UK family history so to have an opportunity to get tips from him about conducting research makes this a must visit event for those with roots not only in the Island but on the mainland.”