Family Tree Live: The Village Green

 

Come along to our Village Green, where you will have the chance to join in with meet-ups and tweet-ups, or grab a coffee and share what you have learnt!

 

We are super excited to tell you about our 'Village Green,' where you’ll have the chance to meet-up and tweet-up, catch up with friends old and new, maybe find a long-lost cousin, and share your stories. We want Family Tree Live to be the perfect place for genealogists to learn, share and improve, and have fun. 

 

Chat about all things family history, from beginner chats to advanced discussions! Everyone is welcome! 

 

We have planned some meet-ups for you to attend on both days during your visit:

 

But first...Coffee - We all need a strong coffee to keep us going, so let's get our energy up with a quick chat. Go and grab a coffee from the shop (or your thermos), bring your friends and family along at 11am and let us know what you hope to learn.

 

Time for Tea - At 3pm, we'll be back on the Village Green, and would love to hear what you've learnt so far in the day, take some pictures and share your thoughts and discoveries on our social media.

Jackie Depelle: Home Archiving - At 10.30am on Friday, Jackie Depelle will be talking to you about how to home archive your family history.

Keith Gregson: Flesh on the Bones - At 1pm on Friday, Keith Gregson will be talking to you about how to put flesh on the bones of your research. 

 

We know there are many of you who will be meeting up with a relative who lives far away, so please let us know so we can save you a seat. Alternatively, if you would like to have a time dedicated to a certain surname/county/etc, we can help you get the word out - please send an email to us by clicking this link. The above plan for the Village Green meet-ups will be updated with additional meet-ups as and when they are booked, so keep checking! 

 

 

Games on the Village Green!

On Saturday, 10am til 3pm, Come and play ‘Lines And Ladders’ (think snakes & ladders meets family history) with PhD student Kirsty Surgey. Family history fun suitable for adults & children.

Plus history-inspired ‘Who am I?’ and Latin word games!

 

Remembering our relatives

Family Tree Live will be the perfect place to meet up with your living relatives and share those stories from the past. However, family history research is also about remembering those who are no longer with us, and therefore, we have created our very own Memory Wall.

This wall will be your chance to recall details of loved ones, and leave a lovely message of rememberance! Grab a copy of our April issue which includes a brick for you to write on, (if you don't have this issue, click here to print your brick for free!) bring it along to the show, and we will add this to the wall for you. Alternatively, come along to the Village Green and you will be able to write on the wall yourself and leave your mark. 

 

Supporting charity

As well as leaving your memory on our Memory Wall, you will have the chance to make a mark on the research of a disease which can be inherited. Our chosen charity is called the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA), which is connected to a couple of members of our team. Here is what they had to say;

 

Courtney - 'I'm really grateful to the team for choosing this charity. It has a very special place in my heart as my maternal great grandmother, great uncle and grandfather all had/have this illness. It is a disease a lot of doctors will not come across during their time in practice, but is more common than you would think. It specifically touches me, as I was by his side from his hospital diagnosis, to his last moments.

Once my grandad, Roy 'Sam' Vickers, had been diagnosed, my family were offered a test to find out if we had the gene which carries this disease. None of us have, and I don't plan to, but it will always be in the back of our minds. My grandad sadly passed away in April 2017 after fighting for over 3 years, but never stopped smiling. 

Since his diagnosis, I have been interested in finding out more about my family tree, and if any other relatives had this disease. So far, I have been unable to find anymore family members with this disease and am yet to find out how far back it goes. I have also been fundraising and raising awareness for Motor Neurone Disease (MND), with coffee mornings, raffles, sponsored silences and we even had a vintage tea party with hundreds of people attending. 

I am so proud of my grandad for fighting for so long, and he will always be the strongest man I know, but I now know he is out of pain and watching over me.'

 

Lauren - 

'My Grandad, Dennis Beharrell, was battling Motor Neurone Disease for 5 years before it sadly took his life this year. He always told me how lucky he felt to have still had an amazing life before the disease came along. And he always felt extremely sad for those who suffered with MND from a very young age.

The MND association supported my Grandad in all kinds of ways including constant care from the professional healthcare staff, a befriender volunteer who visited my Grandad in his care home, as well as providing special equipment to help him with his everyday life. The association were a crucial part in helping make sure he still had the best possible quality of life.

In 2015 I ran the Leeds Half Marathon for MND and raised £500. My Grandad was there to cheer me on and I couldn’t wait to give him a big hug when I finished the race.

I plan on doing more fundraising for the MND association, including a 55 mile walk from my house, to my Grandad’s house, this summer. 

Despite losing my precious Grandad this year, I know he’s now in a much better place free from any pain. And I hope soon enough there is a cure for MND to help save millions of innocent lives.'

 

Our friends at the MNDA will be at the Village Green on both days, so feel free to visit them during your time at Family Tree Live. The monies raised for the MNDA will be used in life saving research, with the hope to one day find a cure. So, please come along, remember your loved ones and donate what you can.

 

To find out more about the MNDA and the disease itself, please click here. 

Also, it is there 40^th anniversary so be sure to wish them a ‘Happy 40^th!’

 

Anyway, we can't wait to see you there and if you haven't got your ticket yet it only takes a few clicks!