Tracing your WWII Airforce Ancestors by Clare Wilson
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
Research Centre Open
The Brierley Business Centre is situated on Mirion Street, with free on-site parking and some disabled parking spaces. The Research Centre occupies Units 3 and 4 on the ground floor. Press the doorbell button for FHSC on the left-hand side of the main entrance doorway, one of our volunteers will come to the door and let you in, or you may be simply 'buzzed' in.
FREE access to Ancestry, FindMyPast, British Newspaper Archive and The Genealogist
An extensive library of books and the Crewe Collection (formerly Crewe and District Local History Archives)
We would normally ask that you book if you are travelling any distance so that we can be sure that you have the equipment, resources and volunteer available to you. Please contact Margaret Spate with requests for either day on adding "Research Centre" in the subject line.
For full details of our holdings, please see the Crewe Research Centre Library Holdings lists in the Public Library.
We look forward to welcoming both current and new members to the Crewe Research Centre, not forgetting any new volunteers.
Publishing your Family History Research
Publishing your Family History Research Group, covers all aspects of publishing your research, whether you are considering writing a book, creating a website or blog, submitting an article to the Cheshire Ancestor, recording a podcast etc, then this group is the ideal place to discuss your ideas and concerns. Led by Victoria Doran, the group meets on the fourth Monday of the month at 2:30pm, with a break for the Summer.
Research Centre Open
The Brierley Business Centre is situated on Mirion Street, with free on-site parking and some disabled parking spaces. The Research Centre occupies Units 3 and 4 on the ground floor. Press the doorbell button for FHSC on the left-hand side of the main entrance doorway, one of our volunteers will come to the door and let you in, or you may be simply 'buzzed' in.
FREE access to Ancestry, FindMyPast, British Newspaper Archive and The Genealogist
An extensive library of books and the Crewe Collection (formerly Crewe and District Local History Archives)
We would normally ask that you book if you are travelling any distance so that we can be sure that you have the equipment, resources and volunteer available to you. Please contact Margaret Spate with requests for either day on adding "Research Centre" in the subject line.
For full details of our holdings, please see the Crewe Research Centre Library Holdings lists in the Public Library.
We look forward to welcoming both current and new members to the Crewe Research Centre, not forgetting any new volunteers.
Zooming in on Family History
Zooming in on Family History is a wide-ranging chatty session where members can come along to ask for help with their research, brickwall or questions relating to using the online databases such as Ancestry and FindMyPast. Discussions also cover research techniques and problem-solving strategies, an excellent place for newcomers to family history to ask questions and learn the basics of tracing their ancestry. Maybe you live outside Cheshire and want to dive into the rich history of the county or explore how local events, records, and geographic changes could inform their family research. The Group, which meets on the fourth Wednesday of month at 7:30pm is led by Margaret Roberts and Sheila Jones.
Family Tree Maker
The Family Tree Maker Users Discussion group meets on the fourth Thursday of every second month at 7:30pm via Zoom.
The group is led by Tony Cox and covers all aspects of using Family Tree Maker, so this is the place for asking any questions or sharing tips on how to use the programme
To be included in the emailing list to receive the zoom link for these meetings please return to the Homepage of the website, scroll down the left-hand menu and click on Discussion Groups, then click on 'Subscribe' for this or any other Discussion Group you would like to attend.
Cheshire women photographers during the infancy of Victorian studio photography by Linda Clarke
The Wirral
The May FHSC Cheshire Research Buddies topic of the month is the Wirral - 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.and the zoom links will be forwarded once registration is close