Meetings Programme

From April, some of the Society meetings will be held at the village hall in Woolmer Green as well as on Zoom. This is, of course, subject to change according to official requirements at the time. Zoom meetings can be pre-booked at Eventbrite. See the News page or enter the Members' Area to do so.

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Date	Subject	Speaker
	Note: For Zoom only meetings, these will be available to view on Zoom at Woolmer Green in the Committee Room for those members who wish to attend.
2023
Jan 28	Getting the best from newspapers	John Hanson
Feb 25	Britain's first Railways Murder — Speaker problems, rescheduled for Feb 24 2024	Paul Stickler
Mar 25	The 1830 Beerhouse Act — Its effect on Hertfordshire pubs on both retailing and breweries to circa 1870, followed by the subsequent decline to 1914. It became a highly competitive business to be in and plenty of publicans and brewers lost their shirts. For many pubs we can follow the frequent changes in publican which is a good indicator of the strife faced by those trying to make a profit. The talk will draw on research for urban St. Albans and rural Wheathampstead.	Jon Mein
Apr 29	What happened to Lucy? — Before 1927 and legal adoption what happened to the unwanted child? Even after 1927 children were exploited, although supposedly cared for by institutions. This talk looks at the plight of adoptees, foundlings, orphans and the Empire children (Child Migrants) in the 19th & 20th centuries	Ian Waller
May 27	AGM at 2.30pm, followed at 3.00pm by Nonconformity — The various churches that have existed in Britain since the 17th century, what they were and are, and the unique records they have left, very different from those of the established Church	Alan Ruston
Jun 24	Between Heaven & Earth — About Robert’s grandad’s emigration to Canada at 23, where he turned himself into a hippie, and worked as a cowboy, shepherd, bridge-builder, newspaper correspondent, navvy and shop assistant then jumping on trains as a hobo the 2,000 miles to Toronto.	Robert Nurden
Jul 29	Land Girls, Brocket Babies and Beyond — How women maintained the home front in Herts. in WW2	Janice Brooker from HALS
Aug 12	Online Research Session for Members at 2.30pm. A new Zoom event to trial a group discussion session about researching Herts ancestors and mention specific queries. Access codes will be available in the Members' area.
Sep 30	The impact of the Great War reflected in the 1921 census — Widows, orphans, disabled and blinded former soldiers, changed names, unemployment … the social impacts of the Great War were huge and long-lasting.	Paul Nixon
Oct 28	The Maltings Industry in Hertfordshire — Until the 1980's the making of malt was the most important economic activity in Herts and was the reason for the navigation of the rivers Lee and Stort and adjacent railway from the 1840s.	Helen Gibson
Nov 25	Forgotten Staff — Victorian and Edwardian Railway-women	David Turner
Dec 16	The Long Paper Trail — Finding some ancient documents in the attic and researching them to discover ancestors and their lives	Sue Paul
2024
Jan 27	Putting your Ancestors in their Place — Looking at the town/village where your ancestors lived. They did not live in isolation. They need to be considered through investigating the community in which they lived.	Janet Few
Feb 24	Britain's first Railways Murder — The murder of Thomas Briggs in 1864: the reputation of Britain’s railway was rocked by the violent and unexplained murder of a city gentleman. A daring chase across the Atlantic led to a man being arrested.	Paul Stickler

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Venue: Woolmer Green, nr. Knebworth, Herts.

Usually, all meetings are here on a Saturday. See Map of Venue.

Woolmer Green Village Hall, off Bridge Road, Woolmer Green, SG3 6XA.

The Main Hall will open from 1.30pm to 2.30pm for research, etc.

The speaker will commence at 2.30pm.

Refreshments are available normally about 3.30pm.

The meeting closes at 4.30pm.

Note: The AGM starts at 2pm followed by the speaker at 3pm.

 

Visitors are always welcome to come to the Meetings.

 
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