At the Nursteed Centre, Devizes
Please scroll down for information about the Nursteed Centre, and also note that the Society's Resource Centre (ie for its office, libary, research etc) is on the Bath Road, at the other side of Devizes from the Nursteed Centre.
The Devizes Branch's regular meetings are on the third Tuesday of each month (except December) at 7.30pm. At some meetings we meet as usual and the presenter will 'arrive' on Zoom. See below for contact details, details of topics, venues and any changes. Everyone is welcome, and there is no charge. Tea/coffee available and time to chat or ask questions. Please keep an eye on this page for any changes.
Future meetings
Tuesday 21 April - "The life and death of a Country Policeman" - Judy Rouse will follow our brief Branch AGM. Judy is one of our Society members and a regular speaker. Her presentation relates to one of her ancestors who was the first policeman to be murdered on duty in Wiltshire.
Tuesday 19 May - "Care of Photographs". Beverley Walker's talks are always welcome at our Branch. This one will cover a topic sometimes neglected as we work on extending our family trees. She will explain how to store photographs and to display them in albums with descriptions and memorabilia.
Tuesday 16 June - Helen Parker-Drabble is a family historian with a twist: she uncovers hidden stories using her counselling training to explore how our ancestors’ experiences might have shaped them. By combining psychology with her family history, she shows how to deepen our understanding of our ancestors, living family and the legacies that are left behind.
Tuesday 21 July - our local member Dr Norman Beale will tell us about the Battle of Roundway in 1643
Tuesday 18 August - our Branch's summer outing, this year to the much-updated Trowbridge Museum
Tuesday 15 September - "The story of Wagons to Cars in North Wiltshire" - Mike Stone -
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Recent meetings
March - "Lloyd George Domesday 1910-1915 and National Farm Survey 1941 - 1943". The longish title to this talk by Gill Blanchard reflected the complexities of these major two surveys. She shared the background to their production during war years and what they could reveal – which is lots! We are particularly fortunate as the Domesday Survey (nick-named after its sole predecessor) data and its splendidly detailed maps for Wiltshire were among the first to appear on TheGenealogist. The 300,000 farm records in the second Survey are being digitised by TNA. Until they are online, much is already available if you know where to look – see TNA’s guide.
February - "Read all about it - using newspapers to bring your ancestors to life" by Claire Dimond-Mills. Claire, a genealogist and local guide, discussed many ways to reveal the lives of our ancestors. Birth anouncements were always welcome, but marriage and death notices could sometimes reveal other details not found elsewhere such careers, major successes and maybe little-known relatives. Reports of inquests and court cases were often very detailed, and advertisements for businesses and for sales were worth looking out for. Claire left us thinking about modern papers and "What would our descendants conclude about us?"
January - "Preserving your Family History" by Ian Waller. Ian reminded us about the wide range of research material that we might have accumulated, ranging from old notes on scraps all the way to fresh notes on phones. Then he talked us through the even wider range of storage opportunities, including The Cloud, publishing, albums, storing on computers, and scrapbooking. All had pros and cons requiring thought, as did possible bequests of material. By the end of the evening, he had motivated us to think what to do next, but from chat afterwards it was also apparent that many of us found the challenge rather daunting.
December - our Branch Christmas Party was arranged by Bob and Lindsey. We enjoyed the light-hearted but challenging quiz and and an ample, and carefully chosen, selection of seasonal snacks. It was an excellent way to round off our Branch's year.
November - "Sons of the Soil" - Janet Few has vast experience in family, social and community history research. She introduced us to the events and laws that had shaped the lives of our ‘aglab’ ancestors and of many other countryside occupations. Some of the topics were familiar to us, but in most cases Janet added little-used aspects worthy of research. In addition to censuses, tithe records and directories, she mentioned various surveys in England, Scotland and Ireland, animal descriptions, gamekeepers’ licences, estate records, school log books, newspapers and even weather records. With such a splendid range of topics to think about, we were relieved that Janet provides a downloadable handout for our future reference
October - "Maple Leaf Villa" - Ian Hicks, from the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre, had personally uncovered the story of a young bear mascot brought to Salisbury Plain from Canada by troops in WW1. When his owner went to France, ‘Pooh’ was lodged at London Zoo where he remained for many years, apparently content. The Canadians had named their army hut “Maple Leaf Villa”, and after the War it became the first home of Wiltshire’s Library Service. Years later the wooden name board was the surviving piece of the hut and was displayed in the County Council Headquarters. Although without much family history as such, Ian’s talk was locally-centred and contained many aspects of relevance to our members.
September - Members' Evening - this was a short notice change from having a visiting speaker. We heard about the Poor Laws, conflicts between parishes, and particularly indecisive couple; about a promising's youngster's travel, university and then death on the Western Front; about the workers in the flax factory in Devizes and their secret War work that included parachutes; about local families, and finally about tragedy and murder in the London Gangland scene that involved a member's relatives and some friendly twins called Kray. It was a fascinating evening that emerged from little chance to prepare.
The Nursteed Centre - our usual meeting place for the Devizes Branch of WFHS
Meetings: Nursteed Centre, Nursteed Road, Devizes SN10 3AH, (Click for map) third Tuesday of each month, 7.30pm
Access: 800 yards along A342 towards Andover: signed on the right by the pedestrian crossing.
Contact: Branch Chairman David Weaver on 01380 723191 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
