Hi again Anne > Most main libraries in Scotland have microfilms of the original > enumeration books, which you can check free of charge. All good but not from the depths of Cornwall unfortunatley :-( (its heck of a bus ride you know :-) > I appreciate that this isn't much use if you don't live in > Scotland, or can't make the journey to the library which holds > the films you want to see, but you can order them for a small > fee to see at any Latter Day Saints (Mormon) Church Family > History Centre. Lists of FHCs at www.familysearch.org Also good but it would cost far more to travel back and forth and pay for parking, the film and copies plus the problem of our nearest LDS FHS being open very restricted hours > Excellent advice, but it might be even cheaper hiring the whole > film at an LDS FHC. This has the additional advantage that you > can browse the entire book, which may turn up other interesting > bits of information that you wouldn't get if you just download > an image from SP. What annoys me most is that the GROS will not allow the likes of Ancestry to have the images as that would make your suggestion all the more attainable, I use the English census in just that way every day, often finding close relations and connections people in the same street or village I can't see the day they are going to give up their cash cow and give open access though to what are essentially our records Best wishes Nivard Ovington, in Cornwall (UK)

Nivard Ovington wrote: >... >What annoys me most is that the GROS will not allow the likes of Ancestry to >have the images as that would make your suggestion all the more attainable, >I use the English census in just that way every day, often finding close >relations and connections people in the same street or village > >I can't see the day they are going to give up their cash cow and give open >access though to what are essentially our records > > I don't think GROS decided all of their own volition to charge for access - they were obliged, like many other public bodies, such as the Ordnance Survey, to cover their costs from revenue (I seem to recall that someone called "Thatcher" was at the back of this, in the name of "cutting bureaucracy"). The alternative to charging actual users of the service would be an increase in taxes for all of us. Which would you rather? Gavin Bell