Hi Folks, We're looking at putting on a Family & Local History Expo next year for the Barwon Region. Planning is in the very early stages but in the next few weeks I'll be making contact with all Family History / Genealogy Groups, Local History Groups, Museums, etc. in the region. In the meantime you can help by ensuring that YOUR local group gets in touch with me to make sure I have the right contact details etc. - email addresses would be really helpful. My email address is szada@zades.com.au WHAT IS THE BARWON REGION? Of course the boundary is pretty loose but roughly west to Apollo Bay / Otways, up to include Colac (Colac Otway Shire), Cape Clear etc (Golden Plains Shire), and arcing around to Werribee and all points south and east. This does NOT exclude places from outside this area participating. WHEN? Tentatively we're looking at July 2004 for the first one, then possibly an annual event. WHERE? Probably Geelong to ensure good attendance from Melbourne and across the bay. WHAT? A rough concept at this stage - all day expo on the Saturday - groups can bring their indexes, books for sale, etc. etc. etc., then encourage all participants to open their own society / premises for extended hours on the Sunday (whether you would normally be open or not) to enable visitors from "out-of-town" to visit more than one society on the Sunday based on the information they may have found on the Saturday. COST? At this stage - absolutely no idea but the aim will be to keep everything to a MINIMUM within reason. ============ As I said, this is all in the early planning stage and nothing is locked in, but we need to find out the interest and possible participation of the various groups in the region. So please get in touch with me. We particularly want to hear from newer groups in the region who may only be known locally. Regards ........ Susie Zada Barwon Region representative, RHSV State Committee. N.B. You (or your group) do NOT need to be a member of RHSV to participate in this! It is a Barwon Region History event - to be organised and run by people from groups within the region - in other words, all of us.