There is a campaign taking place in the UK for the early release of the 1911 UK Census. They are trying to have the census released in 2004 rather than have to wait until 2012 when the 100 year restriction expires. This early release would be of tremendous importance to Canadians who are descendants of British Home Children and who are seeking information on their Home Child relatives. Below is information from Denis McCready, Co-ordinator of FREE THE 1911 CENSUS. As well as a sample letter which Canadians may sent by e-mail to Mr. Beith MP. of the UK parliament. Be sure to add your name and full mailing address, including your postal code. I would encourage everyone to e-mail Mr. Beith MP. Denis McCready may by contacted at denis.mccready@clara.co.uk or visit his web site ..http://home.clara.net/denis.mccready/index.htm Kindly advise Denis McCready if you receive a reply from Mr. Beith MP. Thank you, Cecil Verge, New Minas, Nova Scotia, Canada ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... Welcome to Census e-NEWS BROADCAST No. 5 – December 2003 Seasonal good wishes to you. A NEW BALL-GAME Since 14 November 2003, when an official report was published on the 1901 CENSUS ONLINE, campaigners have found themselves in a completely new ball-game. The government has discovered that it could easily make at least £5m a year by publishing the 1911 CENSUS ONLINE. So if ministers stubbornly stick to their plans to wait until 2012 before releasing the census, they will lose £5m every year in potential revenue. That would be a loss of £40m by 2012!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT IF UK RESIDENTS CANNOT FIND MORE MPs WHO SUPPORT US? We’re beginning to hear from pro-active UK campaigners who have won the backing of their MPs. For example, Ann Hunt has heard from her MP, Alistair Carmichael [LDem, Orkney & Shetland], who has said: I am happy to give this 1911 Census campaign my wholehearted support. We need at least a hundred UK campaigners who have contacted their MPs since the end of October 2003. But we haven’t heard recently from many of our registered UK members. Does that suggest that the campaign is running out of steam? For the information of campaigners outside the UK, we have sent the following message to UK supporters If you are still keen to back the campaign, please write to your MP, at the House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA, if you haven’t asked for his/her support since October 2003. To email your MP, just go to http://www.parliament.uk/directories/HCIOLISTS/ALMS.CFM to find a link. Please be sure to let us know [a] that you have written to ask your MP to urge the Lord Chancellor to release the 1911 census [b] what your MP says in reply and [c] whether your MP has sent you a copy of the House of Commons Library STANDARD NOTE on 1911 census records We would be grateful if you could avoid sending attachments larger than 200KB, due to the resultant time and connection costs of downloading such e-mails over an analogue modem. If you need to scan in documents to send us, please choose GIF (or JPEG / JPG) format, not BMP or TIFF formats, which tend to create very large files. Here’s a time-saving letter which you could consider using. Please feel free to alter the wording. **************** Beginning of letter **************** Dear Mr. Beith MP. I am a keen family historian and I am supporting a new campaign to persuade the UK government to release the 1911 CENSUS ONLINE next year – when the records for England & Wales are about 92 years old. We’ve attracted the interest of family historians from all over the world. I was wondering if you would spare a few minutes to read the letter below which has been written by Denis McCready, Campaign Co-ordinator, and let me know if you would be willing to urge the Lord Chancellor to release the 1911 CENSUS ONLINE in 2004-5. Yours sincerely [Make sure to add your name and full address, including your postcode or your MP won’t know whether you’re really one of his/her constituents.] Dear Member of Parliament I am providing copies of this letter for use by any of your constituents who are backing the CAMPAIGN TO FREE THE UK 1911 CENSUS, which is urging the government to release the 1911 CENSUS ONLINE next year. We have a broad swathe of support across the world from Argentina, Austria, Australia, Canada, Cyprus, Eire, Finland, Germany, Holland, Malta, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, the United States of America and the UK. At first sight, you may feel that there is little chance of the government releasing the 1911 CENSUS ONLINE in 2004-5. However, you may have heard that · existing legislation would allow for the LAWFUL release of the records in 2004 · informants were NOT guaranteed that the 1911 records would be closed for 100 years · the release of the 1911 CENSUS ONLINE under a Private Finance Initiative [PFI] would cost the government nothing and probably produce £50m in revenue during the next decade. I hope that you share my feeling that it no longer makes commercial sense for the government to delay the release of the 1911 CENSUS ONLINE for another 8 years, until 2012. It would be enormously helpful if you would urge the Lord Chancellor TO MAXIMISE REVENUE FROM CENSUS RECORDS by releasing the 1911 CENSUS ONLINE in 2004-5. Yours sincerely Denis McCready Campaign Co-ordinator, Solihull