Megan, Are you on commission, to so blatantly advance the interests of an apparently Commercial Enterprises? Who exactly is Guy Etchells the Sponser of the Petition, and what is his interest? We are not all Naïve enough to sign up, with-ought further information. Your E-Mail message, does not make it easy to find the petition. For those who cannot be bothered to research for themselves, this is what the petition says. "Petition to open historic registers Responsible department: Home Office We ask that historic birth marriage & death registers be open to public inspection at county record offices or the National Archives Until 1973 registers of BMD held at superintendent registrar’s offices were open to public inspection Today’s technology available allows the registers to be digitized and made available as facsimile copies protecting the original from damage Commercial concerns are willing to scan the registers and make them available online under licence at no cost to the public purse. At what cost to you and me? A new accurate index of BMDs could be compiled by volunteers thereby complying with the 1836 legislation for the first time in 177 years. I doubt that many complied with the legislation, particularly as far as Birth Registration, which was not compulsory for many years, and therefore the Registers will not provide all the answers. Volunteers from Local Family History Societies, have for many years been transcribing and Indexing Local BMD Records by arrangement with the Local Registrar. This in my opinion is the way forward, as local volunteers have local knowledge of both Surnames and Place Names. The benefits include taking pressure off Superintendent Registrars and the GRO enabling them to concentrate on the core task of recording & administering current registrations. Again at what cost to individual researchers? At present, Local Registrars are in my experience fairly co-operative in allowing me to sit down and look through their registers. I am only charged, for any copies I request. I may be in the privileged position, of living in Dyfed and able to visit in person. Revenue would be created for the County Record Offices or the National Archives swelling the government coffers. County Record Offices, have to date no access to the Records held by the Local Registrars, unless Local Family History Societies, have with the permission of the Local Registrar, transcribed and/or indexed the Registers, and deposited copies. Personally I have no interest in swelling the coffers of Central Government, as I have yet as a Family Historian, seen any return. In my opinion As a member of a Dyfed Family History Society, I would encourage everyone to ignore the petition. All at no cost to the taxpayer or government. HMG will be paid by whatever Commercial Interest that Guy Etchells is acting for. HMG Will Profit. You and I are Taxpayers, and suddenly finding that a Commercial Company has the rights to Registered BMD, and able to charge whatever the decide for Certificates, is not in my opinion, in our best interests. Support the Petition, at Will, but on your Head be it. Rhodri Dafis ======================================== Message Received: Mar 25 2014, 03:47 PM From: "Megan Roberts" To: dyfed@rootsweb.com Cc: Subject: [Dyfed] Campaign to Open Historic Registers I am pasting below a message that I have received from another forum, which I thought the list might be interested in: There is now a petition online at: http:// epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/62779 Please sign this petition and share the url with your friends and contacts Apathy will destroy any chance of success. These registers are your heritage. They are archived for your information Please help to make it Easier and Cheaper to access them For more information about the campaign see: http:// anguline.co.uk/ohrn.html Megan Roberts ================================ Dyfed list REVISED resources http://home.clara.net/daibevan/DyfedML.html [Dec2012] ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to DYFED-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message Rhodri