Dear Listers, Having asked for the List Owner's permission, I should like to introduce myself. My name is Helen Carlisle and I live in West Sussex, UK. My surname interests in Gloucestershire and Bristol are WITCHELL and MILSTEAD and I'm relatively new to genealogy, but have volunteered to be an Area Co-ordinator for the Free Census Project. First of all, let me say right here and now, that I am not familiar with the county of Gloucestershire in any but the most general details, but I hope to increase my knowledge as I become more involved. Has everyone heard of the FreeCens Project which is on-going? This is a project with volunteers putting in their time to transcribe the data. If you go to the web site http://freecen.rootsweb.com/ you can see which counties have started and are in progress. Others are joining all the time, and I am now hoping to get started on the Bristol and South Gloucestershire areas. The Free Census project started in February 2000 with Devon. Eight months later, Cornwall started; and there about 35 projects running or in the pipeline. You may have seen previous publicity concerning the FreeCEN project - the Internet-based 'free-to-view' project that will enable researchers to view details of UK Censuses between the years 1841 and 1891, especially the ability to search by surname across census years and counties. In particular, it will considerably help researchers who cannot visit the U.K., or even those in the U.K. who, like myself, find difficulty in travelling. Good progress has been made already for some counties, and others will start soon, in particular the 1891 Census at this stage. However, to put all those details on-line does require a lot more effort. Even if you can only afford a few hours per week, please seriously consider offering your help as transcriber and/or checker. Free software, procedures and all kinds of help are available. Since I am unable to travel far, I felt I would like to contribute in some way. If I am to ask for help in knocking down my "brickwalls" it seems only fair that I do something to help fellow researchers, and as area co-ordinator for Bristol and Southern Gloucestershire, I am currently looking for volunteers to help with this county's transcription. To begin with, this transcription will concentrate on Bristol, Barton, Chipping Sodbury, Thornbury, and Dursley. Please come and volunteer your help on this project, whether for the area I have specified or for any other area of interest to you. If you are a member of a FHS or Local History Society, perhaps you could help further the success of this project by seeking the help of other members? Perhaps you may have questions to ask? I should be very pleased to hear from you. Most volunteers are people like me who have not done anything public spirited like this. They do not have projects already going. Many of them are new to family history, to the internet, and to computers. Why not help us in doing some transcription? The Freecens project aims to make the UK censuses free to search on line (as opposed to the PRO project which only provides an index free). Starting with 1891, the programme is well ahead in some counties which will start to go online at the end of the year. There are over 300 people, all volunteers, involved in transcription but more are still needed. Do please get back to me if you could volunteer, or make contact as suggested through the website. Helen Free CENsus Co-ordinator Bristol and Southern Gloucestershire. Full details of this project may be found at: http://freecen.rootsweb.com/ Names being researched: Essex - ARNOLD, BAKER, BIRD, CARTER, CROSS, DENCH, DODD, EASTLAND, FARROW, FITCH, FULLER, GARDINER, HARDING, HAY, JAY, JONES, MILSTED, PEARSON, PICKETT, RUSS, SLADE, SHEPARD, WHITE, WALKER, WHEELER Kent - COUCH, MILSTEAD/MILSTED, WOOD, London - BUTLER, CARLISLE, COUCH, COULDERY, HALL, JENNINGS, MILSTED, TEMPLE, India - BERESFORD, DI ROSE, HENNESSEY, PERKINS, WALSH