The Records Office have original or/and copies of all sorts of information. When I asked for their help via e-mail, they initially searched on Ancestry (which is free at their office) and came up with a possible match. They gave me the corresponding birth entry and a link to the relevant Registry Office (Trafford - for them to check the birth date). I then e-mailed Trafford and after checking their indexes, were able to tell me that the date of birth was different. Again, they were more than helpful and made another suggestion. I learned this week that Central Library is ear marked for closure, needing major repairs! It will be closed for several years!!!! So any of my overseas friends who want to search there -- check first! I can't see it closing for a couple of years yet though - it takes ages for this type of thing to get off the ground. Manchester Town Hall is also to have major work. Pat W ----- Original Message ----- From: The Quineys To: eng-manchester@rootsweb.com Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2008 8:48 AM Subject: Re: [ENG-MAN] John ATKIN birth record in Salford I've just used the link to GMCRO and it says "Please note that we do not have certificates of any kind. These are obtainable from the local register offices"Can I ask, how can they search for a birth and check that the parents are correct? I have a father and son, both called Samuel, but <snip>