Thanks Hugh,I'm not very good at this and i'm amazed when someone gets all that information so quickly.Thanks for the information you sent,i'll take a look at it all.I can only seem to get back one generation and then i'm lost.Maybe i should go to geaneology classes to get my brain in gear.Thanks again Hugh ,Suzanne ----- Original Message ----- From: "Hugh Watkins" <jonesraglan@aol.com> To: <monmouthshire@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2007 8:04 PM Subject: Re: [MON] ENGLAND/HAWKINS > > On 8 Apr 2007, at 18:26, suzanne davies wrote: > >> Hello Robert,How on earth did you find all this information.I am so >> grateful >> to you,i didn't know where to start.Thankyou very much for all your >> help,this will certainly add another few branches to my tree.Suzanne >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Robert Treharne Jones" <tjwizard@tiscali.co.uk> >> To: <monmouthshire@rootsweb.com> >> Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2007 5:56 PM >> Subject: Re: [MON] ENGLAND/HAWKINS >> >> >>> Hi Suzanne >>> >>> In 1901 Frederick (who was born in Almondsbury, Gloucestershire in >>> about >>> 1875) > > snip > > Hullo Suzanne > > it looks like he used ancestry.co.uk > > http://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/rectype/census/uk/default.aspx > > 1881 index is a freebie so experiment with that before spending money > > read > Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History > > by ROY STOCKDILL > at > http://www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html > > borrow some of the books recommended from a library > > http://www.genuki.org.uk is an encyclopedia of the > GENealogy of the UK and Ireland > and welcome to our world wide community :-) > > a lot of this hobby is like slow motion detective work done by > following standard procedures and testing the quality of the evidence > > regards > > Hugh W > > -- > > a wonderful artist in Denmark > http://www.ingerlisekristoffersen.dk/ > > Beta blogger > http://snaps4.blogspot.com/ photographs and walks > > old blogger GENEALOGE > http://hughw36.blogspot.com/ MAIN BLOG > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > MONMOUTHSHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message

What's with these councils and record offices suddenly deciding that family history researchers are a cash cow? Hot on the heels of Gwent RO charging £2 a go to use your own resources (digital camera), now comes Blaenau Gwent charging £10 to search the municipal cemetery records! They're not providing much, if anything, for this charge either - is it even legal? Those of us with ancestors all round the country will soon find they have to abandon their hobby as costs escalate if this carries on. IMHO, we shouldn't encourage the various bodies, but campaign to get these charges reversed - the admin alone will wipe out all any extra value, if that's their argument. Put a donations box in, but for goodness sake don't let's encourage statutory bodies to think these charges are acceptable - it's just making jobs for councils etc, not giving us a better service.

Why as an already overburdened rate payer why in heavens name should I be asked to contribute for all sundry itinerant genealogist who are not prepared to contribute towards the local storage of the archives, the staff to man the office dealing with you and your queries on a regular basis, answer your phone calls and the loss of income from the use of digital cameras.( i.e photo copies) A digital camera can store up to some 4000 images. At £2.00 are getting good value to photograph the records you want in warm comfortable quiet surroundings. Stop belly aching. -----Original Message----- From: monmouthshire-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:monmouthshire-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Jean Smith Sent: 09 April 2007 20:03 To: monmouthshire@rootsweb.com Subject: [MON] more charges What's with these councils and record offices suddenly deciding that family history researchers are a cash cow? Hot on the heels of Gwent RO charging £2 a go to use your own resources (digital camera), now comes Blaenau Gwent charging £10 to search the municipal cemetery records! They're not providing much, if anything, for this charge either - is it even legal? Those of us with ancestors all round the country will soon find they have to abandon their hobby as costs escalate if this carries on. IMHO, we shouldn't encourage the various bodies, but campaign to get these charges reversed - the admin alone will wipe out all any extra value, if that's their argument. Put a donations box in, but for goodness sake don't let's encourage statutory bodies to think these charges are acceptable - it's just making jobs for councils etc, not giving us a better service. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to MONMOUTHSHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 268.18.26/746 - Release Date: 04/04/2007 13:09 -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 268.18.26/746 - Release Date: 04/04/2007 13:09

I think this is the wrong attitude to take Mr Bates. We are all tax-payers wherever in the world we live. I think that Jean Smith was bellyaching about the amount of charges that keep on getting higher and higher. The charges made by these councils are indeed getting bigger by the day and I think that a photocpopy by a record office should come into the realms of the service that place carries out, but by charging to use one's own equipment is taking it too far. I think the problem of charging by the councils should be addressed by the 'fat-cat' salaries some of these high ranking officials are so called earning. You're not one of these fat-cat salary high ranking council officials are you Mr Bates? These places will not allow some documents to be photocopied by the usual means as they say that the bright light damages them, strange how the British Library (I think) has a large A0 scanner and uses it all the time to copy damaged and aged documents! Regards, Michael McAllister ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lewis Bates" <lewbat@tiscali.co.uk> To: <monmouthshire@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, April 09, 2007 9:18 PM Subject: Re: [MON] more charges > Why as an already overburdened rate payer why in heavens name should I > be asked to contribute for all sundry itinerant genealogist who are not > prepared to contribute towards the local storage of the archives, the > staff to man the office dealing with you and your queries on a regular > basis, answer your phone calls and the loss of income from the use of > digital cameras.( i.e photo copies) > > A digital camera can store up to some 4000 images. At £2.00 are getting > good value to photograph the records you want in warm comfortable quiet > surroundings. > Stop belly aching. > > > -----Original Message----- > From: monmouthshire-bounces@rootsweb.com > [mailto:monmouthshire-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Jean Smith > Sent: 09 April 2007 20:03 > To: monmouthshire@rootsweb.com > Subject: [MON] more charges > > What's with these councils and record offices > suddenly deciding that family history researchers > are a cash cow? Hot on the heels of Gwent RO > charging £2 a go to use your own resources > (digital camera), now comes Blaenau Gwent > charging £10 to search the municipal cemetery records! > > They're not providing much, if anything, for this > charge either - is it even legal? > > Those of us with ancestors all round the country > will soon find they have to abandon their hobby > as costs escalate if this carries on. > > IMHO, we shouldn't encourage the various bodies, > but campaign to get these charges reversed - the > admin alone will wipe out all any extra value, if > that's their argument. Put a donations box in, > but for goodness sake don't let's encourage > statutory bodies to think these charges are > acceptable - it's just making jobs for councils > etc, not giving us a better service. > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > MONMOUTHSHIRE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 268.18.26/746 - Release Date: > 04/04/2007 13:09 > > > -- > No virus found in this outgoing message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 268.18.26/746 - Release Date: > 04/04/2007 13:09 > > > >

Hello Jean et al, I agree with you that some councils are stepping on this 'money spinner', a bit like the speed camera issue. I went to a large cemetery in Burton-upon-Trent in Staffordshire to look for a grave, they clearly had a notice stating a search will cost £7.50 per half hour, I must have been there a good hour, I was issued a map of the said grave, a copy of the burial register and wasn't charged a penny, (sadly no marker though), I am presuming the charge was for telephone/distant requests. However, in Tamworth Staffordshire, I am not allowed anywhere near the cemeteries office but they will search them for me, although the register has been microfilmed and is in the local library for all to search for free, they will charge me £15 for the search, then another £13 to pinpoint it on a copy of the map for me, thats £28 to find a grave of an ancestor! That is disgusting, but as you say, we are becoming a 'cash cow'! I have done research in Newport Library rather than the RO at Cwmbrân, I have found that they are very helpful and go out of their way to assist in any way! Well done Newport Library !! Regards Michael McAllister ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jean Smith" <luddite.jean@tiscali.co.uk> To: <monmouthshire@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, April 09, 2007 8:02 PM Subject: [MON] more charges > What's with these councils and record offices suddenly deciding that > family history researchers are a cash cow? Hot on the heels of Gwent RO > charging £2 a go to use your own resources (digital camera), now comes > Blaenau Gwent charging £10 to search the municipal cemetery records! > > They're not providing much, if anything, for this charge either - is it > even legal? > > Those of us with ancestors all round the country will soon find they have > to abandon their hobby as costs escalate if this carries on. > > IMHO, we shouldn't encourage the various bodies, but campaign to get these > charges reversed - the admin alone will wipe out all any extra value, if > that's their argument. Put a donations box in, but for goodness sake don't > let's encourage statutory bodies to think these charges are acceptable - > it's just making jobs for councils etc, not giving us a better service. > > >