In a message dated 02/12/2009 02:55:58 GMT Standard Time, pnjmillington@bigpond.com writes: It is amazing to hear so much local history. Judith: Someone once said that we in the north-east have more history than other parts of the country. They were probably right. I am also reminded of Camden, who travelled the country seeking information for an officially-sponsored history of England in the 16th century, and who said about Northumberland that the local people were "great historians in their own country". More down-to-earth, though, I do think that genealogy, while of some interest in itself, being only a list of names, dates and relationships, usually needs a lot of background information to give it life, and that all comes from local history - all aspects of it - what things were going on locally at a "higher level" - military and political campaigns etc, at a local level - new buildings, industries, etc - and socially - living conditions, ways of spending leisure time etc. For someone who lived in central Newcastle, or in any other of our major towns, at a time when it was changing rapidly - ie any time in the last millenium or thereabouts - the situation then and in what was then the recent past would have been a major influence on everything they did. That is why I often think that the emphasis on entries in censuses, parish registers etc, and all the other stand-bys of genealogy, while necessary to get the relationships right, is nevertheless sometimes overdone if the local history is ignored. We have to strike a balance. Geoff Nicholson