Hi Jane, I contacted my tame Deputy Superintendent Registrar friend and asked her the question. Staff cutbacks have not helped I gather. This is part of her reply: It depends on many things: what technology the local authority has invested in / if the technology was working or the member of staff knew how to use it / if there was a power-cut so the staff just got on and hand-wrote / if someone didn't have a desk & computer to use. Huntingdon has started scanning to a certificate but it is so complicated that only a couple of regular users know how to do it; the printer isn't even in the same room as the computer it is done from!! I agree about hand-writing: I am appalled at some of the staff's h-writing. Only by complaining to a manager is there any hope of getting anything done about it - but if that staff member has been there a long time or is a manager themselves, then what hope is there of improvement? I have specifically been asked to hand-write on occasions as I have good h-writing, but why should others get away with it .......?!!! At least if the cert is scanned from the register & cannot be read properly the "buck" is passed back to the original vicar or registrar & we can leave that problem up to the recipient. On the other hand, it means that if there is a discrepancy in the family about a name or spelling it might solve it, but if we try to interpret before transcribing - and get it wrong - the recipient won't know this. Graham Noyce St Ives Hunts Mem No 9038 -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]On Behalf Of Peter Smith Sent: 07 January 2013 19:48 To: [email protected] Subject: [SFHG] BMD certificates Dear All Can anyone enlighten me as to why some BMD certificates are hand written, some typed, and some photocopies of original entries. Is there a way of obtaining a copy of any original entry? It seems such a disappointment to send for an old certificate but to have the entry typed or copied by someone with bad hand writing. Regards Jane Shergold ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message