
The Ambulance Hall,
John Street,
Consett, County Durham
DH8 5LA
Contact: CATHERINE MEADES
Email: consettbranch@ndfhs.org.uk
A small number of talks are being arranged to see if there is local interest in forming a branch of the Society in Consett.
In the new year, the branch has changed day of the month, time of day and venue for their meetings.
Future meetings will be on the Fourth Wednesday of the month, starting at 1pm.
All visitors are welcome
Date | Subject of Talk | Speaker |
---|---|---|
Wed 26th Feb 2025 | Medomsley to Miramachi | John Banham |
Wed 26th Mar 2025 | Member Forum: Favourite family history photo. A photo mystery |
– |
Wed 23rd Apr 2025 | The 1851 Census in Durham City | David Butler |
Wed 28th May 2025 | Women of they Durham Coalfield – Hannah’s Daughter | Margaret Hedley |
Wed 25th Jun 2025 | The Bramwells of North Shields (TBC) | Catherine Meades |
Wed 23rd Jul 2025 | The Poor in Workhouse and Almshouse in the 19th century | Christine Seal |
Wed 27th Aug 2025 | No Meeting | – |
Wed 24th Sep 2025 | “Tokens” (TBC) | Brian Harrison |
Wed 22nd Oct 2025 | Lead Mining in the Durham Dales | Brian Young |
Wed 26th Nov 2025 | From Here to Eternity | Anthea Lang |
Wed 24th Dec 2025 | No Meeting | – |
Reports of meetings
January 2025
Minutes of NDFHS, Consett Branch Meeting [online] – 22nd January 2025
Attendees:8
Apologies: RW, DH, ML
Meeting chaired by: C M
The meeting was held after an informative talk by Joyce Jackman entitled ‘The Parish Chest’ which discussed some of the documents and resources which can be discovered through the parish chest. A list of examples from Medomsley parish was provided and is attached to these minutes
Members may also find the following links helpful following issues raised in the discussion:
Durham Wills: https://familyrecords.awh.durham.ac.uk/nei/data/simple.php
NDFHS Wills database. This is in the members area so you need to log in. https://www.ndfhs.org.uk/wills/
Minutes of the Branch Meeting
CM opened the meeting by thanking KJ for organising the Zoom meeting and JJ for her interesting talk.
The minutes of the previous meeting were read and accepted.
Matters arising:
CM stated that the Society AGM will be held on 12th July in Newcastle.
November 2024
Minutes of NDFHS, Consett Branch Meeting- 27th November 2024
Attendees:17
Apologies: R W
Chair: C M
The meeting was held after a talk by Julian Harrop from Beamish Museum, entitled: A Treasure of Memories. Julian shared a range of photographs, donated from the Durham Advertiser, that showed Consett and the neighbouring areas during the early 1960s. He also shared some details about the new 1950’s development at Beamish.
CM opened the meeting by welcoming members of the Consett and District Heritage Society and asking them to introduce themselves.
Minutes of last meeting: Read and approved
Matters arising:
No one was able to attend the NDFHS planning meeting on 29th October
On 12th November CM attended:
The Trustees meeting – mostly standard officer reports and discussion about the website redesign. Followed by the 50th Anniversary planning meeting.
Feedback from the planning meeting:
The event will take place at Brunswick Methodist Church, Brunswick Place, Newcastle on 14th June 2025 at 10am.
There will be a charge of £10. This will include lunch. There will be 2 speakers: John Heckels, and a talk on Norman Cornish. There will be presentations from all the branches.
A request was made for volunteers to:
● Set up the stand at the beginning of the day – SN and DB volunteered
● Be at the stand throughout the day
● Take the presentation down at the end of the day
CM made a number of suggestions of what we could present at the event and encouraged members to discuss these and make additional suggestions. The main focus for Consett will be the steel works.
BH already has a timeline which he is happy to share with members. It was agreed that the group will use this as a starting point and look at areas of interest along the timeline to build up the presentation.
Next meeting:
22 January 2025. This will be a Zoom meeting – details to follow in January.
The speaker will be Joyce Jackman ‘The Parish Chest’
September 2024
Minutes of Meeting of NDFHS, Consett Branch – 25 September 2024
Attendees:14
Apologies: None
Meeting chaired by: Catherine Meades
Minutes of last meeting: Read and approved
Matters arising: None
Guest Speaker: Kevin Johnson, Membership Secretary of the Northumberland & Durham Family History Society
Kevin gave a very informative overview of the online and library resources available to members based at the Research Centre. (New England House, Ridley Place, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 8JW)
The resources consist of Microfiche & Microfiche Cabinets, covering General Register Office Indexes, Census for Northumberland & Durham 1841 to 1901, Probate and Wills & Parish records. In addition, the Centre holds 2500 Family trees which can be viewed. The 6 x Centre Computers enable members to access Findmypast, Ancestry, Family Search, The Genealogist, FreeBMD, the National Newspaper Library and other genealogy related websites. The current issue with WiFi connectivity should be resolved shortly and members will be updated via e-mail and the Society Website. The Library book shelves contain Family Tree Magazines, unwanted Birth, Marriage & Death Certificates, Shipping, Maritime and Mining records, Armed Forces information, Family History Federation & Genealogists Guides plus others.
Members can view the records by either calling in or contacting the Centre on 0191 261 2159 specifically if they need to use the Microfiche viewer
AOB: Nothing specific, however members took the chance to question Kevin on a number of opportunities identified above and how best to start. Kevin agreed to provide a copy of his presentation to help members navigate the Society Website
June 2024
Minutes of NDFHS, Consett Branch meeting 26th June 2024
Attendees:11
Apologies: None
Meeting chaired by: Catherine Meades
Minutes of last meeting: Read and approved
Matters arising:
Committee membership: Robin Webb and Brian Harrison have volunteered to join the committee. We are still waiting for confirmation from the Society about the requirements of a forum for the committee.
Update on the preparations for the 50th Anniversary celebrations: Robin attended the meeting. The centre has now moved to its new premises where an entry code is required to get through the door. It is therefore best to ring in advance if anyone is wanting to visit to use the many resources available.
3 possible venues are being considered for the full day event which will take place on either the 7th or 14th June 2025.These are
● The Durham Miners Hall at Brunswick
● The Mining Institute in Newcastle
● Brunswick Chapel
Further updates will follow once prices, availability, catering and parking have been confirmed. It is thought that the cost to members will probably be £20 / £25 for the day.
It has been suggested by the Chairman of the Society that the speakers at the event focus on mining themes and that each branch produces a small display covering an aspect of the topic specific to their area, between 1800’s and 1975; the year that the Society was established.
A possible group visit to Beamish, at a discounted rate, was discussed, along with the suggestion that the new Society premises could be open for member visits on a Sunday during June 2025.
A further planning meeting will be held via Teams/Zoom once the venue information has been collated.
Programme for the remainder of 2024:
25. 09. 2024 Kevin Johnson “Resources available from NDFHS”
23. 10. 2024 Jane Gulliford Lowes “The Horse keeper’s Daughter” – a personal ancestry
27. 11. 2024 Julian Harrop “A Treasure of Memories” – Beamish Museum photos in newspaper archives
AOB:
Correspondence: An email has been received from Joe Fletcher, a member of the society, who has written several articles for the NDFHS Journal. These refer mainly to Consett and District, and he wondered if our members may be interested in reading them. He is happy to list the articles if members are interested and refer them to which journal they were entered. He also gave the following information: I was born at No. 1 Windsor Gardens in 1938 and left the area when I was 10 years old.
The Story – Durham’s new record office: This has now opened, and a couple of members shared relevant information on their recent visits.
The parish records have not been uploaded yet to the system and it may be another couple of months before these are fully available.
There is plenty of parking available.
Jean requested that feedback is given to her regarding any access issues. The record office catalogue can be accessed via www.Durhamrecordoffice.org.uk
Members Forum: Sharing your family history
Catherine started the discussion by sharing some examples of how she has recorded family history, along with a handout of useful weblinks.
There was then an interesting discussion as each member shared the different ways they have trialled sharing their personal family history, along with problems they have incurred.
Point for future discussion:how can we as a group collate useful links and resources in an easily accessible way for all group members?
April 2024
Attendees:12 + 2 Apologies
Meeting chaired by: Catherine Meades
Minutes of last meeting: approved.
Matters arising: Request for additional volunteers to form a committee were repeated. An AGM will need to be held in September and further committee members will be needed for this to take place.
Other business
● Catherine ran through the focus of the next two meetings. The group were asked if they wished the Consett Branch to continue holding meetings after this time.
○ The consensus of the group was that they would like the meetings to continue.
● It was further agreed that meetings would be paused for July and August to allow for holidays and possible grandparent childcare responsibilities.
● The 4th Wednesday in December will be Christmas Day so no meeting will be held. Catherine suggested that perhaps the group could meet for a Christmas lunch earlier in the month.
○ To be discussed after the summer break.
● The group then had a general discussion about suggestions for future talks. These included:
· John North – speaker
· Anthea Lang – speaker
· History of Stockton Railway
· Weardale museum
· History of Fenwick’s
· Alan Godfrey (based in Leadgate) – maps
· The use of tokens as coinage in the Northeast
o Brian has offered to give this talk next year
· The Story – the new record office for Co. Durham
● A further suggestion was made that members of the group could share links to different resources that they have found useful. A list of these could then be put together and made available to all members.
The meeting was then followed by a very interesting talk by Margaret Hedley on the Women of the Durham Coalfield in the 19th century.
March 2024
Attendees: 18 + 1 apology
Speaker:
John Heckels. Introduction to DNA for Family History and Some Personal Experiences
This was a highly entertaining presentation and positive feedback was received from all.
Suggestions for further information:
Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy. Blaine Bettinger
Tracing Your Ancestors Using DNA. Graham S. Hotton
The International Society of Genetic Genealogy. https://isogg.org/
GEDmatch. https://www.gedmatch.com/
Minutes of Last Meeting: Approved
Other Business:
· A request for more volunteers was repeated – in particular a treasurer and a chair for meetings
· The meeting closed at ca. 14.30
Next Meeting:
24 April 2024. 1.00
Speaker: Margaret Hedley. Women of the Durham Coalfield in the 19th Century
February 2024
Meeting held on 28 February 2024. Attendees: 12 plus 1 Apology
Members were welcomed to our new venue at The Heart in Consett
Details of toilet facilities and emergency exits were given
Speaker
Dave Dean gave a presentation entitled “The Hidden Northeast”.
Minutes of Last Meeting: Approved
New Business:
· Susan N. has volunteered to help with running the group.
· A request for more volunteers was repeated
· The new choice of venue and day/time was discussed and agreed to be acceptable. It was noted that the venue does not have its own parking which can be difficult for members with limited mobility.
· Brian Harrison of The Heart introduced himself and gave a brief overview of The Heart – its aims and the resources which it has for family historians.
· It was noted that the Durham Record Office (The Story) will reopen this summer
· A good discussion was held between the various members of the group. It is hoped that this will become a regular parts of meetings
· The meeting closed at ca. 15.00
Last updated 27th January 2025