…. takes you to all sorts of places and certainly creates a busy diary. In fact, I am not entirely sure how I managed to fit in a day job as well! Today, I have travelled from Calne, Wiltshire to Belmont Chapel in Exeter (just for the day) to attend the Devon Family History Society 37th AGM and Conference. Keeping a low profile is not an option being the Chair/Chairman of two societies as well as being the author of a book on Tracing Your West Country Ancestors. But to be honest, I know so many members of Devon FHS that this is a meeting of friends.
Half of the Committee of the Society for One-Place Studies are in attendance along with many members (all duly presented with their special membership bonus for being in the first 100 members of the Society) and the Guild of One-Name Studies is also well represented with several attendees travelling from far afield to take advantage of the fascinating lectures provided today by Dr Janet Few (@JanetFew), author of Coffers, Clysters, Comfrey & Coifs: the lives of our seventeenth century ancestors, Jan Wood, Archivist at the Devon Heritage Centre and Professor Rebecca Probert, a leading academic authority on the history of marriage law in England and Wales.
As always, a slick, well-organised event under the wise Chairmanship of Maureen Selley, who was first elected to her post in 2000 and has been a committee member for 25 years! Personally, I would say that this is proof that consistency is a very good thing in volunteer societies!
