21st January Meeting Report

The opening meeting of 2010 was a "double-header" for, on this occasion two of our members, Peter Towle and Andrew Dinwoodie both gave their own differing interpretations of "Who Do You Think You Are". Both are founder members and past Chairmen of our Society and to our surprise, both had been born in Derby.

Using English certificates and Census returns, Peter took us back a number of generations of his family in Derby and Lincolnshire, in some cases reaching the 15th century through "Bishops' Returns". This was of particular interest as some of the audience had had no previous contact with English certificates and little idea of how to find them other than on the internet. It was particularly poignant to see slides of Peter and Barbara's visit along with several members of the Towle family to the battlefields of the First World War where, among many memorable visits, the most moving for them and for us was the sight of present day family members standing beside the grave of Peter's uncle who died during that war.

Andrew took a different approach and, after summarising his family tree, concentrated on his paternal great-grandmother’s family. He described how he found out from a family scrapbook that his grandmother was the only one of her family who did not emigrate from the family farm in Dumfries-shire to the U.S.A. after the death of her father. By coincidence, four days after he read the scrapbook, a letter was received from friends in the U.S.A. saying they were moving to the very place where the family had settled, Lake Bluff, IL. A holiday ensued, and photos taken of their home and great-grandmother’s grave. Other coincidences followed – e.g. a genealogist, Anne Darrow, contacted to find more information in Illinois, turned out to have ancestors from Fenwick, so information was traded to give two generations forward for Andrew and two generations back for Anne. A birth certificate found by Anne showed that Andrew's great aunt had moved to Mission, TX., so another holiday ensued which resulted in the discovery that the undertaker in Mission still had records of his great-aunt’s burial. His talk demonstrated that family history can be part painstaking research and part fortuitous coincidence!

Sheila Dinwoodie

10th December Social Evening

Following an excellent pre-Christmas meal at the Horizon Hotel, we were entertained to an illustrated talk explaining the link between Girvan and Natal, South Africa, given by Shiela and Andrew Dinwoodie.

During the society's recent transcription of the Doune Cemetery in Girvan, Andrew noticed a rare Boer War memorial. This piqued his interest so, after research into the various local militia companies that served in South Africa, they decided a visit the Boer War battlefields would make a good addition to their proposed holiday. Their tour provided the groundwork for the extremely interesting talk detailing some of the important battles of the war. The home link was finallly made with two of the names on the Girvan memorial being found on the war memorials out there. No doubt more research will follow on this little-documented period of local family history.

John W.

19th November Meeting Report

Our talk this month was a ‘History of Turnberry Airfield, and associated Airmen’ given by Margaret Morrell. She described to us the First World War grass airfield, with its steel and canvas hangars, and the Second World War airfield with the triangle of three tarmac runways, hangars and other buildings, constructed on the site of the Turnberry golf courses.

In both wars, the airfield was used for training purposes. In the first, initial pilot training was rudimentary and survival rates for pilots were measured in days, so successful pilots were brought back from the front to train the new pilots in the techniques of aerial warfare - they considered the trainees more dangerous than the enemy! In the second, Turnberry was used to train torpedo bomber crews, a particularly hazardous duty that required flying at very low levels under conditions that often made it difficult to see the difference between sea and sky.

Margaret illustrated her talk with some excellent photos of views, planes and characters from both wars, and gave a poignant account of some of the many crashes that occurred. A memorial was erected on Turnberry by the local populace in a tribute to those that died flying from the airfield, but Margaret’s researches have shown that the names on this memorial are a small fraction of those who died, and she hopes in due course to publish her research and raise a memorial to all who volunteered for air crew and died while training at Turnberry.

Andrew Dinwoodie

15th October Meeting Report

Our speaker this evening was Clare Paterson from Glasgow University Archives. We were treated to an extremely interesting and practical account of the full range of the resources held there for family and local history research. Not only does the University hold matriculation records from 1850, lists of students from 1451, and information about lecturers and professors, but its archives can also tell us about student life by means of University Calendars and student society publications.

Clare currently works with the business archives lodged at the University and it was on this area that she concentrated. We were all amazed to hear her description of the variety held there. Examples are:

• In shipbuilding, the records of John Brown and Lithgow.
• In heavy industry, the records of the North British Locomotive Co. Ltd.
• In Tea production, the estate records of James Finlay and Co.

plus those of companies involved in engineering, coal mining, banks, sweetie making, and records of Scottish trading worldwide. For a full list see their website.

Provided your ancestor was a manager or assistant manager in the company, his career would be well documented, since the owners had made a big financial investment in him. Particularly relevant to those with Glasgow ancestors would be records of the Friendly Societies attached to companies, the records of Wylie and Lochhead Department Stores, Army and Navy Stores catalogues and, of course, Wylie and Lochhead’s funeral records. The possibilities seemed endless. Even if we never find a mention of our ancestor by name in these business archives, they are obviously a marvellous source of social information about the times and conditions in which he lived.

We have already indicated to Clare that, as a result of her presentation, she should expect to see a stream of inquiries and visitors from Alloway and Southern Ayrshire Family History Society - but visits will have to be postponed until their refurbishment is complete... See their website

7th October - Visit Report

A nineteen strong group from the society, including our newest member, visited the recently opened Burns Monument Centre in Kilmarnock this afternoon. Set in the delightful surroundings of the Kay Park, the new custom-built centre is an inspired blending of the old and the new providing registry offices, a “spectacular venue for weddings and other ceremonies,” well-planned areas for conferences and meetings, and first-class facilities for local and family history. A peek into the archival storage area was informative and exciting as a few of us were privileged to see the oldest material preserved here, namely a document from the closing decade of the thirteenth century. Add to these, a welcoming and knowledgeable staff happy to offer every assistance and you have the kind of scenario browsing family historians sigh for.

Starting in the attractive courtyard with its beautifully sited statue of Robert Burns, we were offered an enthusiastic tour of the complex by the Community Librarian (Heritage Services), Ann Geddes. Obviously she enjoys her new workplace! Examples of the written and photographic archives available had been set out for us to see and further information was readily available on points of particular interest. Much of the material naturally pertains to East Ayrshire, but records affecting the whole county are well represented. Our tour ended with tea/coffee and biscuits in a meeting room and in the adjoining corridor boasting comfy chairs, where we were encouraged to sit and chat. Thereafter we were left to our own devices following our own particular interests and asking questions until closing time. Finally Anne encouraged us to return to follow our own research, using the IT facilities if we so wished or returning to the “good old times” of handling in white gloves something from their multitude of archival material. “And if you come for a day visit, bring your own sandwiches, get your liquid refreshment here and enjoy a short break away from work!” How can any enthusiastic researcher ignore that suggestion?

Sheila Dinwoodie