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ZoomCamberleyWalton on ThamesWoking

Woking Centre

Trinity Church, Brewery Road, Woking, GU21 4LH

For map click here

Co-ordinator Chris Leech

Email: woking@wsfhs.org
Second Thursday in month
The doors will open at 7.30pm and the meeting will start at 7.50pm.

2023

Date Time Title Speaker
Thu14 Dec7.30 pm for 7.50 pmWoking in Pictures - Old and NewSteve Welch


2024

Date Time Title Speaker
Thu11 Jan7.30 pm for 7.50 pmFind it, File it and Find it againJane Lewis
Thu8 Feb7.30 pm for 7.50 pmAlan Turing - Guildford's Best Kept SecretPaul Backhouse
Thu14 Mar7.30 pm for 7.50 pmVictorian Life - Upstairs and DownstairsJudy Hill
Thu11 Apr7.30 pm for 7.50 pmWho were your Great Grandparents or Grandparents?Informal Meeting
Thu9 May7.30 pm for 7.50 pmA History and the Mystery of FuneralsSue Flipping
Thu13 Jun7.30 pm for 7.50 pmFamily History from Education RecordsColin Chapman

Forthcoming Meetings

December 14 2023

Steve Welch - Woking in Pictures - Old and New
Over the last 150 years Woking has changed almost beyond recognition. The speaker has revisited the location of a large selection of old photos and postcrds of the town taken over this period and photographed the site as it is now. The comparisons re often startling. How good is your memory?

January 11 2024

Jane Lewis - Find it, File it and Find it again
Jane has been working in an archive (Surrey History Centre) for over 25 years and, inevitably, some of the archive practices have "rubbed off". Also, in a previous life she was a secretary and office manager and with these skill sets in mind, she's spent quite a lot of her time in exploring and learning how best to organise and arrange her own family history research. She hasn't always got it right but she's taken lots of advice from her colleagues and other archive professionals, so she's gained quite a lot of experience in storing and organising her research, which she would like to shre with fellow family historians.

February 8

Paul Backhouse - Alan Turing - Guildford's Best Kept Secret
Paul Backhouse is one of Guildford's Town Guides and has written a biography of Alan Turing. (Copies will be available at the meeting.)Alan turing is probably besst know for his contribution, at Bletchley Park, to the breaking of the Enigma, the encoder used by the Germans to encrypt secret messages during the Second World War. His parents lived in Guildford, following his father’s retirement in 1927. Although away at school for long periods, Guildford gave Alan his first proper home and the family would go for long walks in Stoke Park and on the North Downs.
Turing was also a keen athlete and was known to run in Guildford, Westcott and Leith Hill. He often ran the 18 miles between his home in Hampton and his mother’s house in Guildford. He was a world-class marathon runner, coming fifth in the trials for the 1948 Olympics.

March 14

Judy Hill - Victorian Life - Upstairs and Downstairs
In Britain throughout the nineteenth century and until the First World War domestic service was the largest single occupation of women. Large domestic staffs had of course characterised the great houses of the nobilit for centuries. What was new in the nineteenth century was the growth of domestic service which paralleled the growth of middle classes. In addition the view was held that the employment of domestic staff was in itself a sign of respectability and an indicator of social status. A large family, the large over-furnished house, lavish dinner parties and the economic ability to keep one's wife in genteel idleness, were essential attributes of the institution of the Victorian middle class family. As a result there was the need to employ domestic servants on a large scale and there was a very strict hierarchy of servants and their duties.

April 11

Informal Meeting - Who were your Great Grandparents or Grandparents?
Introduce us to your ancestors. Bring them along on a memory stick, in a folder of papers and pictures or come and talk to us about them.

May 9

Sue Flipping - A History and the Mystery of Funerals
Sue's talk brings together her professional and personal experience. "The History and Mystery of Funerals" holds surprises about the background to many of the funeral traditions we consider 'normal' in the UK and also looks at why those traditions would be considered bizarre by other cultures and at other times.

June 13

Colin Chapman - Family History from Education Records
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Copyright © 2023 West Surrey Family History Society   Last modified: 17 July 2023
Copyright © 2023 West Surrey Family History Society