Membership

Membership of the Society is available to anyone with an interest in family history, but is particularly relevant to those who have ancestors who were born in, or who worked in Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire.

The advantages of membership are:

1. You can attend meetings and benefit from the talks (see programme) and discus your research problems with other members .
2. You will receive a quarterly magazine, the Bod-Kin.
3. You can submit your research interests and have them published in our Directory of Members' Interests.
4. If you do not live in the Bradford area you can make use of our Link Scheme, whereby a local member will undertake to do limited research on your behalf on an expenses-only basis. Details of the Link Scheme will be sent to you with your New Member's Pack.

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Meetings

The Society has three meetings each month, all held at Bradford Central Library, Princes Way, Bradford.

The main meeting is held in the evening of the third Monday in the month. The main programme for the year consists typically of a balance of the following topics:

• Basic sources, e.g. parish registers, census returns, wills, cemetery registers.
• Specialised sources, e.g. maps, quarter sessions, newspapers.
• Religious sources, e.g. Church of England, Methodist, Quaker.
• Background, e.g. textiles, workhouse, domestic service.
• Occupations, e.g. miners, railwaymen, police.
• Organisation and care of family history material, e.g. photographs, documents.
• Local visits, usually in the summer months.
• Open meetings, at which members bring along extracts from their own family tree or problems which they hope other members can help them to solve or collections of memorabilia which may be of interest to members, etc. Fiche reading facilities are also available at these meetings.

At the main meeting members can borrow from our library magazines from other family history societies with whom we exchange magazines. Bradford Family History Society publications are also on sale.

A less formal meeting is held in the morning on the first Thursday in the month. It begins with tea/coffee and a general natter or a bit of problem solving, followed by a speaker who is usually a society member. The balance of topics is basically the same as above.

A smaller meeting is held in the evening of the first Wednesday in the month. This meeting is used for a variety of activities such as:

• Work on Society Projects, e.g. transcription of parish registers or census returns. Any member can take part and an extra pair of hands is always welcome.
• Beginners evenings - perhaps a talk, at introductory level, about some aspect of family history, or maybe a question and answer session.
• Computer Group - a talk and/or demonstration of some aspect of using a computer for recording and presenting your family history records, or for helping with Society projects.
• Committee meetings.

Click here to see the year's programme of the above.

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Members' Interests

Society members can submit their own research interests to be published in the Directory of Members' Interests. Supplements containing the interests of members who have recently joined and updates of existing members are published with the quarterly magazine, the Bod-Kin. Many contributors have e-mail addresses and these are listed in the Directory and the supplements.

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Membership Fees

Although the Membership Year runs from January 1 to December 31 members will receive all four issues of the quarterly magazine, the Bod-Kin, whatever time in the year they join.

The annual membership fees are:

All payments, whether by cash, cheque, Postal Order or Money Order MUST be made in Pounds STERLING.

Alternatively, you can pay on-line by credit card at the GENfair website

Membership Application Form

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If, after reading this web site, you still have queries about membership,

please email them to the or write to the address below, but please include a stamped self-addressed envelope or, if writing from overseas, an International Reply Coupon (IRC).

Mrs S Hodgson
Membership Secretary, Bradford F.H.S.
14 Greenville Drive
Low Moor
Bradford
West Yorkshire BD12 0PP
England

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