History society annual show

Monklands residents interested in researching their family tree or learning more about the area’s history can attend a special event this Saturday.

Lanarkshire family history society is running its annual show, the largest of its kind in Scotland, from 9.30am to 4.30pm at Motherwell concert hall.

Exhibitors will include Airdrie, Coatbridge and Monklands Rotary Club, Airdrie creative writing group, Lanarkshire Police historical society, North Lanarkshire’s archives and museums, and a variety of local heritage groups from across Lanarkshire.

The host society will also display its Fallen of Lanarkshire project, including its“master list” of all servicemen with any connection to Lanarkshire who died during the two World Wars.

Keynote speakers will be genealogist Myko Clelland on using Find My Past for Scottish records; author and genealogist Chris Paton with an Irish house history; Glasgow senior archivist Dr Irene O’Brien on family history at the Mitchell Library, concentrating on school, church and Irish records; and Emma Maxwell of Scottish Indexes who will explore the family information to be found in sheriff court records.

Now a regular and muchanticipated event for genealogists, the show will also include an“ask the experts” section offering free individual advice to those starting or expanding their family tree, with professional researchers and specialists on military and Irish research being available; while there will also be family history societies and heritage organisations from across Scotland.

See http://lfhsshow.weebly. com/ for tickets; entry costs £2 per person, with talks priced at £3 each or £10 for all four, while under-12s go free with a paying adult.