Royston and District Family History Society

About the Society

In the Beginning

The seeds were sown for our Society early in 1987 when a group of people from the Royston area in Hertfordshire attended a course on “Tracing Your Ancestors” at a local college. When the course was completed, they decided to meet, informally, in each other’s homes to talk about their efforts in tracing their own ancestors and to help other to find theirs.

In 1987 the Society was formed with about 12 members and known as “The Royston Family History Group”. By 1992 there were 50 members and we felt it would be in our interest to join the Federation of Family History Societies. In order to reflect the Royston’s position on the borders of Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Essex, we changed our name to the “Royston and District Family History Society”.

The Society Today

We now have over 100 members. Many are from the local area and are researching their family’s history in Royston, including villages in the local area such as -

• Ashwell
• Barley
• Barkway
• Cottered
• Melbourn
• Meldreth
• Reed
• Therfield
• Throcking

Many are from outside the district, some are as far flung as -

• Australia and New Zealand
• Canada
• America

The Society’s Aims

The Society has been formed to -

• Promote research into family history.
• Form a focal point for meetings and other contact.
• Provide research resources for its members, including books and magazines as well as on-line searchable indexes.
• Publish books and pamphlets about the local area.

Getting Involved

Apart from July and August, we hold meetings on the third Monday in each month at All Saints Church Hall, Melbourn. These meetings can take a number of formats, including -

• Talks by invited speakers
• Members’ evenings, designed to let members provide help to one another in the search for their ancestors
• Outings
• Social events
• Family history fairs

The Society publishes a journal three time a year which aims to help members who live further afield keep abreast of things. The journal regularly includes -

• Articles written by members
• Notices of interest
• New members’ interests and other help wanted

Everyone is welcome. If you’re not a member, live in the Royston area and want to see what all the fuss is about, come to any of our open meetings. If you live further afield and may have relatives you wish to research in the area, you are more than welcome to join and have your interests listed. Overseas membership is also available.

You never know - the bug might bite!