'Family History Research like a Professional' - Suzanne Sutton-Cummings

Branch member Suzanne Sutton-Cummings provided some useful research tips, eg.: use of BDM print option to view ALL results in one list; check fiche for clues re hard-to-find or mis-spelt names; use "A Memory Tree" website as extra research resource.

'The benefits of belonging to NZSG' - Gill Knox and Peter Gibson

NZSG councillor Gill Knox gave an enlightening talk about the benefits of belonging to NZSG.  NZSG councillor Peter Gibson spoke briefly about the rules review.  (Rescheduled presentation originally planned for the AGM night.)

'From Poland to Pahiatua' - Adam Manterys

A really interesting and insightful presentation on the epic story of how 733 mostly orphaned Polish children and their 105 adult caregivers ended up stranded on the other side of the world towards the end of World War II.  They were part of the 1.5 million Poles who had been forcibly deported to Soviet forced-labour camps in 1940.

More poignant as Adam Manterys' father was one of those orphaned children.

'Starting from Snippets' - Helene Philpott and panel

Helene Philpott lead a panel discussing how to build on scanty information to build a picture of a person, using a variety of resources.  The panel gave some examples from their family history research.  Lots of help was sought by the audience, as well as useful suggestions offered to help fellow researchers.

'Tracing London Ancestors' - Ann Ball

Ann Ball's presentation showed how historical maps can assist in family research.  Lots of maps are now available online.

'Bridging the Gap - Family Tree and Family History' - Rodney King

Rodney King presented an entertaining alternative to using genealogy programs to present family trees and family history.  He described how he does it through a WORD-based system that he finds convenient for combining genealogy charts with photos and other graphical material.

'Gallipoli themed'

Anita West gave a presentation about her great-aunt Christina GIBBON, an ANZAC nurse (and her doctor husband).

Christine Edney told us about the process of getting WWI personnel records available at the NZ Archives' Archway website.

Members were invited to talk of their family's ANZAC-related ephemera.

Then Christine Edney gave a presentation about an (unresolved) family mystery and the ANZAC poem that started the research.

'Using technology to aid research - Anita West & Bob Vine'

Anita West - showed how to use your smartphone, tablet and 'the Cloud' to make genealogy research trips easier.
Bob Vine - showed how to extend your research networks through blogging and internet dashboards.

'Suzanne Sutton-Cummings - Searching Wellington City Archives'

and

'Mary O'Keefe - What Lies Beneath'

Looking at Wellington's Archeaology.