UPDATE

Partial Success!! - Some good news and some bad

I finally got an answer (of sorts) from the website hosts today (24th July 2007). Apparently some weeks ago, the server on which this website's data was stored, collapsed in a heap. Unfortunately the data on the server's hard disk was unrecoverable. They did not advise me of this, although I would have expected them to do so. They also did not tell me that they had set up an alternative server with a different name, restoring their latest copy of the data to this server. This morning I have finally obtained the settings for this new server and accessed the database. The bad news is that the data was backed up by the website hosts in September 2005 and not since. I think this is appalling service and I have told them so. I took the opportunity to remove the data from their server and relocate it to another server that I personally control. This server is backed up on a daily basis.

If you login to the forum, you will see that there is a considerable amount of data present up to September 2005. I would ask that members pick up the threads (perhaps that is the appropriate terminology given that the messages make up threads).

Anyone who signed up since September 2005 and who finds they cannot login, please sign-up again.

I am sorry about this but this is the best I can do under the circumstances. I set the website up for John Milburn and the Society back in 2002 and have had no involvement since then. I shall endeavour to ensure that data is not lost in future. I shall also be suggesting to John that the actual website is relocated and the Society ceases using the services of domainnamesgb.com. (24 July 2007)

Welcome to our website.

We are a group of enthusiastic amateur genealogists wanting to learn more about our ancestors.

We meet on the first Tuesday of every month between 1.30pm and 3.30pm in Annfield Plain Library. Please feel free to come along.

If you are entirely new to family research and just want to find out how to get started, then chatting to our members will give you invaluable pointers.The Library's computers, which have internet access are an invaluable resource for family research. Additionally, we have the 1891 Census records for this area on microfiche. Click the '1891 Census' button on the left for more information about this.

If you register as a user of this website, we can email you with newsletters and details of meetings. You can also use the forum to read and post messages.

The site is almost complete. There are a few things to tidy up, but generally everything is working.

The search facility for the 1891 census index will be enhanced shortly. This will become more important once the full index is available on-line.

There are now 2003 records on-line. Due to other commitments, John Milburn has not had enough time to work on the indexing recently. Anyone interested in helping with this project should contact John.

The spare button will be used to access a database of members' interests. We're not sure how this will work yet, so watch this space!