Download the free information leaflet with all the links to sources and sites to help you Start Your Family History with the Society of Genealogists

Check out the great prizes from the Society of Genealogists and the Start Your Family Tree Partners

Participants include:

Genesreunited http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/static.page/syftw

findmypast http://www.findmypast.co.uk/content/start-your-family-tree-week/index

Eneclann – www.startyourfamilytree.ie

Scotlands People www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

Society of Genealogists www.societyofgenealogists.com

 My History www.my-history.co.uk

Race Online www.raceonline2012.org

Technorati Tags: family history, Family History News, genealogy, Society of Genealogists, Start Your Family Tree

Have you started your Family Tree yet? Use the Ten Tips from the Society of Genealogists to get your family history started.

Take the opportunity on Boxing Day to complete your first activity for Start Your Family History Week.  Ask all your relatives what they know about your family history.

Start Your Family Tree Week Partner findmypast.co.uk has some useful tips on interviewing family relatives  

Technorati Tags: family history, genealogy, Start Your Family Tree, the society of genealogists

All the talk of family  history  stories around the Christmas dinner table makes the festive period the perfect time to focus on building your family tree. The Society of Genealogists has been helping family historians for 100 years and is delighted to support Start Your Family Tree Week 26 December –1 January. Follow this link for our free information leaflet  Start Your Family History with the Society of Genealogists with all the useful web links and guides to sources you need;  follow our Ten Tips for Starting Your Family History or keep the kids occupied with the challenge to record their family tree on our 4 Generation Pedigree Chart and Quiz.

Each day from Boxing Day until New Year’s Day, findmypast.co.uk, sponsors of the Society of Genealogists’ Centenary Year will be giving you a helping hand on your journey into your past. Look at the findmypast  website for the Start Your Family Tree Week daily hints, tips and activities to help you research your family tree. Discover some of the great prizes the Society of Genealogists, findmypast and other partners are offering for family historians throughout the week including*  :-

• A day tracing your family tree with famous genealogist, Else Churchill at the Society of Genealogists in London – using the resources of the SoG and looking at aspects of their research. The prize includes return travel by train to London from within the UK and two nights’ accommodation in London for the winner and a guest
• 1 free membership of the Society of Genealogists in our centenary year
• 1 ticket to a day course at the Society of Genealogists, London: ‘Family History for Beginners and Refreshers’ with Geoff Swinfield on Saturday 5 March 2011.
• Society of Genealogists‘ publications
  • 1 x My Ancestor was an Agricultural Labourer by Ian Waller
  • 1 x My Ancestors were Londoners by Cliff Webb
  • 1 x My Ancestor was an Apprentice by Stuart Raymond
  • 1 x My Ancestor was in Service by Pamela Horn
  • 1 x My Ancestor was in the British Army by Chris and Michael Watts
• A free start your family history beginners session at the Society of Genealogists with community officer Ashley Young who can help anyone start using computers and get the most from free online resources at the Society of Genealogists Library, such as findmypast.co.uk and other online family history sites usually only available on pay-per view or subscription

 Make it your New Year’s resolution to carry on researching your family history – imagine what you can show your family next year.

The Society of Genealogists would like to wish all our friends and members a very happy Christmas and  all the best for 2011 the SoG Centenary Year

*A complete list of prizes  for Start Your Family History Week and terms and conditions can be found here

If the winter weather has prevented you from getting out to do your Christmas shopping then order your favourite family historian a year’s membership of the Society of Genealogists via our online shop

Full details of all the Benefits of membership of the Society of Genealogists – the UK’s largest family history society can be found on the Society’s website but here are the highlights

Benefits of Membership:
Free access to the Society’s remarkable Family History Library

Free access to the Society’s online data  via the  Member’s Area of the Society’s website

Free access in the Library to several pay-per-view or subscription web sites
The Society has made arrangements with a number of pay-to-view or subscription web sites to provide free access from the Library.

Free, expert help and advice on genealogical problems
The Society provides a specialist family history telephone advice service, regular one-to-one advice half hour advice sessions with experts at the Society’s library, and an online mailing list.

Free Genealogists’ Magazine per year in March, June, September and December.
The Magazine is full of information including articles, a full list of the Staff Members, Library Updates, Notes and News of the Society and advice on people who can help with research.

Member’s Discounts
Member’s discount of 10% on courses and lectures,

Member’s 10% discount on Society Publications,

Member’s 20% discount on short specific searches when using the LIbrary Search & Copy Service

Members can obtain 20% extra pay-per-view units or 10% discount on subscriptions to findmypast.com by using the special members’ codes available by email from the Membership Office.

Borrow material from the Library
Members resident in the UK can (with some restrictions) , borrow books and microfrms from the Library

Join the Society of Genealogists here

Are you having problems viewing web pages on this site or on other sites when using Internet Explorer 8? If so, you have hit the "Internet Explorer 8 display problem."

Luckily, Microsoft has produced an easy fix: click on the Compatibility Mode icon or read the explanation below.

A half dozen or so blog readers have reported that they cannot read this blog correctly online. I suspect there are more readers with the same problem. In every case, those who reported the problem were using Internet Explorer 8. We have a bit of advice for those readers: "Don’t use Internet Explorer 8!"

In fact, Microsoft won’t call it a bug but the company does admit that many sites that work perfectly in Internet Explorer 7 will not display properly in Internet Explorer 8, unless you use Microsoft’s "workaround." When Microsoft upgraded to Internet Explorer 8, they broke something that used to work properly in Internet Explorer 7. The same sites also will display properly in Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari, and other web browsers.  If that’s not a bug, I don’t know what is.

ZDnet has compiled a list of 2,400 major web sites that cannot be displayed properly in Internet Explorer 8. You can see the list at http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=2072 (that list is old; more sites than that have since been discovered). Yet, every one of those sites displays properly in Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and even in Internet Explorer 7.

Genealogists can appreciate that the giant web site of Ancestry.com reports similar issues. Many of the pages on Ancestry.com do not display properly when using Internet Explorer 8 but do display properly when using Internet Explorer 7 or Firefox. You can read more at http://ancestryca.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/ancestryca.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=469.

Luckily, Microsoft has produced an easy fix.

Any time you find a web page that does not display properly in Internet Explorer 8, click on the "Compatibility Mode" icon. That is the icon just to the right of the address (URL) bar, just to the left of the refresh icon. The Compatibility Mode icon looks a bit like a page that has been torn in half. You can see an image of it to the right.

You can learn more on Microsoft’s web site at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/features/easier.aspx (click on "Compatibility View".)

You can also find a few thousand more reports of Internet Explorer 8′s compatibility problems at http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&channel=s&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=dwQ&num=100&q=ie8+compatibility+problem&btnG=Search&aq=f&aql=&aqi=g1&oq=.

Problems like this help explain why Internet Explorer’s market share has slowly eroded from over 90% to approximately 67%. I suggest you do what I did: switch to Firefox and get rid of the bugs.

Actually, Firefox isn’t perfect but it is a lot better than Internet Explorer 8. It works faster (and Chrome is even faster than Firefox), has fewer bugs and fewer security issues. You can obtain the free Firefox web browser at http://www.mozilla.com.

Some people prefer the new Chrome web browser produced by Google. It has fewer features but is very secure and runs much faster than Internet Explorer and somewhat faster than Firefox. You can download the free Chrome web browser at http://www.google.com/chrome.

Our thanks to Dick Eastman for allowing us to reproduce this post

Technorati Tags: ie8, internet explorer