Natalie Ceeney CBE, Chief Executive of The National Archives, announced today (Monday 11 January) that she will be leaving in mid-March, to take on a new role as Chief Executive of the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Natalie Ceeney

Natalie has been Chief Executive since 2005, and the past four and a half years has seen some significant changes to TNA under her leadership. The National Archives has moved firmly towards the digital age and concentration of digital information management, while providing access to its collection and expertise to an increasingly wide and diverse audience.

The Ministry of Justice will be handling the recruitment of Natalie’s successor through open competition. In the intervening period the Ministry has asked Oliver Morley, currently Director of Customer and Business Development, to take over as interim Chief Executive. In his current role, Oliver is responsible for customer, product and service strategy, partnership and business development, trading services, and marketing and communications. His team led the launch of the online 1911 census and many other leading historical content services via the relaunched nationalarchives.gov.uk. Prior to The National Archives, Oliver was at Thomson Reuters, with global responsibility for improving information services for customers.

Technorati Tags: family history, Family History News, genealogy, The National Archives

The Society of Genealogists will be 100 years old in 2011 and we intend to celebrate our anniversary in style.  There will be different activities to commemorate the occasion and we hope all our members and friends will join us in our celebrations.

Details of all our commemorative events planned for 2011 will be posted on our website and in the Genealogists’ Magazine. Here are the first two events to note in your diary

The Society of Genealogists Centenary Conference will take place on
Saturday 7 May 2011
Venue: Royal Overseas League,
Over-Seas House,
Park Place
5 St James’s Terrace,
London SW1A 1LP

Royal Overseas League, London SW1

This will be an all day event culminating in a Conference Banquet in the evening.  More details including lecture streams, prices etc will follow but this is definitely a date to book in your diary.

Society Centenary Celebration Dinner
Friday 6 May 2011
Venue: Royal Overseas League, London
This will be a high profile dinner to formally celebrate the Society’s 100th Anniversary.  Spaces will be limited, ticketing information and pricing will be available soon.

Technorati Tags: Family History News, genealogy, Society of Genealogists

The Society of Genealogists Family History Show workshop programme  at Who Do You Think You Are ?Live 2010 has now been published on the Show website

The workshop timetables show when the Society of Genealogists experts, local societies and exhibitors will be speaking. There are talks for every level of interest in family history.

Tickets are free at the show but some advance boookings are avalable from the show website at £2 each.

Technorati Tags: family history, Family History News, genealogy, Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2010

The Competition Commission has published an issues statement as part of its inquiry into the anticipated acquisition of Friends Reunited Holdings Limited (Friends Reunited) from ITV by Brightsolid Group Limited (Brightsolid).

The Commission has been asked to decide whether the acquisition may be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition (SLC) within any market or markets in the UK. Brightsolid, which runs websites Find My Past.com and 1911 Census.com, and Friends Reunited, which owns Genes Reunited.com, are two of the three largest suppliers of online genealogy services in the UK. These websites allow users to search and access historical information and documents such as census results, birth, marriage and death records, and also supply family tree software.

The issues statement follows the first stages of gathering information, views and evidence and identifies clearly for all interested parties the specific questions and areas the inquiry is examining. This will form the basis for hearings with Brightsolid and Friends Reunited.

The full issues statement is available on the Commission’s website

The issues statement should not be seen as implying that the inquiry group (the Group) has identified any competition concerns—the Group has yet to reach any conclusions on this inquiry. The purpose of making the issues statement public is to inform all interested parties and give them an opportunity to raise any further points with the CC.
If the Group considers that the merger has resulted or may be expected to result in an SLC, it will consider whether and, if so, what remedies might be appropriate, taking into account any customer benefits that might arise from the acquisition, and will issue a notice of possible remedies, should this be required, at about the time it publishes its provisional findings.
The Commission is expected to report by 16 April 2010 and would like to hear comments on the issues statement from any interested parties, in writing, by 6 January 2010.
To submit evidence, please email anne.jolly@cc.gsi.gov.uk or brightsolidfriendsre@cc.gsi.gov.uk or write to:
Anne Jolly
Inquiry Manager
Competition Commission
Victoria House
Southampton Row
LONDON
WC1B 4AD

Technorati Tags: Brightsolid, family history, Family History News, Find My Past, genealogy, Genes Reunited

The GRO has announced that the digitisation of GRO’s births, marriages and deaths records is moving forward and a new project, called the Digitisation and Indexing (D&I) Project, has been initiated.

The new project covers the digitisation of the records themselves together with indexing and upgrading the online certificate ordering process. No information is given about what information is likely to be included in the new indexes nor does it look as if the digital images of certificates themselves are likely to be made available online under the current legislation.  In the age on digital online delivery of information it seems unbelievable that these records will only be available as certified paper copies.

However the annoucement does say the the future online index will be free to use thus complying with the statutory obligation to provide free access to the birth, death and marriage indexes.

We will have to wait and see how this will affect the business of the commercial online index providers. No timetable is given for the project and the free fiche indexes will remain in various libraries until the index is online.

It appears this project will complete the GRO’s ill fated EAGLE enterprise and finally enable the so called MAGPIE to fly. It remains to be seen how this is project brought to fruition but any progress must be welcome.

A set of Q&As on the Identity and Passport Agency website outlines information about GRO’s digitisation project

Technorati Tags: family history, Family History News, genealogy