Learning Centre

The arrival of Brunel’s Bristol to Exeter railway in 1841 marked the starting point of the transition from Weston as a small, wind-ridden village of under 40 houses to a thriving Victorian seaside resort, numbering around 25,000 by the 1901 English Census.

The railways brought Weston within easy reach of Bristol, Bath and South Wales as a popular day trip destination for bank holidays and work outings. The original Birnbeck pier, completed in 1867, proved so popular with visitors that local traders, unhappy that visitors were not coming as far as the centre of the town, organized the construction of a new pier closer to the main streets. Opened in 1904, the Grand Pier still stands today with amusements and cafes taking the place of the original music-hall

Take a look at postcards of Weston-Super-Mare here.

In many respects, Scarborough lays a rightful claim to being the first true British seaside resort. Whilst the advent of the railways early in Victoria’s reign helped to promote the popularity of Scarborough as a seaside destination, visitors were flocking to the town as early as 1660 in response to the healing properties purported by nearby spa waters.

The coming of the Scarborough-York railway in 1845 led to an upsurge in visitor numbers. In the same year, Scarborough opened its first hotel “The Grand Hotel”, testament to the enterprising spirit of a young architect, John Gibson, to exploit the opportunities the new railway link provided. The hotel took over 20 years to complete, by which time it had become one of the largest, purpose built hotels in Europe. A blue plaque outside marks where the novelist Anne Brontë died in 1849.

Why not search for postcards of your favourite resorts and towns to attach to your tree.

Want to read more? Catch up on Brighton and Blackpool in our June newsletter now.

Newsreels averaged 10 minutes in length and consisted of U.S. military footage depicting allied military operations and other events from the home front. Much of the footage was taken by military combat photographers and is in excellent condition.

This database contains all 267 issues of the 'United News.’ Some of the more well known WWII events depicted in these newsreels are:

• Marines Raise Flag Over Iwo Jima

• D-Day

• Japanese Sign Final Surrender

• Invasion of Sicily

• MacArthur Returns to the Philippines

Check out the Newsreels Now.

Be one of the first to visit Release three of our British Phone Books collection.

This penultimate release of the British Phone Books collection brings the total directories posted to date to 1,266, spanning the British Isles and Ireland.

From the introduction of the first directory back in 1880 right through to the arrival of privatization in mid-1984, the collection tells a fascinating story of family history movements, changes in family social circumstances, status and more besides.

Due to their frequency of their updating, phone books provide an unrivalled research resource in tracing changing family circumstances, both social and geographic at regular intervals. Typically, telephone directories were updated every 12-18 months from the mid 1900s onwards.

Make telephone directories an integral part of your family history research, search the British Phone Books collection now

When inviting others to view your tree, you have a number of options to allow them to see and contribute to your tree. You can also create a personalised message which is particularly useful in directing other family members to specific parts of your tree- for `example where you have gaps or question-marks around dates and places, which your relatives may be able to assist you with.

There are three main options available to you

Assigning "Editor" rights to an individual will enable them to view, comment and add photos, stories and names directly to your tree. They can also edit the details of those already in your tree and be able to view living relative details in your tree.

As a "Contributor", your invitee will be able to view and add information to ancestors you already have in your tree, but not add any further names nor edit any existing person information.

As a "Guest", your invitee will only be able to review your tree and leave comments.

You can also select whether to give those who you give "Guest" and "Contributor" rights access to view living relatives (those with "Editor" rights always see living relatives) by ticking or un-ticking the relevant "Can see living people" options box:

Any access rights will remain in place until you send an update email with a change of access status.

Why not invite others to view your tree now by going into your family tree home page and clicking on the "Invite Family" button

For those who have decided to explore foreign climes and not risk the English weather this summer we have a fantastic opportunity to win a Collins Gem Phrasebook to take away with you and help you parlez with the locals on your travels.

The Gems include over 70 topics such as Getting Around, Eating Out and Shopping as well as a clear dictionary, comprehensive menu-reader and an introduction to how the language works. More than just phrasebooks, Collins Gems are travel essentials and also include top tips on safeguarding against cultural faux pas and other key do’s and don’ts for situations involving local customs or etiquette. For example, in Croatia, if you are offered something to eat it is more polite to say ‘I cannot’ (ne mogu) than ‘no thank you’ (ne hvala vam). Similarly, if you were wondering why there was no 4th floor in your hotel in Korea, it’s because the number 4 is associated with death.

They are now available in a wide range of languages – French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Latin American Spanish, Dutch, Czech, Turkish, Arabic, Cantonese, Croatian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Thai, Vietnamese and Mandarin.

For the chance to be one of 10 lucky winners, simply click here (clickable link to open e-mail browser and fill in subject line) or e-mail: competition@ancestry.co.uk. Put “Collins Competition” as your email subject line and include in the main body of your email:

• Your Name

• Your Ancestry.co.uk registered email address, and
• Your postal address

• Your preferred language phrasebook

The competition closes at midnight on Sunday 22nd July 2007 (UK time), so be sure to send in your entry to have a chance of winning. This competition is subject to terms and conditions; for these please see below right. Winners will be announced in the August issue of our Monthly Newsletter.

Good Luck!

That’s all for now, see you next month.

The Ancestry.co.uk Membership Team