Woking Centre
Trinity Church, Brewery Road, Woking, GU21 4LH
For map click hereCo-ordinator Chris Leech
Email: woking@wsfhs.orgSecond Thursday in month
The doors will open at 7.45pm and the meeting will start at 7.50pm.
2026
| Date | Doors Open | Start Time | Title | Speaker | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thu | 10 Sep | 7.45 pm | 7.50 pm | The Lusitania Disaster of 1915 - Background, Outcomes and Consequences | Colin Chapman |
| Thu | 8 Oct | 7.45 pm | 7.50 pm | Tracing Huguenot Ancestry | Kathy Chater |
| Thu | 12 Nov | 7.45 pm | 7.50 pm | Parish Chest Records | Sally Gardiner |
| Thu | 10 Dec | 7.45 pm | 7.50 pm | Christmas family celebrations and games. | Informal Meeting |
2027
| Date | Doors Open | Start Time | Title | Speaker | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sat | 9 Jan | 1.45 pm | 1.50 pm | Migration to Australia | Sue Turner |
| Sat | 13 Feb | 1.45 pm | 1.50 pm | Women, The Home and Spanish Flu in the Great War | Ian Porter |
| Thu | 8 Apr | 7.45 pm | 7.50 pm | Clandon Park - a heritage project like no other. | Margaret Taylor |
Forthcoming Meetings
September 10 2026
Colin Chapman - The Lusitania Disaster of 1915 - Background, Outcomes and ConsequencesThe marine disaster, which altered the course of WW1, generated unprecedented riots in Britain and accelerated civilian internment. Its background and outcomes are illustrated.
October 8
Kathy Chater - Tracing Huguenot AncestryMany Protestants fled France and the Low Countries between the 16th - 18th centuries because of religious persecution. How to find out if ancestors were among them.
November 12
Sally Gardiner - Parish Chest RecordsParish Chest records are an often under utilised source of local, social and family history. They go way beyond parish registers and provide an insight into parish life, mainly in the period 1600 to 1834 i.e. prior to modern civil records. Sally will guide through what you might expect to find, e.g. how the parish functioned, how it was funded, what records were maintained, the roles people played and how the poor were helped during hard times. She will also outline how you can access these records so that you can dive in and discover more about the life and times of your ancestors.
December 10
Informal Meeting - Christmas family celebrations and games.How did your family or your grandparents' family celebrate Christmas? What were or are the family traditions that are most memorable to you? What games, if any, featured as part of the day? Did any of your ancestors marry at Christmas? Come along and share with us your memories or relevant items from your research. You can bring your contribution on a memory stick or just talk perhaps with memorabilia!
January 9 2027
Sue Turner - Migration to AustraliaNOTE. This is a Saturday afternoon meeting.
Emigration to Australia can be difficult to research, especially in the late 1850s. This talk considers what probably drove one of Sue's relatives from Yorkshire to make the long journey, how he got work when he got there and his subsequent life. It demonstrates what can be found from newspapers to provide background and the records available in Victoria for the second half of the 19th century.
February 13
Ian Porter - Women, The Home and Spanish Flu in the Great WarNote: This is a Saturday afternoon meeting.
The Great War was won on the Home Front. This is the story.
April 8
Margaret Taylor - Clandon Park - a heritage project like no other.Margaret Taylor is a volunteer for the National Trust at Clandon Park and was on duty in the house when fire broke out in April 2015. This talk is about the fire and the aftermath and the plans to reopen the house.