Bramhall Group Spring Newsletter

Future Programme

May – December 2012. 2nd Thursday of the month at 7.30pm.

10th May – From First Edition to City Final –a history of newspapers in Manchester

- Peter Levy

14th June - Goyt Valley Miner– the lives of five generations of the Hewitt family

working in the private mine of Errwood Hall. - Kevin Dranfield

12th July – Annual Outing –Guided Tour of Stockport Air-Raid Shelters starting at 7.00pm. Cost £5 – seniors, £6 - others. Please pay by June meeting. Meet outside at6.50pm.

9th August - AGM – followed by Snapshots of History – a presentation focusing on some Stockport companies and people plus popular Manchester sights – photos taken by Barbara’s father - Barbara Brooks

13th September – Clive of India – from Cheshire to India and Powys - Mark Bevan

11th October – An Introduction to Trade Directories - Colin McInnes

8th November – Was my Grandmother Really Born in Alderley Edge? – How a request for help to find long lost Ancestorsopened upa fascinating story of Victorian romance in Manchester betweenthe daughter of awealthyfamily of Scottish Mill Owners and the son of Ashkenazy JewishTraders thrown together in Cottonopolis -Bryan Goodwin

13th December – Our Christmas Party - with the usual festive spread provided by members and In the Bleak Mid-Winter – a talk on Christmas Customs - Brian Hallworth

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For further information

Please ring 01614395021 or email

The Family History Society of Cheshire Website is

Our Bramhall Group Website is

New Books in our Library:

Stockport Through Time - Coral Dranfield

Stockport – A Pictorial History – Roy Westall

A Walk Round Yesterday’s Cheadle Hulme – Peter Crummett

Books, CDs etc. can only be borrowed by members. Please return all library items bythe

following meeting as others may be waiting to borrow them. An up-to-date list of all items

held in the library can be viewed on our Bramhall Group website at

Your Refreshments Organiser - Janet McMurray

When Ian and Susan Bickley were elected as Group Leader and Programme Organiser respectively, I took over the catering side of our meetings along with Mary Gash. I joined the Group about six years ago when I started researching my family history. I was born in Edinburgh and brought up in Glasgow, moving south in my early twenties, first to Birmingham then London and eventually coming to the Bramhall area about 35 years ago. So although I have spent the majority of my life south of the border, all my ancestors were Scots. My interest in the subject started in conversations with an aunt who, although in her nineties, had a remarkable memory of her family going back several generations, and with her help I drew up a tree of my father’s side of the family. Since then I have managed to fill in some of the gaps and explore my mother’s side although this has proved more difficult. Many of my father’s family came from Crawfordjohn in South Lanarkshire, a tiny village in the Lowther Hills about 4 miles off the M74, and nearby Leadhills, named after one of the minerals which were once mined there. I have visited the graveyards in both villages and found a number of the family graves including those of my 3 x great grandparents. Just to prove my English credentials I am also interested in the local history of Bramhall which I am working on with the U3A. I have one son who lives in London and we are busy preparing for his wedding in September.

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The Bramhall Group meets in the Main Hall of the United Reformed Church on the corner of Robins Lane and Bramhall Lane South, SK7 2PE at 7. 30. p.m. Admission costs £1 including refreshments.

Those of you who attend on a regular basis will know that at the end of the meetings we ‘make some time’ for refreshments and give people the chance to discuss their ancestral research problems with others in the hope that they can sort some of them out. Visitors are always very welcome but we trust that those who attend regularly will join the FHSC.

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BRAMHALL GROUP COMMITTEE

Ian Bickley Group Leader

Norman Rowcroft Treasurer

Susan Bickley Programme Organiser & Publicity

Janet McMurray Refreshments Organiser

Diana Moilliet Committee Member

Liz Wilkinson Group Librarian

In future, due to rising postal costs, our newsletters will be sent by email to those members whose email addresses we have. Please let me know at your current email address if we do not have it. Paper copies will still be available for those who cannot receive them via email Thanks - Ian