Looking back on my personal highlights of 2021

January 2021 – The year started with a sense of anticipation – I was moving house.  After 20 years in Surrey I moved to Hampshire, downsizing from my three bed 1980s house to a Victorian Terrace built in the 1880s.

February 2021 – After passing the IHGS Higher Certificate in November 2020 I decided to hop straight into the IHGS Diploma in Genealogy – how hard could it be?  More about this later

March 2021 – I joined the Hampshire Genealogical Society and this year I will be giving a talk later in 2022.  Six of the Family of Lazarus – Lorraine Whale – The story behind the newspaper headline from 135 years ago.

April 2021 – To The National Archives!  My first visit since the start of the Covid pandemic.  Very well organised and Covid safe. A large table awaited me, on which I unravelled some lovely 17th-century Chancery records that would help me make sense of several men called Lawrence Porter from Woking.

May 2021 – My first visit, and a warm welcome from the West Sussex Records Office, to research the Hayler family from Storrington.

June 2021 – A flying visit to the Wolfson Centre for Archival Research at the Library of Birmingham to view The History Books containing three entries for Mary Ann, Elizabeth and Rose Bushell, three girls who were taken to Canada by the Middlemore Children’s Home.

July 2021 – Family history research can take you all over the world. Started working on a family history that started in Surrey, went to Birmingham, Bradford, York and Kircudbrightshire (via Botswana and Northern Ireland).

August 2021 – A visit to the IHGS Library in Canterbury.  My IHGS Diploma exam was now only 3 months away.  Heraldry and an entirely new language awaited me: Blazoning, Tricking, Crests, Mottoes, Barnacles, Pheons and the discovery of a long line of armigerous ancestors,  

September 2021 – IHGS coursework submission looming. Finalising my 4 portfolio pieces and the assigned task.  Last-minute visits to West Sussex Records Office; TNA and Surrey History Centre.

October 2021 – IHGS portfolio pieces submitted – all five of them. Joined the AGRA team on one of their many podcasts – this one was on one of my favourite sources – Legal & Chancery records.  https://www.agra.org.uk/podcasts#202110

November 2021 – IHGS Library Assessment and Exam.  Three hours of research, followed by 2 and a half hours preparing a pedigree chart, taking an extract from a Will and transcribing 17th-century secretary-hand.

December 2021 – I passed!  I am now the proud holder of a Diploma in Genealogy from the Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies.

2022 – Onwards and upwards!  Building my business. Working with even more interesting clients.