Brighton History Centre saved

Brighton and Hove City Council have today announced that the Brighton History Centre will not be closed as part of cost saving measures being considered by the Council.

According to a press release issued today, council leader Mary Mears stated that since the threatened closure was proposed “the level of affection for these services has become very obvious, so I’ve taken the decision to redirect some of our discretionary spending towards keeping these centres open.”

This is great news for local and family historians, ultimately the resources of the Brighton History Centre will join those of the East Sussex Record Office at “The Keep”, a new archive centre, which has yet to be built or even obtain planning permission, although the authorities expect it to be finished in two years time.

As someone who has made extensive use of the Brighton History Centre in the past and can now continue to do so in the future, I would like to say thank you to all those who signed the ePetition, wrote to the council and local press in support of the Brighton History Centre and who fought to keep the centre open.

Sign the ePetition to save Brighton History Centre

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the threat of closure to the Brighton History Centre.

The closure of this valuable facility would be a great loss to local and family history researchers with an interest in the city.

An ePetition has now appeared on the Brighton and Hove City Council website, and I would urge anyone who qualifies (according to the website “a person of any age who lives, works or studies in Brighton and Hove”) to sign the petition to try an save this wonderful resource.

What’s going on with Brighton History Centre?

There is some worrying news coming out of Brighton, East Sussex. As reported on The Argus website yesterday, Brighton History Centre is under threat of closure.

It appears that Brighton and Hove City Council are considering closing the centre, in an effort to reduce it’s overall budget by £8 million next year. The closure of the centre itself is hoped to save the council £62,000.

The problem I have with this, other than the potential loss of this valuable resource, is that there doesn’t appear to have been any definitive statement on the planned closure. The news report says that the process is still in the discussion stage, so presumably more details will become available soon.

It has been said that some of the resources will be moved to the Jubilee Library in Brighton, but the centre’s most valuable assets, it’s staff, will face redundancy. Then there is mention of “The Keep” the planned new archive for Brighton and East Sussex, although it hasn’t really progressed past the planning stage.

Any loss of services is regrettable, but without further details it is hard to assess what the impact of this proposal will be. Watch this space….

A large helping of sunshine and with a pinch of genealogy

It has been another beautiful day here in Sussex, I don’t think I saw a single cloud in the sky. I am quite glad I was not out walking in the sun today! I had to go down to Brighton to get some shopping in the morning (before it got too busy).

I couldn’t resist a visit to the Brighton History Centre whilst I was down there. I spent a while scrolling through newspapers on microfilm trying to find some mention of the death of Abraham KINGHORN.

Abraham was the son of my 3x great grandparents Thomas and Isabella KINGHORN, and he died in the Brighton Registration District in Q1 1886 aged only 30. I felt sure the fact that he was only 30 years old when he died might have made the newspapers, but so far I have been unable to find a mention. It looks like I need to order a death certificate, to find out the story behind his early death.

Today I also ordered a couple of certificates, Harriet WRAIGHT’s (or WRIGHT) birth and William GEERING and Emily GREEN’s marriage). Hopefully they should enable me to finally complete the list of my 3x great grandparents.

I also made a start on one of the books in my to be read pile, London: A Social History by Roy Porter. This is of course background reading for my Thomas KINGHORN research, but also an attempt to learn more about our capital city, about which I know shamefully little.

Ready for the weekend? Not really!

It’s Wednesday already, and I should be getting ready for a research trip to the Hampshire Record Office (HRO) in Winchester on Saturday, but I am not.

I have fallen behind with my preparation and I don’t feel I am going to be in a position to make full use of my time at Winchester, and that would simply be a waste of time and money. As much as I would like to spend time at the HRO and I am quite looking forward to another long train ride, I have decided to put it off for at least another week.

Instead I am going to spend Saturday catching up, not just on family history, but some housework and general filing. It also gives me an excuse to spend some time “playing” with Family Historian 4, whilst pretending to be updating it with information and photos from last weekend’s visit to Framfield and Blackboys.

If I feel the need to get out I can always head down to the Brighton History Centre for a quick bit of genealogical research that won’t break the bank (provided I stay away from the postcard shop whilst I am down there).