Report of a Family History Fair in Lisburn Library

Family History Fair, Lisburn – 3 October 2009

It was a cold and windy Saturday morning when Liam Devlin and I made our way, burdened with display materials and banners, to the Family History Fair in Lisburn’s public Library. Luckily the weather rapidly improved and not long after the doors opened to the public at 10 a.m. the large area was full of people eager to seek help and advice mainly on researching their family trees.

Although the numbers ebbed and flowed, there was always a significant number of people in the place and we were kept busy discussing a wide range of matters with many of them. Although, given the main topic of the Fair, the major focus was on family, it was not exclusively so and we had many a lively chat about local studies and history societies. In the course of the day we managed to sell a fair amout of our publication.

Here are some of the displays and participants.

Pat and Liam Devlin waiting for callers	Ulster Historical Foundation making a sale
Digital Film Archive and Irish Linen Centre	The Somme Heritage Centre
The Police Museum and the RUC GC Historical Society	Mary Bradley demonstrates the Local Studies resources
Ann Robinson with the North of Ireland Family History Society	Lisburn Historical Society’s display
The Centre for Migration Studies	The PRONI display

Overall, the Fair was a great success; we met many interesting people, were able to give some guidance and advice on areas of research of interest to the callers, sold some journals and CDs and renewed old aquaintances.