Events

AUGUST 2026

No Meeting this month.

The Annual General Meeting
Followed by our speaker

On Different Wavelengths

Suffolk broadcaster Foz, looks back at fifty years behind the microphone
working for the BBC, Independent local radio and currently Radio Caroline.

   Stephen Foz Foster 

A Sign of the Times:
Local history told through East Anglian village signs.

Almost every community in East Anglia proudly displays a village sign. But
what of the origins of these signs? And how and what do they tell us
about the history of those villages?  In this talk, Sarah Doig explores this
fascinating aspect of our local history, drawing on examples from
across the region.

    Sarah Doig

Military History Records in Family Research.

 It looks at a range of military documents and
 websites that will help family members
 research any military connections. I also talk
 about medals, death plaques and
 photographs of family  in uniform and
 how to look for clues to identify  regiments etc.

   Wendy Shepherd

Surplus Women:
The life and times of single women in the 1920s and 1930s.

"Britain's problem with two million 
superfluous women".

Headline Daily Mail 1921 Lord Northcliffe 

 Who were these ‘surplus women’ and why were
 they a problem? This talk explains the
 background to this extraordinary
 quote and gives a glimpse into the life of a
 single woman between the two World Wars.

     Karen Cade

Ipswich Maritime Trust

  Cathy Shelbourne 

Using Census Documents: the 1921 Census and 1939 Register                  

 Why are these important documents? These documents
 certainly bridge a gap into the second world war and
 beyond. Both types of document offer up interesting
 researchable information. The 1921 census is a useful
 post World War One document, many showing war widows
 bringing up families alone. It is the last available online
 census at present, as the 1931 census was destroyed
 in a fire in WW2 and the 1941 census was never
 taken as we were at war. The 1939 register was an extremely
 important document for the government as it identified 
 people of an age for conscription, plus population numbers
 for identity cards and rationing cards, plus the number
 of children who might need evacuating. The data was used when the
 NHS was set up post war. There is also a column which shows the roles
 of many people in WW2; a useful document.

Wendy Shepherd