Our July talk, given by the popular speaker Mike Cooper, was entitled "Finding (Great) Grandad: Army Records for the Great War

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DECEMBER ZOOM MEETING REPORT An enjoyable social evening prior to Christmas with a quiz entitled ‘Christmas’ and one entitled ‘Family History’ both presented by our Quiz Master, Bryan Pledger. Most of the questions were multiple choice so as to give the best chance for all the audience to enjoy the fun.  The presentations also included funny clip art and photographs of the Christmas lights at Kew Gardens to get everybody in the mood.  We learnt how the Christmas Cracker and Card came to be invented and how a Mexican gave his name to a favourite plant at Christmas.  In the Family History Quiz much hilarity was had with epitaphs.  Tony Wight won the Christmas Quiz and Christine Wootton the Family History Quiz. After the quizzes a discussion ensued on why the numbers had declined for the Zoom meetings of the Branch.  The ideas ranged from being scared of Zoom, problems with making Zoom work on tablets and mobile phones with laptops being easier…

Report on the joint meeting of Bracknell & Wokingham Branch with Abingdon Branch                                                                                                            by Bryan Pledger A few years ago Radley History Club was given a letter sent from Colditz Castle, a prisoner of war camp during WW2, which was written by Charles Lockett to his wife Evelyn who lived in their rented home in Radley.  Stanley Baker the club’s archivist asked Christine whether she would like to research who Charles Lockett was.    Christine discovered that Charles was born at ‘The Woodlands’ on the Welsh Road at Childer Thornton, Wirral, in Cheshire in 1910.  He joined the RAF in 1931 and married Evelyn Mason in 1933.  After the marriage…

TRACING, A BOOK, NO VACANCIES AND A DOT by Bryan Pledger His granddaughter is studying at a local College and each student had to work out how to overcome the problems of working without the College equipment.  The project title was TRACING and his granddaughter decided to continue with her idea of family history tracing and actually making a 3D Family Tree.  Granddad was asked for help in sourcing family photographs (the older the better!!) and interesting stories about her ancestors.  It soon became apparent that he had a problem as the boxes of pictures, documents, and Family Tree Maker information was not something easily passed on.  Using “Individual Records” from FTM, by adding pictures etc and researching events detailed he was able to write the Life and Times of over 30 ascendants.  He tried to bring to life each of them and e-mailed them to give the basic information to use.  He discussed the Life and Times of Phillip Pledger 1710 whose…

Three Wokingham Families by Peter Must reported by Bryan Pledger. The talk started with a photograph of the blue plaque on Montague House in Broad Street stating the house was named after Henry Montague, a schoolmaster in 1654. The Winkfield records of the Mountagues from 1538 in the Berkshire Record Office has the Will of Thomas Mountague 1628.  There is a plaque to him in Winkfield Parish Church.  He died on 31st March 1630.  His Will divided his estate between Henry and his sons Henry and Zacheus, and his brother Jonas and his son Thomas. From the Book of Clerics, Henry c1573 -1632 was in 1610 a schoolmaster in Oakingham.  William Whitlock, Lord of the Manor of Beches, Wokingham’s mother -in-law in her Will appointed her friend Henry Mountague to be an overseer.  Henry married and had children including Henry, Thomas and Zacheus.  He died in 1634 and in his Will, signed Henry Mountague, listed a house in Wokingham that included a School…