Berkshire Family History Society
for family historians like you

Wherever you live ...
Wherever your ancestors lived ...

... you're welcome!

Join today and let us help you build your family history
Membership benefits

Give someone the gift of Membership

Share the joys of researching family history with a friend or family member. Purchase a Gift Membership in our shop and receive:

  • A Gift card for you to personalise
  • An Activation form for the recipient to send us
  • A Welcome note, setting out the benefits of being a society member
  • Membership will be valid from now until 30th June 2021
The Society's Membership Year

£18 + 25% = £22.50

All UK taxpayers can increase the amount the society receives by giftaiding their membership, at no cost to the individual

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What does membership bring?

FREE ACCESS to the Centre for Heritage and Family History

FREE ENTRY to most meetings and reduced admission prices when a fee is charged

MEMBER DISCOUNTS when buying society products, publications, research and services

FREE ACCESS TO KEY ONLINE RESOURCES in the Research Zone at The Centre

MEMBER ONLY CONTENT – additional menu items with access to some invaluable Berkshire data not online elsewhere

FORUM – very useful if you live out of county or out of country. Seek advice and ask questions on any topic (not just on things related to Berkshire) and benefit from the collective expertise of fellow members — worldwide. The society is on social media too

BORROW BOOKS on local and family history from branch libraries 

QUARTERLY MAGAZINE The award-winning Berkshire Family Historian packed with news, reviews and features, and a publications list.

SHARED INFORMATION Share pedigree charts and SURNAME interests

PROJECTS Your chance to join with others in society project work — on site, at Berkshire Record Office, in your own home — wherever in the world you may live. It’s your chance to give something back to family history — for researchers of tomorrow

The Society’s membership year runs from 1 July – 30 June and renewal notices will be sent one month before the end of each membership year.

Look out for renewal notices in the June edition of Berkshire Family Historian 

If you aren’t receiving newsletters, you may find that the email ended up in your SPAM folder – in which case, please could you add the following email addresses to your contacts address book:                              

and

Alternatively:

  1. You may be one of those for whom we don’t have an email address and permission to use it
  2. We have an out-of-date email address

Please go here to reenter your email address and state your preferences

Tell us what you think

Berkshire Family History Society works to meet the needs of those researching their ancestry across the UK and overseas – as well as those looking for former relatives in historic Berkshire.  You do not need to be a member to benefit.

The society offers:

  • Research Zone in central Reading that is free to use and open to all

  • Free access at The Centre for Heritage and Family History to online resources like FindMyPast, the 1939 Register, The Genealogist, the British Newspaper Archive and Ancestry (the worldwide edition)

  • Regular free help and advice sessions

  • Meetings in Abingdon, Bracknell, Newbury, Reading, Windsor and Woodley — open to everyone

  • Online discussion list for members – informed answers to research queries and advice from experienced researchers

  • Members’ Area with data and other information not readily accessible elsewhere

  • Indexes and transcriptions of Berkshire’s historic records on CD — parish registers, probate documents, monumental inscriptions, maps, First World War history and more

  • Quarterly magazine, the Berkshire Family Historian, for members

  • a chance to join in project work, recording, transcribing and helping to preserve records

  • Links to the research experience, advice and support of members worldwide

  • Opportunities to volunteer and so help others with their family history