News

In September 2026 Pharos Tutors celebrates 21 years of providing online family history courses, guiding students on how to get the most from their research. There are three separate elements to the celebrations, each of which is described in more detail below:

Webinar week, a series of one hour talks from our tutors (7th-11th September)

FREE short talks (available 7th September following registration)

FREE Prize Draw

Note from Aileen

13 short 15 minute presentations by different tutors are up for grabs.

Topics include Scottish, Irish and Welsh genealogy, agricultural labourers , DNA , World War ! medals.

In order to access the talks you need to visit the website https://www.pharostutors.com/webinars, click on webinars and register for the free talks.  You need to enter your email address and set up a password.

Also available are 10 one hour lectures for payment.  It is £50 for a pass for the week which gives access to all 10.  The webinars take place live at 10am and 2pm each day with the opportunity to ask questions.  The recording will be available for a month so you watch at a time to suit yourself and re watch if you wish.

Visits

On May 27th – A group of members visited St Michael and All Angels Church in Middlewich. Thanks to Graham Ikin of the Church.

There was a visit to St Mary’s Church Astbury on Thursday July 9th. Thanks to Aileen Thompson for organising a very interesting outing.

Further construction work is currently taking place at Crewe, following routine construction checks which highlighted additional work required to the building’s structure. The project team are working closely with the contractor, Kier, to oversee the works, but it does mean the opening of the Crewe Archives Centre is now expected to take place in Spring 2027.

In 1921 Ireland was engulfed in the War of Independence and then the Irish Civil War. So the 1921 census was postponed. On April 18th 1926 the first census of the 26 counties of the Irish Free state was carried out. Now 100 years later the records have been digitised and transcribed and will be available free on the National Archives of Ireland website from April 18th.

For more details go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQn7dxNAgzk

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To finish the 2023/24 season, members of the Sandbach History Society, visited Acton Church for a very interesting visit and Tea at the Tower. A great end to a year of talks.

The Archives strongly recommend booking in advance of your visit. The easiest way to do this is via e-mail at stoke.archives@stoke.gov.uk, but you can also call and leavea message on 01782 238420. We’ll then get back to you with our availability and get you booked in.

Archives web-site

Sifta Table Salt was manufactured at the Ettiley Heath factory of Palmer Mann and Co. from 1919 until 1971 and Sifta Sam was the logo of the company. We have been donated two copies of the company’s staff magazine ‘Brine Works’ from 1938 and 1952. As well as company information the former provides some information about how the people in France viewed the inevitability of war with Germany a few weeks before the Munich agreement (“Peace in our time”) and the latter is a personal tribute to the founder of the company, John Mann, who had just died.

13 September 2022

The proclamation for King Charles III was delivered by the Mayor of Cheshire East, Councillor David Marren at the council’s offices in Sandbach on Sunday and attended by more than 200 people. 

Many members of the public joined the mayor, the vice-lord lieutenant of the county and civic leaders, to take part in the ceremony at Westfields, which included the singing of the National Anthem.

The proclamation concluded with the words ‘God Save The King’ – repeated loudly by all those present.

The ceremony was introduced by the Vice-Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire, Joëlle Warren, MBE DL. It concluded with a short service of thanksgiving and prayers for the late Queen and the new monarch, King Charles III, led by the Archdeacon of Macclesfield, the Venerable Ian Bishop.

The Mayor of Cheshire East, Councillor Marren said afterwards: “I want to express my sincere thanks to all those people who attended on this Sunday afternoon for this very important event.

“From a personal point of view, I can only say that my own feelings were of deep sadness but also of celebration, as we marked the beginning of a new era in the history of our country. It was a privilege to lead this moving ceremony for the people of Cheshire East.”

Among those attending were the council leader and deputy leader, Councillors Sam Corcoran and Craig Browne, leaders of other political groups, mayors from other towns in the borough, senior police officers and representatives of the military.

Chairs from many parish councils also attended and afterwards delivered the proclamation in their own parishes.
There were also many members of the public, including parents with young children, who came along to witness the historic event.

Following the proclamation, Union flags on council buildings have returned to half-mast for the period of national mourning for Her Majesty the late Queen Elizabeth II. 

In the evening, St Mary’s Church, in Nantwich hosted a full civic service to pay tribute to the late Queen and to mark the accession of the new King. The service was led by the vicar, the Reverend Mark Hart and attended by the Bishops of Chester and Stockport, the Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire, Lady Alexis Redmond, the mayor of the borough, Cllr Marren, and many other civic dignitaries.

Hundreds of people have already signed condolence books in council offices and churches around the borough and left their own personal messages of remembrance of Queen Elizabeth on the council’s special web page

Well-wishers laying flowers at council offices and churches are asked to remove any cellophane wrapping and not to leave any other objects.

The King has declared that next Monday – the day of the Queen’s funeral – will be a national bank holiday, meaning that a number of council services, with the exception of essential services, will be suspended, schools and libraries will be closed. The council will issue further information in due course.  

On Friday April 1^st I visited Manchester Central Library to spend some time accessing the 1921 census from Find My Past free of charge and here are some notes which I hope are helpful if you wish to do the same (and avoid paying £2.50 a time to access a transcript or £3.50 to access the original record).

• It is now not possible to take your own computer and access the records from the Library network. You need to use one of the many computers available in the Library.

• In order to access a computer, you need a Manchester Libraries card. There is an online form to complete which you can complete at home or when you get to the Library. You then need to provide ID showing your address (e.g., driving licence).

• Your card will have a 14 character code and you will need to choose a 4 digit PIN. You need to enter both of these when you start to use the computer. You will be given 2 hours access time though if the Library is not busy you can ask for more. So, it is a good idea to do some preparation beforehand so you know who you will be searching for.

• If you use one of the computers in the MLFHS (Manchester Local and Family History Society) section of the Library there is a helpdesk staffed by volunteers to help you if you need it. There is also an instruction sheet for accessing the 1921 census available from the Library helpdesk.

• Once logged on you then see the Welcome Page and you need to click on Family History and Local Studies

• This brings up the access to Find My Past which you need to click on (see attached sheet)

• On the Find My Past page scroll down and access the 1921 Census.

• In order to save your records, you will need a data pen (memory stick) or you can print out the record for 20p per A4 black and white sheet. Alternatively, you can e-mail it to yourself but ensure you have your password to access your email service.

• To save a transcript as a pdf document go to Print and choose Save as pdf. To save a record you can download it and then save it but I found it easier to choose Print and Save as pdf as before.

Richard Vickery April 3rd 2022

Congleton Museum will be the new home of 8000 Roman coins discovered in Peover in 2016. Over the next 12 months volunteers will sort, classify and photograph the coins so that they can be displayed online. See the article from the Chronicle below.