LFHHS Organisation

We have 13 very active Branches;
the dates in brackets indicate when they were formed;

	Bury and Preston (1978); Pendle (1979); Blackburn Rochdale, Heraldry (1982); Fylde, and Lancaster (1984); Ribble Valley 1988; Chorley and London and South East (1990); and finally Hyndburn in 1995.
	Out of a total membership in excess of 2500, slightly more are within the county, 1300, as compared to over 850 elsewhere in the UK and more then 250 overseas. In addition to the formal branches, like-minded members formed an Anglo-Irish Group.
	The Society has had Charity status since 1992 and therefore much of what we do has an educational aspect for the benefit of our members and family historians in general and we provide publications on fiche and in booklet form at low cost. Each branch, with the exception of London and the South East, which meets quarterly, has 12 meetings a year and each has its own Committee. They have considerable autonomy in arranging programmes to meet local needs, (the Society holds a database of speakers to help Branches produce their programmes.) Contacts between branches and the Executive Committee, are fostered by Branch representation and through links through various co-ordinators. See the Management Structure page for more details. The rentals for the Branch Venues are paid by the Society, which also supplies Project fiche, Fiche readers, CDs, and provides books for sale at a discount as well as a Library stock. Branches themselves have considerably expanded these resources and a number now produce their own newsletters.
	Branches are supported and encouraged to engage in projects and the Society publishes these. The earliest large-scale project was the production of the 1812 - 1837 Marriage Index. This is currently being retyped and plans are afoot to produce it on countywide database on CD. The 1851 Surname Census index project shared with Manchester and Lancashire Family History Society was finally completed a couple of years ago, Individual projects have also produced full transcripts of pieces of the 1851 and 1891 Census and 450 volunteers over 5 years to 1994 indexed the 1881 Census for Lancashire as part of the collaboration with the LDS. Thus helping to produce the fiche and subsequently CD Rom versions of the 1881 Census Index for Lancashire. The Society and the Lancaster branch offer a search facility from this and the Society also has a facility to search the IGI and the Griffiths Valuation of Ireland. Lancaster branch will also search the General Register Office indexes and 'Soldiers who died in the First World War'.
	A vast number of projects have included transcriptions of Monumental Inscriptions, Parish Registers, Burial books, Chatham School Apprenticeship records, Newspaper Indexes to name just a few. Currently over 600 sets of fiche available for sale and each Branch holds sets of the completed project fiche available for members to use at Branch meetings on the Branch fiche reader, or to take home. Batches of 20 or so new projects pass in front of the Publications Sub- Committee each quarter and it decides on most appropriate format for publication.
	The Society has published a large number of booklets as well as fiche, but has published far fewer books, because of the high printing costs for limited printing runs. However books have included: Lancashire Graveyards, and the Location of Monumental Inscriptions now in the 5th edition. (Regular updates of this are published in 'Lancashire); The Ormerods; now in second edition; The Laws, recently published; The Revd Peter Walkden's Diary; Gawthorpe Hall and the Shuttleworths in collaboration with Mike Conroy; The Heraldry of Lancaster Castle Shire Hall, which attracted some Heritage funding. In collaboration with the Lancashire County Library a very successful guide to the Harris Library produced by Bill Worthington is also now in a new edition. Work proceeds with the Lancashire Protestation Oath Returns 1642, which we hope to publish in the not too distant future. The Society offer project supervision and advice and most importantly Insurance cover for members involved in projects; but the Society Projects co-ordinator must be made aware that the project is being carried out. A number of Parish Registers have been purchased on fiche from Lancashire County Records Office and groups are transcribing a number of these.
	When a member joins the Society, in addition to the right to attend as many meetings at as many branches as stamina will allow, members are given a New members starter pack, and are invited to submit a Pedigree chart and a list of Members' Interests for inclusion in the quarterly magazine 'Lancashire'. This Web Site increasingly puts distant and potential new members in touch with the Society. Orders for Society publications are accepted over the Net and we have a credit card facility for overseas members. We also have regularly featured on local radio and have stalls at Family History fairs - most notably at Stockport, Preston and York.
	Many years ago the Society had the partial use of the Textile Worker rooms in Rawtenstall, and after having to vacate those premises, whilst we have aspired to have use of our own premises since, we have not found it easy to rent or purchase property and we have used temporary premises from time to time. This situation should change as we move into the Strait at Oswaldtwistle.
	On the social side an annual dinner is held in September, hosted in turn by the Branches.