Will we see you at the Second English Swinfield Gathering?

It is now just five weeks until the Swinfields will gather at Barwell in Leicestershire on 12th September 2015. This will be the second time that such an event has been organised in England. The last time that there was an opportunity to meet with those who have used our surname at any time in their life was back in September 2013. Those of us who were present at Appleby Magna in September 2013 enjoyed a very productive and rewarding afternoon with "our cousins". That was followed by an equivalent event for the Australian Swinfields in Sydney in May 2014.

Such Gatherings require a good deal of organisation and planning and consequently do not happen very often. If you miss this one, I do not know if and when there will be another chance for us to meet again. To publicise it, we have tried to bring it to the attention of as many Swinfields as possible.

That has been done through online blogs and publicity. Sandra Bates, who now lives in Barwell and whose grandmother was a Swinfield, has also toured the areas of Leicester, Swadlincote, Hinckley, Barton Under Needwood and Burton on Trent over the past few months delivering more than 50 flyers notifying the occupants of the forthcoming event. Those have not only gone to Swinfield households but to married women who had it as their maiden surname.

I hope that those who have heard about the Gathering will have spread the news to relations so that they may come as group. It would be great opportunity to have "a family day out". There is still time to arrange to come along with your close relations such as your parents, brother and sisters, children and even grandchildren. All ages will be very welcome.

So what will happen at the Gathering? You will be given a coloured badge which shows which family tree you are part of. Those who are the same colour as you will be your closest relations. Spot the cousin! You will be able to find yourselves on the displayed family trees and see just how you are related to one each other. These will be people who share the same ancestors as you but who you may not have met before.

It will also be a unique chance to see the documents which record the history of your ancestors and family to find out where they lived, what they did for a living and when and where they were born, married and died. Now is the time to find those documents, which you have in cupboards and attics, to share the history of your Swinfields with relations. If you have any old photographs of known family members, gather those together too to bring with you. We would love to copy them to add to our collections. They are all very important to us.

So we look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at The George Ward Centre, Church Lane, Barwell LE9 8DG on 12th September from 1.00 to 5.00pm. 

At 2.45pm, there will be 45 minute illustrated talk which will show you what we have discovered about the family's history through both genealogy and DNA testing. Make sure that you are there to hear that. There is plenty of car parking space and entry is free.

What else is there more important to do on that Saturday? See you there!