PEOPLE looking to bring the past to life were given a helping hand at the weekend as the Wiltshire Family History Society came to Swindon.

The STEAM Museum was filled with experts and artefacts, all neatly assembled to help people research their family history.

Sales and information stands, archives and books of all varieties were on display for the inquisitive visitor from 10am until 3pm on Saturday.

Chrissi Geddes, general secretary of the Wiltshire Family History Society, was delighted to see so many people taking the opportunity to research their family history.

She said: “We do this once a year and we always enjoy it enormously. We put on things like this to make people aware of all the help that’s out there if they want to start looking into their family’s history.

“People have come as far as Wales to see what’s going on and I hope they find what they are looking for.

“Our job is to help people with their research and to point them in the right direction.”

A huge variety of stalls had been erected, which were manned by experts specialising in such historical fields as the First World War and Swindon’s railway ancestry.

There was even a chance to have your family tree printed and to take part in a tombola.

Michael and Alison Woodcock, from Devizes, had made the journey to Swindon see if they could find out anything about Michael’s relative, Swindon-born John Blackman, who died aged 15 just before war broke out in 1914.

Michael, 51, said: “I recently started looking at my family history and wanted to find out more about a distant relative of mine called John. We know he died when he was a teenager just a few days before the start of the Great War and we thought we’d come along today to see what we could find.”

The couple thought that John had worked on the railways from the age of 13, but they hadn’t yet been able to find any concrete information.

“We’ll keep trying,” said Michael. “Once I set my mind to something I don’t give up.”

Shortly after lunch, the Wiltshire Family History Society’s Jerry King gave a talk entitled Family History – Places to Look in which he used his years of experience to guide those just starting out on their research.

For more information on the society’s work, log on to www.wiltshirefhs.co.uk or email society@wiltshirefhs.co.uk.