John Berridge introduced us to the fascinating world of genealogy. He talked about how he explored his own family connections through using Ancestry.com. He traced his family connections through Britain and New Zealand and expanded out to North America. John demonstrated features of the website including different ways to set up data. Having his DNA with Ancestry.com helped him in searches that the website does regularly to establish link to matches several degrees removed, such as third, fourth and fifth cousins. A very absorbing and time-consuming passion! John encouraged those who want to learn more to join him in the Genealogy study group.

Olly Newland‘s lifelong passion for antiques was very apparent throughout his presentation. Olly presented 6 of his treasures from different time periods and art forms. These included a pair of very attractive porcelain Buddhas which were exact copies of Meissen models from around 1730. His dated from around 1880. He then showed a delicate silver taper holder, a little over the size of a matchbox. This was a tiny candle-holder that would have been used for guiding someone to bed or such uses. Olly also showed us a delicate painted porcelain plate from the Arts and Crafts movement period. The plate displayed a painting in a delicate range of pastel colours typical of that period, of a sprite sitting above a frog pond. His other treasures included a wonderful curiosities chest with turtleshell and ivory inlay from the 17th century, probably Flemish or northern Italian, which he had carefully restored. Olly is a member of the ‘Art & Artists, Antiques & Architecture’ study group.