Member Steve Williams with our founding chairman
Jim Trebilcock
Before 1990, people in Chorley & District who were interested in Genealogy discovered the resources that were available in the Family History Centre of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
These resources included the civil registration indexes for England & Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Censuses and parish registers for almost anywhere in the world could be ordered to view there, all for a nominal fee to cover postage and packing. The International Genealogical Index (IGI) was also available for most of the world.
As word spread, more and more people could be found trekking down to ‘Chorley Bottoms’ and to the LDS Church on Water Street. We were always made welcome by the small band of volunteers.
After conversations between Mr Bill Taylor, then Chairman of the Lancashire Family History & Heraldry Society (and user of the LDS Family Centre) and Mr Jim Trebilcock, church member, it became apparent that there was a demand for a family history society in Chorley.
Arrangements were made with the Society’s executive committee who agreed to come to an open meeting in Chorley. This was set up in St Mary’s Parish Club which was very well attended and at the end of it, the branch was set up, a committee arranged and speakers booked from the society ‘experts’ who had come along to offer their services in helping us get started.
Jim was our first chairman and held the position for five years. He was a strong guiding force.
Our first meeting was the second Tuesday in January 1990 and was held in one of the upstairs rooms in St Mary’s club. We continued to hold meetings there until October when the church was being redecorated and they needed the club rooms for church business.
A collection of Founding members
We held the November meeting in a room in the LDS Church on Water Street and in December we moved to St Peter’s Institute on Eaves Lane. This did not have the same car-parking facilities as St Mary’s and, being further out of town, attendance started to fall dramatically. We had always had an average of 65 people at meetings and it soon became obvious that we needed to be more central.
For some time, we had had our names on a waiting list for Chorley Library and their meeting room became available to us for our second AGM in January 1992, to our amazement the members came flooding back, attendance was 64! The following month, we changed our meeting day from the second Tuesday to the third one; this allowed members who had attended the Local History Society meetings to be free from divided loyalties and able to attend both society meetings.
The rest as they say is history, the attendance has continued to be good and thanks to hard work by the committees down the years and with good speakers at meetings, it has stayed constant ever since.
edited by Steve Williams from an original document by Rita Platt
For some time, we had had our names on a waiting list for Chorley Library and their meeting room became available to us for our second AGM in January 1992, to our amazement the members came flooding back, attendance was 64! The following month, we changed our meeting day from the second Tuesday to the third one; this allowed members who had attended the Local History Society meetings to be free from divided loyalties and able to attend both society meetings.
The rest as they say is history, the attendance has continued to be good and thanks to hard work by the committees down the years and with good speakers at meetings, it has stayed constant ever since.
edited by Steve Williams from an original document by Rita Platt
