AIFHS - PAST EVENTS

Please view a message from the Chairman concerning the future of the Society here.

Here you should find details of events that the Society attended. Where members have supplied additional photographs an appropriate link to these has been added.

If you can contribute any recollections or stories about any of the events, please let the Webmaster know.

Italian Festival Peterborough 2012
Italian Church Procession 2012
Family Search Italian Records Presentation 2012
Manchester's Italian Procession 2012
Italian Church Procession 2011
Who Do You Think You Are 2009
Who Do You Think You Are 2008
Surrey Social 2008
Taunton Social 2008
Liverpool 2008
Who Do You Think You Are 2007
Woking Family History 2007
Italian Church Procession 2007
Society of Genealogist 2006
Italian Church Procession 2005
Italian Church Procession 2004

Committee members try to have a stall at as many family history fairs and social events as possible within reasonable travelling distance from their homes (and sometimes further!). It's always a pleasure to meet members and hear their own stories at first hand.

If there is a meeting near you, do visit and introduce yourself. We also welcome help from other members to run our stall, so do let us know if you'd like to help. You don't have to be an expert.

We have attended fairs in Scotland and Wales as well as several in England. The largest family history fairs (Olympia and Barbican) tend to take place in London

If there is sufficient interest, we are keen hold regional meetings or attend regional family history fairs, particularly in Manchester, Scotland and South Wales. If you would be willing to help organise a meeting in your region, please contact the Chair.

Italian Festival: Peterborough, 15th & 16th September

Organised by the Italian Community Association in association with Peterborough City Council it will see Cathedral Square transformed into an Italian piazza. Stalls will sell fresh Italian food and there will be demonstrations of pasta making alongside wine tasting. Entertainers from Britain and Italy, singing well known and traditional Italian songs, will provide the weekend’s soundtrack.

For more information contact: The Italian Community Association: Tel. 01733 560218

AIFHS AGM & Presentation on Family Search Italian records: June 9th 2012

The AIFHS AGM took place on June 9th at the London Family History Centre, Exhibition Road, South Kensington and was well attended. Afterwards, Sister Claudia Inskeep gave an overview of the Italian records that are now available - for FREE - on the Family Search website - there are now 50 sets of Italian records, compared to 48 for the UK!

More detailed information on both the AGM and Family Search's Italian records will be available in July's edition of the Society's journal, Italian Roots.

Manchester’s Italian Procession: July 1st 2012

Manchester’s Italian community - and friends - gathered for the annual Madonna De La Rosario parade on Sunday 1st July, a Festa that was incorporated into the city’s Whit Walks in 1880. The procession assembled at the historic St Michael's Church, George Leigh Street, Ancoats – once the heart of the city's ‘Little Italy’ – before proceeding through the city centre to Albert Square.Strong winds and a sky full of rain clouds tested the strength and endurance of teams carrying the heavy statues and grasping the supporting poles and tapes of numerous banners, but did not deter young and old from coming together to enjoy Italian traditions and share their faith in a vibrant, colourful, annual event which grows bigger, longer, and louder each year – whatever the weather!

Italian Church Procession July 2012

Once again, thousands of people flocked to the streets around St Peter’s Italian Church in Holborn to celebrate British-Italian culture by participating in the procession of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The celebration began in the 1880s, though it has proved difficult to establish the precise year. Queen Victoria personally granted permission for the event to take place. Some believe it was the first outdoor Roman Catholic manifestation of faith since the time of Henry the VIII's Reformation. It has taken place each year since 1896, with an interval only during the war years. Costumes first made an appearance after World War II; decorated floats began to feature during the 1950s and it is now one of the few events of its kind in London. Many of Clerkenwell’s Italian immigrants moved out to other parts of the British Isles, but groups from Italian associations across the South East of England as well as Manchester, Cheltenham, Birmingham, Peterborough and Gloucester were represented at the procession. A special guest at the proceedings was the Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Antonio Mennini.