The Festival takes place at Jersey Archive from Friday to Sunday, 16-18 September and returns after a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic. UK genealogist and author Celia Heritage is the guest speaker and will share how to trace English and Welsh ancestors, as well as researching Scottish and Irish forebears.

She will also join Jersey Heritage’s Director of Archives & Collections Linda Romeril and Senior Archivist Stuart Nicolle on a panel session to answer questions from members of the public about family history and archives in general.

Over the course of the three-day event, Archive staff will also give talks on how to start researching your family history in Jersey, how to use the Archives and Collections Online catalogue (ACO) more effectively and how to research family members who came to the Island from France.

Stuart said: “We’re really excited to be able to bring back the Jersey Family History Festival after a hiatus of three years due to the pandemic. The 2022 festival programme is full of interest for anyone who has started, or wants to start, researching their family history and the highlight will be our guest speaker, Celia Heritage. She’s an expert on UK family history and the perfect person to give keen genealogists an insight into how to research their ancestors across the Channel. The panel session is also one of our favourite parts of the Festival and we’re looking forward to opening the floor to a variety of questions.”

The Family History Festival weekend will showcase the latest ‘What’s Your Town’s Story?’ (WYTS) talk, which will focus on Beresford Street, and there will be a talk sharing how Archive staff research the WYTS series.

The programme also includes one-to-one sessions with the Archive Conservation and Research Teams and a chance to see behind-the-scenes at Jersey Archive on a ‘Treasure Tour’.

The Jersey Archive Helpdesk Area and Reading Rooms will be open throughout the weekend, giving visitors a chance to research in between the talks taking place. Some of the talks will also be available online for people to view from home.

The Archive will be open for the Festival weekend from 9am-4pm on Friday and Saturday, 16-17 September and 9am-1pm on Sunday, 18 September. Full details of the Family History Festival programme are available at www.jerseyheritage.org.

Booking is recommended for the Festival’s talks and can be done by emailing archives@jerseyheritage.org or calling 833300.