Long before census details and parish records were at your computer fingertips, those of us researching our family trees had to set off to local and distant libraries, record offices and churches where the original hand-written record books of the parish’s births, marriages and deaths were sometimes held.

You could get the bare bones from library microfiches (and seriously damage your eyesight into the bargain!) and some parish records that had been published in book form, but there was no substitute for touching, smelling, reading the actual record made at the time in the churches.

I spent one glorious night in the company of the vicar of the Pennine village where my ancestors had lived for all of the nineteenth century. A convivial sort, he brought out two volumes from the vicarage safe and let me loose on them; he also brought out two bottles of his home-brew, then two more, as the evening flew by.

The first two entries in one book were appropriately Adam and Eve but sadly these were two child deaths. There was more detail in these records than I could expect from Bishops’ Transcripts including the names of fathers of relatives who were born out of wedlock (yes, it happened a lot!). All fascinating stuff.

And this fascination continues for me, albeit now mainly in the comfort of my own home by computer, and for many others who long to play detective and discover their family’s past.

Hence the popularity of TV’s generation game, Who Do You Think You Are?, and Down Your Way’s own Yorkshire Roots. In our February issue – out now – we feature a major heritage event – A Window on Your Past – being held at Wakefield’s Ridings Shopping Centre next month (details on www.a-window-to-your-past.com). Down Your Way will be there, as will a professional documentary makers filming people with interesting stories and pictures.

See you there.

Kevin Hopkinson