The Brierley Business Centre is situated on Mirion Street, with free on-site parking and some disabled parking spaces. The Research Centre occupies Units 3 and 4 on the ground floor. Press the doorbell button for FHSC on the left-hand side of the main entrance doorway, one of our volunteers will come to the door and let you in, or you may be simply 'buzzed' in. 

FREE access to Ancestry, FindMyPast, British Newspaper Archive and The Genealogist

An extensive library of books and the Crewe Collection (formerly Crewe and District Local History Archives)

We would normally ask that you book if you are travelling any distance so that we can be sure that you have the equipment, resources and volunteer available to you. Please contact Margaret Spate with requests for either day on   adding "Research Centre" in the subject line.

For full details of our holdings, please see the Crewe Research Centre Library Holdings lists in the Public Library.

We look forward to welcoming both current and new members to the Crewe Research Centre, not forgetting any new volunteers.

The MAC Users Discussion Group meets on the second Wednesday of the month at 19:30pm. The group is led by John Reed and is the perfect place to discuss any issues or share your hints and tips and learn from other members about all things MAC related. Thinking of swapping to a MAC  then there is no better way to find out more.

The Windows PC Discussion Group, previously known as the Computer Club , meets regularly at 7.30pm on the second Wednesday of each month - on Zoom. 

Its key objectives are to:

• Provide a forum where computer-using members can exchange views
• Keep ourselves up-to-date with the latest genealogical software and techniques
• Present alternative programs and computing methods
• Discuss computer administration and good-practice
• Untangle and learn to use new databases

Informality is the order of the day and members are actively encouraged to bring along their current technical problems. Chances are that somebody will have an answer, but if not we have been known to spend big chunks of the meeting finding out!

Meetings and topics are seldom pre-arranged very far ahead.  Our general practice is to discuss new websites, members’ own current problems, or generally educating members on getting the best from their computers. We are here to help and learn from each other!  The proposed subject of each meeting is usually announced the week before, by email to the group members .

The Group is led by a small committee and meetings are 'chaired' by a committee member each month. 

Tony Bryan author of new novel 'King and Country', Lord John Byron's war in Cheshire. that will be available from April 2026, is doing to do a talk on the Civil War in Cheshire

The Brierley Business Centre is situated on Mirion Street, with free on-site parking and some disabled parking spaces. The Research Centre occupies Units 3 and 4 on the ground floor. Press the doorbell button for FHSC on the left-hand side of the main entrance doorway, one of our volunteers will come to the door and let you in, or you may be simply 'buzzed' in. 

FREE access to Ancestry, FindMyPast, British Newspaper Archive and The Genealogist

An extensive library of books and the Crewe Collection (formerly Crewe and District Local History Archives)

We would normally ask that you book if you are travelling any distance so that we can be sure that you have the equipment, resources and volunteer available to you. Please contact Margaret Spate with requests for either day on   adding "Research Centre" in the subject line.

For full details of our holdings, please see the Crewe Research Centre Library Holdings lists in the Public Library.

We look forward to welcoming both current and new members to the Crewe Research Centre, not forgetting any new volunteers.

The Brierley Business Centre is situated on Mirion Street, with free on-site parking and some disabled parking spaces. The Research Centre occupies Units 3 and 4 on the ground floor. Press the doorbell button for FHSC on the left-hand side of the main entrance doorway, one of our volunteers will come to the door and let you in, or you may be simply 'buzzed' in. 

FREE access to Ancestry, FindMyPast, British Newspaper Archive and The Genealogist

An extensive library of books and the Crewe Collection (formerly Crewe and District Local History Archives)

We would normally ask that you book if you are travelling any distance so that we can be sure that you have the equipment, resources and volunteer available to you. Please contact Margaret Spate with requests for either day on   adding "Research Centre" in the subject line.

For full details of our holdings, please see the Crewe Research Centre Library Holdings lists in the Public Library.

We look forward to welcoming both current and new members to the Crewe Research Centre, not forgetting any new volunteers.

Family History Through the Eyes of Great Novelists! Have you ever wondered what the great novelists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries can teach us about our ancestors?

Join us as Dave Annal takes a fascinating exploration of family history hidden within the pages of some of Britain's best-loved novels. Drawing on the works of authors including Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy, George Eliot, Emily Brontë, and Wilkie Collins, Dave reveals how fiction can provide remarkable insights into the lives, experiences, and challenges faced by our ancestors. Using extracts covering subjects such as family relationships, birth, baptism, marriage, work, education, travel, and family research, Dave demonstrates how novelists can help us understand the social realities behind the records we use every day. Along the way, we encounter family trees, agricultural labourers, Victorian city streets, and even a Dickens character who could be described as one of the earliest family historians.

The talk concludes with a piece of advice from Great Expectations that every genealogist should remember: "Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. There is no better rule." Whether you are a lover of classic literature, an enthusiastic family historian, or simply curious about how fiction can illuminate the past, this promises to be a thought-provoking and enjoyable presentation.

This event is also open to non-members, with fee of £5. Registration opens on 1^st November when the red ‘Register [Individual]’ button will show on the top left of this page, just click on that button, you will also receive an email confirmation. Non-members will be required to create a free FHSC account and complete the payment details. Registration will close on 16th November.

The zoom links/meeting protocol will be forwarded to all registrants the day before the talk.

If you run into any difficulties with this, then please contact us on the dedicated seminar email address – The Seminar series is co-ordinated by Margaret Spate, Jean Laidlaw and Margaret Roberts and ALL correspondence, queries etc should be sent to the dedicated email address.

PLEASE NOTE WE DO NOT RECORD SEMINAR TALKS

The Family Historian Users Group provides support and tips for using Family Historian software. Led by Peter Rowley members are welcome to chat about their experiences of using the software and to discuss any problems etc that other members of the group may be able to help out with