Af'non from Zummerzet

**Charani** · 11-06-2012, 13:34

Hi

I'm an Online Parish Clerk (OPC) for five Somerset parishes which means I transcribe a range of documents relating to a parish from CMBs and censuses through to Poor Law books, deeds and anything else I can read! I've been a genealogist and family historian since 1966.

Every now and then, whilst transcribing, I find an item of particular interest which I will follow up on. Now is one such occasion. I will post this in a more appropriate place.

**PNK** · 11-06-2012, 17:08

Welcome to the forum. Genealogy is my wife's hobby. She is now thinking of taking it up full time but lacks confidence or qualification. Hope you get your answers (I saw you Pensford post).

**PETERTHEEATER** · 12-06-2012, 05:04

Welcome to AiX Charani. I hope that you find the answer to your query.

**Charani** · 14-06-2012, 11:23

Originally Posted by PNK

Welcome to the forum. Genealogy is my wife's hobby. She is now thinking of taking it up full time but lacks confidence or qualification. Hope you get your answers (I saw you Pensford post).

Thank you for the welcome

My husband wondered if the searchlight unit was mobile and that's the reason why there appears to be no record of it.

Qualifications aren't vital but they can be useful. The IHGS at Canterbury run courses which lead to a qualification. Your wife might like to look at them. Dundee University does correspondence courses, as does Oxford. Belonging to AGRA could be beneficial as well. Confidence is something else. Rootsweb have thousands of mailing lists which are free to join and use. If your wife has a look at the archives for her areas/county or counties of interest and familiarity (not surnames), sees what questions have been asked, jots down how she would have answered, then looks at the answers given, it could help her. Even after all these years, I still have moments of doubt. TBH, I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. Better to double check and confirm than be over confident and wrong