Author Topic: serious changes of opening hours at the NRO  (Read 8529 times)

Offline JenB

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Re: Northampton county records office
« Reply #27 on: Thursday 03 August 17 19:00 BST (UK) »
All Census Look Ups Are Crown Copyright from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

Offline scrimnet

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One more charge and then be dumb,
            When the forts of Folly fall,
        May the victors when they come
            Find my body near the wall.

Offline scrimnet

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Re: Northampton county records office
« Reply #29 on: Thursday 03 August 17 19:02 BST (UK) »
One more charge and then be dumb,
            When the forts of Folly fall,
        May the victors when they come
            Find my body near the wall.

Offline scrimnet

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Re: serious changes of opening hours at the NRO
« Reply #30 on: Thursday 03 August 17 19:11 BST (UK) »
Cone join our fb page... https://www.facebook.com/groups/513111562360866/

The digitising of the records are not going to happen... The volunteers are being let go... The records are in an awful state as they are not being refilled, just left on trollys... The catalogue is nowhere near complete... Private records are being removed wholesale... And still the council r efuse to engage, answer questions or even appear on local radio as I did this am on the matter... Many respected organisations have also been involved, all with negative comments... The email sent by the head of the service beggar's belief... It's all on the FB group.

This is setting a very dangerous and parsimonious precedent... Other comparable CROs such as Surrey, Oxfordshire, and especially Kent have a VERY different outlook...
One more charge and then be dumb,
            When the forts of Folly fall,
        May the victors when they come
            Find my body near the wall.


Offline scrimnet

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Re: Northampton county records office
« Reply #31 on: Thursday 03 August 17 19:13 BST (UK) »
Also being discussed here
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=775744.msg6293079#msg6293079


I feel this needs a much wider audience than just the Northamptonshire pages... It's a national and international outrage....
One more charge and then be dumb,
            When the forts of Folly fall,
        May the victors when they come
            Find my body near the wall.

Offline smudwhisk

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Re: Northampton county records office
« Reply #32 on: Thursday 03 August 17 20:42 BST (UK) »
I drew it to the attention of Peter who runs Lost Cousins last weekend as I thought if he drew it to the attention of all the people who receive his newsletter it would increase publicity somewhat for normal researchers and hopefully push up numbers on the petition.  Sadly the response I got was that it was going to affect professional researchers and transcribers more than "most" LC members who are less likely to use Records Offices these days. :-\  Suffice to say I've not seen him publicise it as yet which is a shame.
(KENT) Lingwell, Rayment (BUCKS) Read, Hutchins (SRY) Costin, Westbrook (DOR) Gibbs, Goreing (DUR) Green (ESX) Rudland, Malden, Rouse, Boosey (FIFE) Foulis, Russell (NFK) Johnson, Farthing, Purdy, Barsham (GLOS) Collett, Morris, Freebury, May, Kirkman (HERTS) Winchester, Linford (NORTHANTS) Bird, Brimley, Chater, Wilford, Read, Chapman, Jeys, Marston, Lumley (WILTS) Arden, Whatley, Batson, Gleed, Greenhill (SOM) Coombs, Watkins (RUT) Stafford (BERKS) Sansom, Angel, Young, Stratton, Weeks, Day

Offline scrimnet

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Re: Northampton county records office
« Reply #33 on: Thursday 03 August 17 22:23 BST (UK) »
That is a shame... Everyone one else from the National Archives to Private Eye are in on this, with WDYTYA magazine publishing an article already...
One more charge and then be dumb,
            When the forts of Folly fall,
        May the victors when they come
            Find my body near the wall.

Offline starcat

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Re: Northampton county records office
« Reply #34 on: Friday 04 August 17 09:34 BST (UK) »
Its a few years ago since i contacted the office asking about Prison records, but they wanted to charge £26 per hour for the search with no guarantee they had the record I wanted.
luckily just this week ive found his army service record  & it explains what he did & the sentence he received.

Offline PrawnCocktail

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Re: serious changes of opening hours at the NRO
« Reply #35 on: Friday 04 August 17 16:39 BST (UK) »
The County Council have (partially) given in -
STATEMENT: NORTHAMPTONSHIRE ARCHIVES & HERITAGE SERVICE

Northamptonshire County Council has reviewed its decision to change opening hours at its archives and heritage service after listening to the views of its regular users and supporters.
The archives service will now be open for free access on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 9am to 1pm and 2pm to 5pm and the first Saturday in each month, 9am to 1pm.
In light of financial pressures and reducing visitor numbers, there will be a review of the service ahead of the next financial year as part of the budget setting process and this will include a full consultation around any proposed changes.
In 2016, the service was visited by a total of 3,500 researchers, a drop of 50 per cent compared with 2006.
County council cabinet member for public protection, strategic infrastructure and economic growth Cllr André Gonzalez de Savage said: “Having listened to the views of our service users here in Northamptonshire and across the UK, a decision has been made to reconsider the proposed changes to opening hours.
“However, given our significant financial challenges, changes to customer behaviour and a growth in online enquiries, we need to consider how best to use our limited resources and will be reviewing the service in the coming months as part of the annual budget process.
“As part of this there will be a full public consultation in which service users will be able to provide their feedback ahead of any changes being implemented.”


This, however, still leaves the service under threat. And leaves us all crammed into the tiny lunch area for an hour (about 8 chairs, a coffee machine and a water cooler). For those who haven't actually visited this CRO, it is inaccessible by public transport, and has no shops or cafes within walking distance.

The high charges for accessing the search room on Monday and Friday are also still in place.

Please, if you haven't signed the petition, do so - and can we make as much use of the facility as possible. Genealogy is not just about parish registers and censuses - there will often be other documents that will be useful as well - workhouse records, wills, school log books, estate records ... - which will never make it onto Anc*** or FindMyPast. If we lose access to a whole county's past, we will all be the poorer.
Website: http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~towcesterfamilies/genealogy/
Towcester - anything, any time
Cheshire - Lambert, Houghland, Birtwisle
Liverpool - Platt, Cunningham, Ditton
London - Notley, Elsom, Billett
Oxfordshire - Hitchcock, Smith, Leonard, Taunt
Durham - Hepburn, Eltringham
Berwickshire - Guthrie, Crawford
Somerset - Taylor (Bath)
Gloucestershire - Verrinder, Colborn
Dorset - Westlake