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Talks and events


Surrey Heroes: free drop-in family activities

Tuesday 2 April to Thursday 4 April and Tuesday 9 April to Thursday 11 April 2024, 9.30am to 5pm, at Surrey History Centre, 130 Goldsworth Road, Woking, GU21 6ND

Come along to find out about past Surrey Heroes and enjoy some paper based crafts, colouring and puzzles created by young people from Halow. Suitable for ages 2 to 10. Parents and guardians must supervise children.

Free parking onsite, via Kingsway Road. Buggy friendly and baby change facilities available. Donations welcome.


Beginning research on your family history

Friday 19 April 2024, 1.30pm, at The Horton, Haven Way, Epsom KT19 8NP

This talk is a 'Who Do You Think You Are?' for everyone.

Jane Lewis will take you step-by-step through the basics of family history: where to start, what to do and, most importantly, how you can get help and advice on what is bound to prove an exciting project. The talk will also include lots of time (and money) saving tips and ideas, and outline some of the ways to store and present your research..

Jane Lewis is a qualified genealogist working at Surrey History Centre, the county archive and local studies library for Surrey. She lives, loves and breathes family history. You can read some of her musings on the Seeking Surrey Ancestors blog.


Surrey Heritage and the East Surrey Family History Society present: Stepping Stones Through the Archives

Thursday 25 April 2024, 2pm to 4.30pm, at Surrey History Centre, 130 Goldsworth Road, Woking GU21 6ND

A Tea and Talk afternoon exploring a range of difference sources that can be used in family history research. Speakers will include Anne Ramon on using DNA to explore ancestry, and Jane Lewis and Julian Pooley who will provide advice on finding names and places in the Surrey History Centre search room and online catalogues to help pin down your ancestors. The combination of paper trails with DNA results is a powerful tool which may clarify family relationships. The event will include a visit to the search room to see a display of documents and practical advice on using the finding aids.


Exhibitions and displays

LGBT+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans+) History Month 2024

Throughout February, during normal opening hours, at Surrey History Centre foyer, 130 Goldsworth Road, Woking GU21 6ND

To mark LGBT+ History Month, a free display celebrating important stories from Surrey's past and present:

  • Guildford Area Gay Society, Surrey's earliest LGBTQ+ support group
  • GIRES, Surrey's pioneering trans research & education charity
  • Roberta Cowell, the UK's first trans woman, who lived and worked in Surrey
  • Alan Turing, the codebreaker who lived in Guildford
  • Gwen Lally, pageant master extraordinaire
  • Dame Ethel Smyth, composer and suffragette
  • Edward Carpenter, social and political reformer
  • Gwen Farrer and Norah Blaney, music hall stars
  • J.R. Ackerley and E.M. Forster writers
  • Harry Daley, policeman and lover of E.M. Forster
  • Edward Onslow, exiled from Clandon Park in 1781 for a gay affair

Recorded talks to purchase

If you missed one of our online talks, why not purchase the talk recording to view in your own time?

The talks available are:

  • Aladdin's Cave: Some Major Family and Estate Archives in Surrey History Centre
  • A Burden on the Parish: sources for the history of Poor Relief in Surrey
  • A 'Great' amongst Victorian Architects? Royal Holloway's W H Crossland
  • Artists, Antiquaries and Collectors: illustrations of Georgian Surrey collected by Robert Barclay of Bury Hill, Dorking, circa.1800 to 1825
  • Bananas: How a Surrey Garden Played a Pivotal Role in the History of the World's Favourite Fruit
  • Behind the Scenes in Conservation - repairing posters, maps and plans
  • Corsets and Cameras
  • Fashion and Folly
  • From Punishment to Pride: LGBTQ+ archives at Surrey History Centre
  • Gertrude Jekyll, Gardener and Craftswoman
  • In the Shadow of the Great War: Surrey 1914 to 1918
  • James Henry Pullen (1835 to 1916) and the Royal Earlswood Asylum for Idiots, Redhill
  • John Evelyn in Surrey
  • Land of my Father's Fathers: Tracing your Welsh ancestors
  • Let the Road Rise to Meet You: Tracing Your Irish Ancestors
  • Life and Labour in a County Village - or learn to love your Ag Labs!
  • Magna Carta, Runnymede and all that
  • Maps for Family Historians
  • Netherne circa 1955: A Surrey Psychiatric Hospital in Focus
  • Out of Sight, Out of Mind? Sources for the History of Surrey's Mental Hospitals, 1700 to circa.1990
  • Planting Ideas: Sources for the History of Gardening in Surrey.
  • Portrait of a Surrey Town between the Wars: the photographic archive of Sidney Francis
  • Reflections on the Lewis Carroll archives, on the 150th anniversary of 'Alice through the Looking Glass'
  • Richard III: A Drama in Three Acts
  • Sir William More of Loseley
  • The Book That Changed My Life
  • The Changing Face of Nursing: Black Nurses in Surrey Hospitals
  • The Gentleman's Magazine: A Panorama of Georgian Surrey for Family and Local Historians
  • The Most Wretched Man in the World: The Life and Loves of the 5th Viscount Midleton
  • The Portable Antiquities Scheme in Surrey
  • To the Manor Born: An Introduction to Manorial Records for Family Historians
  • What did you do after the war, Grandad? – 1918 to 1925: de-mob, jobs, pensions, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the British Legion
  • Where There's a Will
  • Who Do You Think They Were? Discovering the lives and experiences of our ancestors

Most talk descriptions can be found on our Talks and Tours page. Each talk consists of a 45 minute to an hour illustrated presentation followed by questions asked during the live talk. You can also email us with any questions you may have after the talk and we will pass them on to the speaker to answer. Price £5. To purchase a recording please visit the Surrey Heritage Shop. Please note talks may contain references to historical legal terminology, sexual practices and crimes, used in the historical context but which some viewers may find offensive.


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