NOTES

1. VISIT TO NEW REGISTER HOUSE. In our last issue (Vol 5 No 2, Dec 1992) , we wrote that a visit had been arranged by the Fife Family History Society to New Register House for Thursday, Nov 11 1993. Unfortunately, this visit has now had to be CANCELLED. From April 1 of this year, the General Register Office for Scotland will be charging a fee of £120 for all groups visiting the building in the evening, irrespective of the numbers attending in the group (the minimum number is 8, and the maximum is 20). Even with maximum attendance, the Fife Family History Society would still have to charge its members a fee of at least £6, for a visit of just over 2 hours (7.00-9.15 p.m.). It was felt by the FFHS Committee in discussing this matter that members would get better value for money in visiting General Register House during the day, and taking out a day search.

2. 1881 CENSUS NATIONAL INDEXING PROJECT FOR SCOTLAND. (General Register Office for Scotland, Genealogical Society of Utah, and The Scottish Association of Family History Societies). This project is now under way in Scotland, following on from the earlier start in England. Various Family History and Local History Societies are now involved in transcribing the 1881 Census of Perthshire, Fife, Kinross and Forfarshire (the latter includes Dundee). At the end of February some 300 batches had been sent out and over 170 were back completed, but more transcribers are needed to help complete this project more easily, as there are around 1500 batches in total to transcribe for these four counties. If any member of the Fife Family History Society wishes to help in transcribing, please contact MR E K COLLINS, 24 BEVERIDGE ROAD, KIRKCALDY, FIFE KY1 IUX, Tel Kirkcaldy (0592) 269209. Each transcriber will be given a book of instructions, with examples, plus a letter of helping guidelines, photocopies of the actual census, and transcribing paper, so that they can work at home in their own time. Please state the the area of interest (ie parish) to you. Unfortunately, there are no funds for this project so local people will have to arrange collection and return from Mr Collins, either at his home address or at his meetings, etc. People wishing postal arrangements will have to, on return of a batch, pay for the postage and also enclose an amount for the last batch sent, usually around £1.15/£1.35. This is not too bad really, as if packages are kept under 750g they can be sent by second class post, and the package can contain from 2 to 4 batches, depending on size. The information will eventually end up on a microfiche index as an aid to Family History Research, and participating Societies will be able to purchase a set for their own Society. If you are interested and have the time, please join us, The Fife Family History Society, in this good cause. We are always looking for more help.

3. OFFICE BEARERS. As this is the last Journal to be published before the A.G.M. in June, invitations are invited from the local membership for Office-Bearers to serve on the FFHS Committee for the year 1993-94. Applications in writing to the Secretary, Mrs Janet Ross, to reach the FFHS by June 8 1993. The Society needs to add new members to its Committee, for we will be losing at least two of our Office-Bearers. The two retiring from the Committee are our Chairman, Mrs Ivy Jardine, and her son, Mr David Jardine. Mrs Jardine is planning to move to the south of England, where she intends opening a museum of Scottish history. Naturally, her son, David, will be going with her. At this point, we must take the opportunity of publicly thanking Mrs Jardine and David for all the hard work they have undertaken on behalf of the FFHS since its inception in 1989.

We wish them both well.

4. OBITUARY - Professor Gordon Donaldson, March 16 1993. The Fife Family History Society has now to report a much sadder loss, that of Professor Gordon Donaldson, Historiographer Royal in Scotland from 1979, who died at Cameron Hospital on March 16 1993, a month short of his 80th birthday. He was a great friend of the FFHS, and took a keen interest in its affairs. He was a regular speaker at the FFHS meetings, and his talks always guaranteed a "full house," which kept our Treasurer happy. Indeed, we had booked him to speak on May 11 1993, when he was to give a talk on "Historic Churches in Fife and Elsewhere," and we remember his prophetic words in Aug 1992 in accepting our invitation that he was now an old man, and that May was a very long time away. We remember also the fine tribute that Miss Betty Stott paid to him after his last talk to the FFHS, "Castles in Fife and Elsewhere" (oct 8 1991), when. in giving the vote of thanks, she was utterly amazed that so much information could be housed in,such a small head. He could talk about any character in Scottish history as if he knew them personally. Professor Donaldson had been born in Leith in 1913, and spent all of his professional career in Edinburgh, joining the Scottish history staff of Edinburgh University in 1947, and remained there for 32 years, succeeding William Croft Dickinson as Professor of Scottish History and Palaeography in 1963. He retired in 1979, when he was appointed Historiographer Royal in Scotland. It was his love of the sea and ships, born from his childhood in Shetland, that took him to Dysart in his retirement, where he lived in a 17th century Pan Ha' apartment. "I cannot pass my old age without the sight of the sea and ships," he said. He therefore became a Fifer by domicile, and continued to carry the lamp of historical excellence which other Fifers had borne before him - such as Robert Kerr Hannay of St Andrews University, John Duncan Mackie (the son of J B Mackie of the Dunfermline Journal), both Historiographers Royal in Scotland, and David Hay Fleming of St Andrews. The funeral took place on Monday, 22 March 1993. The Fife Family History Society was represented by our Chairman, Mrs Ivy Jardine.