If you are looking for a family or local history speaker during 2026 and 2027, here are the details of my current and upcoming talks:
- Charles the Pigeon and a Yorkshire Spy.
- Local Links to the Lusitania.
- The Home Front: the White Lee Explosion of 1914 and the Site’s Unlucky History. UPDATED FOR 2026 – available from September 2026.
- The Early History of the Irish and Batley St. Mary of the Angels. This is the first of three talks about my one-place study.
- The Batley St. Mary of the Angels War Memorial – the Sacrifice of a Yorkshire Catholic Parish in the First World War. NEW FOR 2026 – available from October 2026, this is my second one-place study talk.
- The People of the Parish – Parishioner’s Tales from my Batley St. Mary of the Angels One-Place Study. NEW FOR 2026 – available from August 2026, this is my third one-place study themed talk.
- Tips for Researching Your Great War Ancestors/First World War Rugby League Players.
- How to Research Your Family Tree.
- Census Sense and Census Oddities. NEW FOR 2026 – available from November 2026.
- From Body Snatched to Brush-Makers and Child-Stealing Chimney Sweeps. Tales from my Family History. NEW FOR 2027 – available from March 2027.
In terms of regions covered, the first three talks have a distinctly Yorkshire flavour. My three St. Mary’s one-place study based talks look at various aspects of my Batley study, intertwining the Irish and Yorkshire character of the parish. The seventh talk is tailored around rugby league players killed in the First World War from your locality. The eighth talk is about family tree research in England and Wales generally, and can be geared around research tips for Yorkshire ancestors. The ninth talk focuses in detail on one specific family history record set, the census of England and Wales. The tenth talk will be predominantly Yorkshire-based, but covers other areas in the north of England too.
All the talks run to 45 minutes, with time for questions afterwards. However if you require a shorter or longer talk, these generally can be accommodated depending on topic.
More details about each talk are below. But if you need more information, including around costs and to enquire about making a booking, please contact me at: pasttopresentgenealogy@btinternet.com
Charles the Pigeon and a Yorkshire Spy.
Charles the Pigeon and a Yorkshire Spy is the story of an unsung Yorkshire hero, living behind enemy lines and carrying out works of espionage and sabotage during World War One. His adopted pigeon Charles played an important part in these wartime exploits. Their daring deeds are more like a boy’s adventure story than real life. But this is a true tale of wartime courage, and one which deserves wider telling.
To enquire about booking this talk contact me at pasttopresentgenealogy@btinternet.com
Local Links to the Lusitania.
Local Links to the Lusitania focuses on people with Yorkshire connections on board the Cunard liner, torpedoed and sunk off the Irish coast on 7 May 1915. The sinking did not affect only the rich and famous. Many ordinary Yorkshire people, including from the Heavy Woollen District and areas more generally around the former West Riding, were involved. This talk provides context to the sinking and explores some of their stories.
There is a possibility this talk can be tailored to your local area.
To enquire about booking this talk contact me at pasttopresentgenealogy@btinternet.com
The Home Front: the White Lee Explosion of 1914 and the Site’s Unlucky History.
The Home Front: the White Lee Explosion of 1914 is a talk based around the events of December 1914 when a devastating explosion, caused during the manufacture of picric acid for the war effort, took place at White Lee. It resulted in deaths and injuries, as well as damage across a vast area of Batley, Heckmondwike and the Spen Valley. It is an event often overlooked because of later explosions in Yorkshire at Low Moor and Barnbow. This talk aims to provide more information about this Heavy Woollen District incident, the forerunner to the later explosions. The talk will explore the unlucky history of the site, as well as the events on the day and the aftermath.
To enquire about booking this talk contact me at pasttopresentgenealogy@btinternet.com
The Early History of the Irish and Batley St. Mary of the Angels.
This is the first of my one-place study talks, and it covers the history of the Irish in Batley and the Catholic parish of Batley St. Mary of the Angels until circa the 1880s. It investigates what a one-place study is, why I embarked on one, why I chose this particular study, as well as my findings – including the Irish migration angle, how they were received locally, the building of the church, all with a focus on ordinary parishioners.
To enquire about booking this talk contact me at pasttopresentgenealogy@btinternet.com
The Batley St. Mary of the Angels War Memorial – the Sacrifice of a Yorkshire Catholic Parish in the First World War.
The second of my Batley St. Mary of the Angels talks is about the War Memorial which provided the catalyst for my one-place study. The Memorial commemorates 72 parishioners who paid the ultimate sacrifice in the First World War, and my talk will give some overall context to their backgrounds, the branches of the military and the regiments in which they served, as well as picking out some of the individual stories.
To enquire about booking this talk contact me at pasttopresentgenealogy@btinternet.com
The People of the Parish – Parishioner’s Tales from my Batley St. Mary of the Angels One-Place Study.
My third Batley St. Mary of the Angels one-place study talk looks at some of the ordinary people from the parish across the decades who have some surprising, if not extraordinary, life tales. They illustrate the amazing richness of working-class local history which a one-place study can unearth – stories which often undeservedly get overlooked, with the focus history inevitably tends to place on the more illustrious middle-class townsfolk.
To enquire about booking this talk contact me at pasttopresentgenealogy@btinternet.com
Tips for Researching Your Great War Ancestors/First World War Rugby League Players.
Based on my groundbreaking book The Greatest Sacrifice: Fallen Heroes of the Northern Union about rugby league players who died in World War One, the talk investigates the stories behind some of the men. It is also packed with tips for researching your own Great War Army ancestors. For local history groups, I can drop the family history research tips aspect, and base the talk solely about the players.
To enquire about booking this talk contact me at pasttopresentgenealogy@btinternet.com
How to Research Your Family Tree.
This talk will help those embarking on their family history journey, but it will also provide useful reminders and advice for those who have already started out on their ancestral adventure. In this talk I will guide you through building your family tree. I will cover the basics to help you start your research on the right track, give you lots of tips, help you avoid those all-important pitfalls, and provide ideas for taking your research further. If required, I can slant this talk towards Yorkshire ancestral research.
To enquire about booking this talk contact me at pasttopresentgenealogy@btinternet.com
Census Sense and Census Oddities.
The census talk focuses in detail on this one specific family history record set. It covers background details about this essential building block for family history research in England and Wales, includes some all important search tips, and has some hidden (and sometimes humorous) gems from the entries.
To enquire about booking this talk contact me at pasttopresentgenealogy@btinternet.com
From Body Snatched to Brush-Makers and Child-Stealing Chimney Sweeps. Tales from my Family History.
Available from March 2027, this talk will cover some surprising tales from my family tree, and shows working class ancestors are far from boring.
To enquire about booking this talk contact me at pasttopresentgenealogy@btinternet.com
For more details about these talks, including costs, and how to book one, please contact me at: pasttopresentgenealogy@btinternet.com
Past To Present Genealogy 