"Do We Really Want to Know Our Ancestors?" was the question discussed by members of the Winchester and Andover groups of the Hampshire Genealogical Society met for their first joint annual meeting.

The entertaining evening was arranged by Andover group organiser, Margaret Gilbert, and held at Andover Museum.

Guest speakers were Beryl Hurley, chairman of the Wiltshire Family History Society, and her husband, John, himself a distinguished genealogist.

They used a projector to show examples of unusual documents which could be used to throw more light on the lives of our elusive forbears. They warned the audience not to be dismayed when they found skeletons lurking in the family cupboard, as the best-preserved records were often those of criminals, paupers and children born out of wedlock.

Illustrations included Quarter Sessions papers, churchwardens' accounts, bishops' transcripts, charity records showing the inmates of almshouses and orphanages. Membership lists of many friendly societies, which flourished in the 1800s, still exist. Newspaper reports and notices were valuable, often recording details of crimes, accidents and war casualties.

Perhaps the most unusual item was a list of the occupiers of pews. Ownership of a personal family pew was an expensive privilege and clearly a status symbol for those who could afford it.