Special Interest Groups

The North of Ireland Family History Society (NIFHS) is inviting Members to establish a number of Special Interest Groups.  The Honneyman Room in the Research Centre at Newtownabbey is available for meetings of such groups.  Any Member interested in starting or joining a group should register that interest initially with the Education & Development Officer at education@nifhs.org.  Please state whether you would be interested in helping to get a new group going.  It is likely that Members across the North of Ireland will be interested in your group and, indeed, Associate Members, who, although unable to attend meetings, may find your publications of interest.

Below is a list of possible topics for a group; further suggestions are welcomed; as Members express an interest in a particular group their names will be added to the list; if there appears to be enough support for a group and there are Members prepared to get the group started, an initial meeting will be arranged; if the meeting is successful and the group is established then a separate web page will be created for that group, which will then organise its own activities.

It is up to each group how it organises its activities but it must abide by the Constitution and particularly the Society’s Objects and its financial and reporting requirements and the Charity Commission’s requirement that there be a public benefit.  For example a Special Interest Group might meet quarterly in the Honneyman Room for a meeting and might arrange field trips from time to time; it might charge Group members a small joining fee or an attendance fee at each meeting, with non-members of the Society paying slightly more; it might publish a newsletter from time to time; and so on, with Council being informed of its activities – this will help advertise the Group more widely.

The following is, at this stage, just a list of possible Special Interest Groups; please suggest your own interests.

  • County Cavan (or some other county)
  • Quaker (or some other denomination)
  • Shipbuilding (or some other industry)
  • The Inniskillings (or some other Irish regiment)
  • Linen
  • Farming
  • Australia (or some other emigration destination)
  • Scottish Records
  • Heraldry
  • DNA
  • The Plantation
  • Tenant Right (or some other major political movement)
  • The Great War
  • Robinson (or some other surname)

Now, what are your interests?