PEOPLE from as far as south Wales travelled to a family history day to find out where their ancestors come from.

One visitor found they had a sibling they never knew existed while another found out that their ancestors had worked on the River Wye as barge masters at Symonds Yat.

Chairperson of the Forest of Dean branch of the Gloucestershire Family History Society, Geoff Davis said: “The open day was a great success with some people finding out some very interesting facts about their family tree. People come along to the event for different reasons, but are usually armed with questions they have yet to find the answers to.”

The annual event was held at Whitemead Forest Park in Parkend and was organised by the society who meet on the third Wednesday of the month at 7.30pm at the West Dean Centre in Bream.

Mr Davis added: “It was lovely to see people from as far as south Wales attend the event. Of course, there is a lot of interest for them in the Forest as during the mining era they moved between the borders based on where the work was.

“The society has researched the memorial inscriptions across many places in the Forest. This process involves recording what we find in churchyards and creating an index for easy reference for those wanting to track down relatives buried in the area.

“We are currently recording inscriptions at Parkend Cemetery.”•See this week's Review for more photographs.