Welcome to the first blog post from AncestraVick.
It seems fitting to begin with something that brings together many of the things I enjoy about family history – people, places and stories.
This October, I’m delighted to be taking part in All About That Place 2026, a free online family and local history event organised by the Society of Genealogists.
Running from 7–16 October 2026, All About That Place offers ten days of talks, with around 190 talks from 150 speakers – and every talk is just ten minutes long.
FREE • ONLINE • 10 DAYS • 190 TALKS
So, What is All About This Place?
Despite the name, All About That Place (AATP) isn’t simply about where our ancestors lived.
Places are part of the story, but so too are the communities they belonged to, the events they lived through, the work they did and the circumstances that shaped their lives. Looking at this wider picture can help us see the people behind the names, dates and records we discover.
That broader approach runs throughout this year’s programme, which brings together local history, genealogy, archives, maps and community heritage, alongside research techniques, useful tools and different ways of sharing what we uncover.
Each of the ten days has its own theme:
| Getting Started | Collections and Archives |
| Health and Medicine | Changing Places |
| Tools | Innovation |
| Military and War | Politics and Rights |
| Work and Fun | Sharing Stories |
It’s quite a mix, and that’s part of what appeals to me. You can choose talks directly related to your own research or spend ten minutes discovering something you might never normally have considered.
Although, as most family historians know, you only need to discover one interesting archive, website or record collection for those ten minutes to turn into several hours of research!
Find out more: Society of Genealogists: All About That Place 2026
My contribution to AATP 2026
I’m very pleased to be joining this year’s speakers as part of the Military and War day with:
Allies Beneath the Waves: HMS Ambrose and the Multinational 9th Submarine Flotilla
Saturday 10 October 2026 at 4pm – Day 4
The subject has a very personal connection for me, which makes sharing this particular story as part of All About That Place especially meaningful.
I won’t give too much away here, but I hope you’ll join me for my ten minutes.
Discover more about my talk
The story behind the records
All About That Place feels like an appropriate subject for the first AncestraVick blog because it reflects the kind of family history that fascinates me.
Finding names, dates and records is only part of the story. I’m just as interested in the people behind those records, the places they knew and the events and circumstances that shaped their lives.
Those are the things I hope to explore here at AncestraVick – sharing family stories, useful sources, research discoveries and, no doubt, a few unexpected research rabbit holes along the way.
So perhaps there couldn’t be a better place to begin.
I’m looking forward to sharing my own contribution to AATP and discovering what the other speakers have in store.
And this is only the beginning for AncestraVick.
I hope you’ll join me as I explore more people, places and stories.