On a positive note - Berks FHS have now launched a Marriage Database which you can request (paid) searches of. Coverage is patchy so best to check first if the parishes and dates you're interested in are included.
Still nothing on the baptism front.
I'm constantly frustrated by the lack of Berkshire information which is available to those of us who live nowhere near their Archives. I don't realistically expect them to launch parish registers onto the internet, free for all to view. However, I do think that this particular Archivist (and he's probably not alone) should join us in the 21st century. What's wrong with publishing your PRs on CD/DVD like Oxfordshire do - you're not telling me that they don't garner one heck of a revenue from them.
Instead, us 'foreigners' (I come from Yorkshire!) are supposed to be mollified by being told that we can pay for research through the Archives. I was recently quoted £20 for a look up for baptisms for one surname in one parish over a less than 20 year period - the parish is not a particularly large one. I've done look ups at my own RO so I know of what I speak(!) and it would probably have taken me less than 15 minutes.
Fortunately a fellow Rootschatter who lives down there did the look up for me.
If it's not against the Rootschat Code of Ethics etc, why don't we try to fix up a Rootschat Look Up Committee consisting of people who will do free look ups in particular counties - always within reason, of course i.e. no blanket searches or vague 'could be's'.
Would it be possible? As I say, I do it already in my county and I know a few others who do the same in theirs. Or is it better to keep these things on an ad hoc basis?
In the meantime...how old is this Archivist? Any chance of him retiring in the not too distant future?
Jill
