A TAP on the shoulder from someone who’d overheard a family conversation on a holiday flight and an internet search for a common ancestor are among ways members of Salisbury branch of Wiltshire Family History Society have discovered previously unknown relatives.

Ideas on how to find living descendants of common ancestors, in the hope they may have inherited photographs and documents to help fill gaps in family trees, was the subject of a talk by John Hurley, a vice-president of the society, who has been trying for more than 40 years to trace living relatives of his great-grandfather. Mr Hurley explained the value of census records, street, telephone and trade directories, and voters lists and invited branch members to share their own experiences.

The Wiltshire Regiment and some of its soldiers in the first years of the First World War will be the subject of David Chilton’s talk at the branch’s next meeting, at Wilton Community Centre on November 19 at 7.30pm.