Johnson Patterson's Family Story and Other Stories from the Berwick 900 Family History Festival

A major part of Berwick 900 has been the many family stories discovered during the festival.

An unusual start to the video about the Berwick 900 Family History Festival weekend has two volunteers, Trevor Bird and his son, Andrew Bird, talking about Northern Spirit, Berwick, a peer support group for people suffering from health problems like depression and anxiety issues.

Hear Gordon Elliot, born in Spittal, Peter Guthrie, Carol White and Terry White, glimpses of the exhibition in Berwick Town Hall and a couple of speakers (Fred Kennington about researching family history across the England/Scotland border and I about harnessing search engines for family history research), Derek Sharman talking about the legacy of the Berwick 900 Festival, Linda Bankier talking in detail about family history research and using Berwick Archives.

You'll see Linda Bankier in the graveyard of Holy Trinity Church talking about the gravestone of Charles Younghusband Patterson, son of Johnson Patterson, born 1763 and Isabella Patterson; about checking the burial registers and the parish registers. Using church records, Linda discovered that Johnson and Isabella had 7 sons and 2 daughters, but that Johnson had an earlier wife, Ann Dumble. The 1841 census showed a son from that marriage. The Freemen of Berwick Guild records showed that Johnson was a Freeman and several of his sons became Freemen, too. Linda established that Johnson had 15 children in total.

You can also see a small boy helping artist, Carl von Weiler, making part of the Great Performing Rope.

Free Concert Tickets, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Saturday 3 October

Join Berwick 900 to celebrate the wonderful musical heritage of Berwick-upon-Tweed in a free concert featuring some of the region’s finest musicians. 

The concert takes place on Saturday 3 October, 4pm at Holy Trinity Church, The Parade, Berwick-upon-Tweed and is expected to go on until 6.30 pm. 

There will be an interval.

The programme includes new arrangements of traditional folk songs and rediscovered compositions found in the archive of the Kings Own Scottish Borderers Regiment arranged just for this concert by Samuel Reed, Anthony Walker and Eleanor Walker. 

The concert will also feature new compositions inspired by Berwick 900 specially commissioned for the occasion by Alistair Anderson, Ailie Robertson, Bob Wilkinson, Samuel Reed and Dominique Le Gendre. 

Performances by Berwick Concert Band, The Golden Square Singers, Tweed Music Centre, The Thursday Singers, Holy Trinity Church Choir, The Small Hall Band, The Northumbrian Ranters, Berwick Arts Choir, The Earl Grey Saxophone Quartet, The Pilot Inn Pub Ceilidh Band, The Palace Green Quartet, Alice Burn and Arthur Cross.

 Tickets are free but booking is essential through the Maltings Box Office: 01289 330999 or book online at the Maltings Theatre.

If you're coming to the concert, make a day of it and come to the Berwick 900 Family History Festival on the same day from 11am to 4pm at Berwick Town Hall.