West Sussex Records Office to host open day this weekend

Doors will open from 10am and members of the public will be welcome until 3.30pm.

Visitors will get a valuable chance to see a display of original archival material, including items purchased by the Archival society, and the oldest surviving document in the records, dated 780AD.

Old cine films of West Sussex, taken from the collections of Screen Archive South East, will be running throughout the day on a big screen, giving guests a chance to experience the county as it looked in days gone by. The Royal Sussex Regiment Museum will also have a display, with a range of objects from museum collections available to view.

Those curious about their family history will be free to visit the Sussex Family History Group, which is staffed by experts keen to help you learn more about your roots. Official records office staff will also be on hand to advise you about resources available at the Records Office to help you trace your family tree and study the history of the area.

There will also be special archives on projects to discover, manned by experts keen to discuss recent efforts to catalogue the archives of Crawley New Town, as well as survey the archives of the Aids/ HIV epidemic in England and Wales.

If you’re interested in joining the Archive Society, members will be on hand to answer questions and, if you'd like, sign you up.