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One of the very special guests at the first Angus & Dundee Roots Festival will be ancestral historian and highly-popular television presenter, Nick Barratt. "I'm really looking forward to attending this Festival," said Nick, whose programme credits include 'Hidden House History', 'So You Think You're Royal' and 'Who Do You Think You Are?'.
"I' m sure there will be lots of people at the Festival who will either have great stories about their family or, during the course of the week, will uncover great stories about their family. Hopefully, I'll be able to help them in some way - or maybe even feature them in one of my programmes."
Nick has not been involved in any genealogy research in Angus and Dundee to date, although he suspects this will change following his attendance at the Roots Festival, but Nick and his company, Sticks Research Agency, have undertaken a considerable amount of research in Scotland. "It's much easier to investigate family history in Scotland as excellent records have been kept - and preserved - over the years so it's relatively easy to get hold of information," he says. "Also, I've found that the Scots, and their descendants, place a lot of importance on their family's history, roots and culture, which also makes research easier."
Nick will be the after dinner speaker at the Angus & Dundee Roots Festival's Gala Dinner, which will be held at Guthrie Castle on Saturday, September 6. "I will be talking about how discovering your family's history can take you on the most fantastic journey through local, national and even international history," says Nick, who will be speaking to an audience of over 100 at the gala dinner, including the people who are attending the Roots Festival, business leaders, the Provosts of Angus and Dundee, members of local history societies and interested members of the public.
On the evening of Sunday, September 7, Nick will be attending the Roots Festival BBQ at MonikieCountryPark, where he will have the opportunity to mingle with Roots Festival guests from the UK and overseas, whilst enjoying superb food provided by Cafe Byzantium and being entertained by jazz band Havana Swing. Then, on the morning of September 8, Nick will be speaking at a Business Breakfast organised by the City of Discovery Campaign, when he will be highlighting the potential for businesses throughout Tayside to benefit from family history research.
"Ancestral history is booming," he continues. "The first reason for this is the success of programmes such as 'Who Do You Think You Are' and the second reason is the Internet. Thanks to the wealth of information available on the web, people who want to find out more about their family can now do the basic family tree building, which used to take years, in a few months or even weeks.
"Once you have the family tree, you can get down to the really fascinating research and visit the places where your ancestors lived, find out the stories behind their lives and really get to know them - and the Roots Festival will help people with family ties to Dundee and Angus to do that."
Tickets for the Gala Dinner and BBQ are available from Webster Theatre, Arbroath (Tel. 01241 435800) and Dundee City Box Office, Tel. 01382 434940. Tickets for the Business Breakfast are available at www.dundeecity.gov.uk/busbfast.