Following the Bunting Society's annual gathering at Alpheton last October, members had the opportunity of visiting nearby Lavenham, a delightful Suffolk town steeped in history. We know from records going back to the year 1327 that it was already an established industrial centre, notable for its production of woollen cloth.

Membership of the Bunting Society is at an all-time high. At the time of writing the newest member was allocated number 464 — heading towards the magic 500 mark! Active membership is of course a lot more modest than that figure, but we have every reason to be optimistic.

Genealogical research is fascinating but usually also time consuming. The Bunting Society's extensive family records have been compiled laboriously over a period of some 16 years and are fairly jealously guarded, to the extent that 'casual' visitors to the society's website are unable to pursue their ancestral investigations free of charge. Not unreasonably, we ask that they should become members - at the extremely modest cost of just £4 a year for individuals in the UK, or £6 for those living overseas.

Last autumn's Bunting Society gathering at Tissington was the best attended in die society's 16 year history, with over 90 people present, many of them from the Midlands and north of England, who might previously had been deterred from travelling south to our traditional venue in Suffolk.

Those attending the Bunting Society's 2005 Gathering on October 22 will, we are sure, be enchanted with its new venue this year: the Derbyshire village of Tissington, some 4 miles north of Ashbourne just off the main road to Buxton. The meeting is being held in the village hall, itself a picturesque building on the edge of the expansive triangular village green.