To join the AWC it does not appear essential to have a Wrinklie, there is however, something I hope you have, to keep you in line with the rest of the membership (as far as I know!) and that is, forebearers..... going right back to the year dot!
Finding details of those of your ancestors whom you know little or nothing about, can make an interesting pastime and one which you can follow at your own pace.

So far, the furthest I can get back on one of my lines is to the year 1595 but for the rest, most of the records peter out in the 18th centry, however, there is still plenty to do in other directions.

A lot of your recent family history may be held in the memory of your older relatives, so visit as many of them as possible, armed with paper and pencil or better still a tape recorder. Ply loads of interesting questions and they will, generally, be pleased to nostalgically tell you all they know.
Note all the hearsay as well as the hard facts, if they have any photographs which may contribute to your project, ask if they could be copied but remember that these are often precious links to the past and should be treated with great care and safely returned immediately after copying.

Birth, marriage and death certificates are often original documents and very important to their holder, so just take any details from them which you require, including the office of issue and apply to that Registrar for your own copy, if you particularly want one. The rest will mainly involve delving into various archives at County Record Offices, The General Register Office, Local History Societies and many other sources. You will find plenty of books in your public library and bookshops on the subject to get you started and there are magazines available wit interesting articles, (including computing) and helpful enquiry pages.

There are also useful Web sites to be found on the Internet. When you begin to accumulate information, why not record your data on your Computer? A straight forward programme for the Atari is Family Roots II, (which was originally Floppyshop software) but is, I believe, now available from FaST Club, P.O. Box 101, Nottingham NG2 7NN If I can be of any help. please e-mail me at:-
gordon@stottg.freeserve.co.uk