More than a hundred people turned out in a Suffolk village to delve into their family heritage.

A record number flocked to the Long Shop Museum in Leiston for the annual open day of the Alde Valley Suffolk Family History Group.

Snowfall put many people off visiting last year’s event, but this time organisers welcomed people from as far afield as London and Teeside. Many took along old family photos to learn how to put a date to them, and some carried old documents to be deciphered.

A major draw of the event, which raised £110 for museum funds, was the First World War Centenary Memorial Book Project. In conjunction with the British Legion and the Long Shop, the group is researching the lives of men from Leiston who died in the war and hope to produce a memorial book. A number of visitors turned up with snippets of information and photos of their military ancestors to aid researchers.

The group now meets at Leiston Community Centre at 7.30pm on the third Monday of the month. The next meeting is on March 17, when Roy Tricker will give a talk about St Edmundsbury Cathedral. The AGM will include a talk on ‘The History of Money’ on April 14.

The group’s research centre at the council chamber in Leiston is open to members and non-members from 10am-noon on the first and third Wednesday of the month.