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The Late Show met two ladies who are passionate about researching not only their own family history but also run a helpdesk to help others discover more about their own family trees.

The picture they brought is of themselves at the local studies library at the Central Library in Hull. They are members of the Dot Hepton family history group which has been around for approximately four years now.

The group was originally started by Dot Hepton but Dot sadly died of cancer before the the numbers of the group grew. At first, the members would meet at the Regeneration Centre on Preston Road in Hull to talk about family history but from these humble beginnings many more now come along to meetings and take advantage of the help desk that Pauline and Sandra run.

Once the members started to meet at the Central Library, Gareth Watkins a genealogistΜύ from the library has taken to helping people like Pauline and Sandra take part in courses on family history and it won't be too long before they complete the most advanced course of genealogy.

The ladies describe the pursuit of family history as a large jigsaw puzzle to be put together. Along the way, they use computers, parish records, transportation records and even visiting graveyards to unearth some interesting stories.

They say it's like hunting for treasure, with sometimes the trail going a little cold as it's fair to say some of the record keeping in the past was none too accurate. Sometimes when the census people would call, they would ask small children about details of the family living there. As a consequence, information that was recorded would be wildly inaccurate.

They both say they are passionate about their hobby and would like the chance to offer more people a chance to run an evening helpdesk but unfortunately so far have been unable to find a suitable venue.