11 November  2019

Dear
I am writing to introduce XXXX, who volunteers as County Coordinator for the FreeREG project in XXXXshire [or other text as suitable to show relationship]. We make historical records of interest to family and local historians available for free, forever.
We would be delighted if you could help us with our work by providing source material from your parochial registers,  that we can use to prepare indexes of the registers which we will publish on www.freereg.org.uk. We are happy to use photographs that have been made for other purposes, or for our volunteers to take the photographs. You may have questions, and I hope that I have covered the most common here – but if you wish to contact me to ask other questions, or for more information, I would be delighted to help.
The information includes a letter from the Rev. Alexander McGregor, Chief Legal Advisor to the Archbishops Council and the General Synod, which confirms the legal position of the Church of England with regard to church registers: in essence, the decision whether or not to permit a copy of a register lies with the incumbent, church wardens and PCC.  We very much we can work together to ensure that the information in the register can be made available for free, forever, and to help you use it in whatever way you wish.
With best wishes,

Dr Pat Reynolds
Executive Director, Free UK Genealogy
Pat.reynolds@freeukgen.org.uk 01723 362616 Westwood House, Westwood, Scarborough, North Yorkshire, YO11 2JD