In an article she wrote for a periodical, Joan noted the difficulties in this research:  "….[records] were kept in locked boxes in the church vault and could only be opened each morning by the vicar or his delegated authority and locked again each afternoon by 3.30 p.m.  There was no proper lighting and a shocking smell, all pervasive which clung for days!  This, Harry said, was the worst part.  A reasonable donation had to be paid to the church for each search.  The searching of these records was a very slow, tedious task - the writing was often poor, there was sometimes dampness and deterioration of paper, variation of spelling of names to watch for and cross-checking of birth, death and marriage records to be absolutely sure.  Harry said that the 'KEYNES' records were the most prolific at Berwick St Leonard….".