My parents had surnames Ellen and Hyett; the female grandmothers had surnames Buckie and Bridgwater.
 My father was born in Malta because his father was stationed there with the Royal Navy. He has strong links with London but also Norfolk (Fugglestone St Peter), Wiltshire and Surrey.
 My mother's family has been based in Herefordshire for some generations (Hyetts) and the Bridgwaters have links with oxford and Gloucestershire.
 We have some family based tales - which may or may not be true.

I have been tracing my family for some time, mainly using computer sources.  I am a teacher and because I have had to teach about databases I have been able to bring my hobby into my work.  Recently I have begun to show adults how to get started using my teaching skills and my experience of ICT teaching.  I am tutor for two such courses at the Gerrards Cross Summer school 2011 - see http://www.gerrardscrosssummerschool.co.uk/

Getting Around the site
 Family View shows the person you have selected in the center, with his/her photo on the left and notes on the right. Father and mother above and children below.  Ancestor Chart shows the person you have selected in the left, with the photograph above and children below. On the right are the parents, grandparents and great-grandparents.  Descendant Chart shows the selected person, photograph and parents below. On the right are the  - you've guessed it - descendants.

Other options are fairly intuitive - I often start from list of names.  The site owner determines the layout.  Newsletters are sent fortnightly which is great if you think you are related and want to be reminded what is happening.

I think capturing the anecdotes and stories is a great way to add flesh to the bones.  Local newspaper archives are great for this and I was sorry to hear that my childhood local newspaper's archives may have been lost when they moved a few years ago from Berrows House in Hereford.