Could you please advise me of the best way to access a birth certificate. There are a few I would like to check out to find the maiden name of the mother, so I can go back further in the tree

Hi Liz,
many "general" questions such have this have already been asked on the forum, please don't forget to search-out prior posts. Don't forget that as with most search-engines "less is more"; keep to just key words only for best results, eg "ordering certificates" will give more hits than "ordering birth certificates".

eg This old post still appears to have uptodate information and links. Searching the net will show many companies online which you can use to buy certificates, but as far as I know they all have to order from the General Register Office, so altho perhaps offering faster turnrounds they will probably cost more than direct from the GRO.
http://forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=1016

As the post above says, one of the best British-based websites for general (and unbiased) advice such as this is the excellent FreeBMD site. Their help pages also recommend using this site which is very helpfull indeed.
http://www.dixons.clara.co.uk/Certificates/indexbd.htm

Don't forget Civil Registration in Britain "only" started in 1837 so the oldest Certificates/Events you can buy are after that.

Hope this helps, Jeff

Other related prior threads, and more recent, include
http://forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=42876

It's worth asking if anyone already has obtained a birth certificate on a particular person as they might be able to tell you what it says thus saving you the expense. Also if you look on Ancestry.com under Family Trees there are often relevant ones on there too.

Perhaps no surprise the cost of ordering BMD certificates from the GRO is increasing after 16th February.

"The cost of print certificates will increase from £9.25 to £11, and from £23.40 to £35 for the priority service, which allows delivery on the next working day. The same costs will apply if researchers order the certificate from their local register office.

In October 2017 the GRO introduced a new pilot scheme allowing researchers to order PDF copies of digitised birth and death records for £6 each. Following an estimated 79,600 PDF orders in three months, the scheme was extended indefinitely.

The cost of PDF records will now increase to £7, with priority deliveries available at £45."

Can't for the life of me see why the priority cost of an emailed pdf file is more than a hardcopy printed certificate by overnight post. Unless that's because the pdf method is the most popular one ... hopefully this is a mistake on the part of the WDYTYA? newsletter I copied this text off.

Ah well, better get ordering mine this month !

http://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/news/gro-increase-certificate-costs-february...

Luckily, my post 1837 researches at GRO ended mid 90's or earlier. Cost was then £7 ish. can't remember exactly.

Point of this is, I overheard two commissionaires talking together. One said to the other 'the public don't know how they are being ripped off!'

Cheers Roger, and a Happy New Year sir !.
They do now lol. Took me a while but I read thro this Statutory Document and I see the rather unlikely cost for a priority pdf is correct !
In my aerospace engineering career I used to read technical and contractual docs & specs that could be very lengthy and convoluted, but then again the subject matter was somewhat complex, eg the European Joint Fighter Aircraft aka Typhoon now in RAF service. I still found the Statutory Document hard-going and seemingly over-the-top given the subject matter. No wonder everything costs so much if this is typical of how Government works, shades of "Yes Minister" maybe ?.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2018/1268/pdfs/uksi_20181268_en.pdf

And a Very Happy New Year to You Jefff. I knew someone whose job was checking compliance of company documents. He was paid £650 a day. Drank himself to death about 3 - 4 years ago aged only 48. Some people are never happy.