Projects

Volunteers conference

This year, in an effort to break from the trend, the Volunteers’ Conferences went regional. Starting on 3 October in Belfast, staff and governors went on to visit volunteers in York, Edinburgh, Bristol, London, Plymouth, Liverpool and Solihull.

There were two reasons behind the decision: firstly, a number of Groups found it difficult to attend the London event due to travel difficulties. Secondly, in light of the new EC Regulation on the term ‘gluten-free’, regional conferences provided a unique opportunity to speak directly to volunteers about what the law would mean for them.

Programme for the day

The morning focused on ‘Choosing Safe Foods’, an interactive presentation given by the Diet and Health team. Delegates were transported two years forward to 2012 when the new EC legislation on ‘gluten-free’ is fully implemented. They looked at what gluten-free means and how to read the different labels found on packaged foods. There were plenty of activities to put what they learnt into practice. Volunteers were shocked to discover, that there were a number of foods they had been excluding unnecessarily from their diet for years.

All of the Groups who attended the conferences have been given a copy of the presentation, fully scripted, for them to deliver at their own meetings. Coeliac UK staff will also be working with Groups at local events and Food Fairs throughout 2010 to talk to Members on this topic.

After a filling gluten-free lunch, delegates engaged in a lively discussion on prescriptions. Miranda Brooks, Volunteer Manager, then took to the floor to talk about developments within Volunteering.

Feedback from the conference

Over 200 volunteers attended the conferences, more than double the amount at the national event in 2008. Furthermore, the majority of delegates (54%) had never been to a Coeliac UK Volunteers’ Conference before. Feedback from all has been incredibly positive and has reinforced how great an opportunity this was to meet with the Charity’s supporters, share ideas, pool knowledge and work together. We hope to use this as a strong foundation as we look ahead to events and plans for 2010 and beyond.

If you would like further information on the volunteers conference or on the ‘choosing safe foods presentation’ please contact us. 

Genetics Research

Coeliac disease genetics researchers at Barts and The London would like to thank all Coeliac UK members who have given a blood or saliva DNA sample for their studies.

Professor David van Heel writes "We've been conducting research into the genetic causes of coeliac disease for several years, and have made a number of interesting discoveries (see article in the research section of the Spring 2008 Crossed GrainOur magazine which is published three times a year. ).

In October 2009, we wrote to 12000 Coeliac UK Members who had expressed an interest in research. We have had a fantastic response - over 7000 people have replied, and we expect some 6000 saliva DNA samples. It'll take us a while to process these, however they are going to be used for a large study starting Easter 2010, and we expect results in the following Autumn . We will try and update Members in a future version of eXG or Crossed Grain".

Further updates and information about the study can be found at Professor van Heel's research group webpage.