SRtRC North East Education Team to pilot exciting new workshops

DNA world match workshops to uncover genetic history of celebrities and staff

The North East Education Team has been in talks with a company called 'DNA Worldwide' to agree some collaboration on a pilot scheme of workshops, which aim to take a fresh approach. With the long-term impact of our work in mind, funding has been sourced through the Big Lottery Fund to deliver three pilot workshops to schools in yet to be decided areas of the region. 

DNA Worldwide 'Match Tests' pair up your results with a database of over 360 countries in the world and provide you with a map pinpointing the journey your ancestors took in order to settle where you are now. The scientific evidence and knowledge behind these tests coupled with our workshop delivery will allow us to get young people understanding that Britain has been a migrant country for centuries and nobody’s heritage is 100% British. 

The idea is that this kind of approach will have a longer term impact as it is a very personal message about their specific backgrounds.  As part of the funding we will be undergoing an assessment covering short/medium and long term impact of these styles of workshops.  If the impact assessment proves successful then we can use this as leverage to gain further funding for tests as and when we feel a school would benefit. 

We have initially received 10 tests to have staff and some celebrities take part.  So far we agreed participation from Peter Beardsley, Charlie Hardwick and two other professional players yet to be announced.  Our own coaches Gary Bennett, Olivier Bernard, John Anderson and Steve Howey are also taking part.