Wolverhampton pupils help to set new world record

Schoolchildren from Wolverhampton look set to have helped break the Guinness World Record for the most people signing and singing a song simultaneously.

Pupils at schools in the city took part in the "sign2sing" event organised by the charity SignHealth Wednesday, February 8.

Steve Powell, Chief Executive at SignHealth, said: "Hundreds of schools from all over the country, including Wolverhampton and overseas, registered to take part in our Guinness World Record sign2sing project for the most people signing and singing at the same time.

"The schools range in size from 30 to 800 pupils, which, from our calculations, means more than 130,000 schoolchildren took part in the event.

"The exact number of participants will be confirmed by Guinness World Records at a later date.

"Almost 95,000 children took part in our first sign2sing event last February (2011) and smashed the previous record, which was 13,418. Our current record stands at 94,489. We organised the sign2sing event to help raise awareness of deafness and the work we do at SignHealth."

The project was also a fundraiser for the charity through sponsorship from businesses and a voluntary donation of £1 for everyone taking part.

Steve added: "It has been a truly fantastic event and we're extremely grateful for everyone who took part. At the moment we're still counting the money raised but we're hoping it will make a significant contribution to the work of the charity."

Young people from all over the country and overseas signed a song, entitled 'sign2sing', which was composed especially for the event.

The lyrics were written by Garry Slack, author of the award-winning 'Sign with Olli' books and the music was composed by Paul Fairey, who has written various theme tunes for television and radio.

Julia Donaldson, children's Laureate and famous author, Sarah Teather MP, the Minister of State for Children and Families and Dave Benson Phillips, children's TV presenter, all supported sign2sing 2012.

Julia said: "I love both singing and sign language, which is such an expressive form of communication not just for Deaf but for hearing children.

"It's a brilliant idea to bring the two things together as a way of raising awareness and money for SignHealth."

SignHealth is the only UK charity focused on improving the mental and physical health and wellbeing of Deaf people, including Deaf children.

The charity will be organising the sign2sing event again next year. People wishing to take part are invited to contact SignHealth to register their interest.

Visit www.sign2sing.org.uk or contact SignHealth on 01494 687600.