1 August 2011

Many of you came to the University of Derby on 2 July to hear more about your condition and share your day with other people with coeliac disease.

This is the second time we have held our conference at Derby and this was another great year for getting to see our Members. The theme was ‘Good food – Good health’.

We were please to see so many of you attend to experience the food fair, dietetic clinics, ask the experts panel and cookery demonstrations held throughout the day.

Visitors had the opportunity of meeting professional dietitians at the dietetic clinics which gave the chance to discuss their concerns in one-to-one sessions with a dietitian.

At the Ask the Expert sessions, experts Dr Gerry Robbins and Dr Jane Petty were available for queries on medical and health issues and experts Bob Trice, Managing Director at Dr Schär, and Karen Tonks, Nutritionist at Tesco, were available for questions on the retail sector.

Our Diet & Health Project Co-ordinator, Kathryn Miller, presented ‘Store Tours’, giving a guide around supermarkets and the various sections of foods with a brief overview of food labelling to help choose the right foodstuffs.

Three cooking demonstrations were run on how to prepare delicious gluten-free meals at home and were very well-attended. The first session demonstrated how to cook various Simply Supper dishes, the second session focussed on Home Baking and the third session was all about preparing fun meals for children.

Coeliac UK Awards

The Coeliac UK Awards was established to recognise those individuals who have made significant contributions to help people with coeliac disease.This year’s award winners for the different categories are:

Youth Champion
Felicity Benfield (Hitt)
Supporting a Member
Adrian Benson
Awareness Raising
Barbara Kirkham
Healthcare Professional
Janet Logsdail (Goodman)
Eating Out Gluten-free
WAGfree David Scrace
Outstanding Achievement
Joint winners Dr Dai Lloyd and Jim Tolson
We couldn’t have done it without…

A very special thank you goes to all the volunteers from the Nottinghamshire and Sheffield Local Voluntary Support Groups for their tireless efforts on the day – we are very lucky to have such dedicated members!

AGM

This year the AGM was once again combined with the Annual Conference and took place towards the end of the day. It was well attended and the opportunity was taken by the Chair, Sarah Mitson, to say farewell and express thanks to two retiring Governors: Prof Peter Howdle and Elise Millington. Paul Duell and Jacqui Smith were re-elected as Governors and two new Governors, Dr Michael Forrest and David Gregory, were co-opted on to the Board.

Click here to see our photo gallery of the day.

Plans are already underway for the 2012 conference so watch this space!