Story from The Evening Chronicle.
Singing and sign language was the name of the game for cheerful youngsters as they attempted to set a new world record.
Hundreds of children from across the North East were helping a nationwide attempt to record the most people singing and signing a song at the same time.
Pupils at Moor Edge Community Primary School in Killingworth along with several other schools took part in “sign2sing” yesterday.
They joined more than 380 schools from around the country for the challenge, organised by the charity SignHealth, which supports deaf and hard of hearing people across the UK.
All children have been learning sign language and the task was to sign and sing 70s classic, I’d like to Teach the World to Sing, by The New Seekers.
Kayley Garside, a teacher at Moor Edge Community Primary School, said: “We had approximately 120 schoolchildren taking part in the event. The children were so excited to be participating and have been practising non-stop. Sign2sing is a fun way of teaching deaf awareness to all our pupils.”
Other schools to take part included Northern Counties School in Jesmond, Broadwood Primary School in Denton Burn, St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Primary on Armstrong Road in Newcastle and Harlow Green Community Primary in Gateshead.
A group of toddlers from County Durham also joined in at TalkFirst baby signing group in Chester-le-Street with a performance of the song and sign at Bullion Hall.
More than 50,000 people signed up to the challenge in all. The current world record is 13,418 people singing and signing at the same time.
Organisers are now waiting to get confirmation from officials so it can be entered into the Guinness Book of World Records.
Steve Powell, chief executive at SignHealth, added: “The event was also a fundraiser for the charity through sponsorship from businesses.”