One of our newest Community Support Teams is our Education and Youth Team.
We’ll fill you in later on their role and what they’ll be getting up to but for now, say hello to the Manager of the team, Jennifer Uzzell.
Jenny Uzzell is a Druid, being a member of OBOD at Ovate Grade, BDO at Bardic Grade, and TDN. She has been involved with Druidry for about 12 years, mostly in a solitary capacity (as the North East is a long way from all things Druid!) She has represented the Pagan Federation on the Religious Education Council for 7 years and has also been involved with the REC’s Task 2 Committee looking into the role of Examining in RE. She also carries out assessments for the RE Quality Mark awarded by the REC. She is a senior examiner in Religious Studies at both GCSE and A level with a Major awarding body and was Head of Religious Education at a number of schools for many years.
Jenny is currently a PhD student at Durham University working under the auspices of the Centre for Death and Life Studies and based in the department of Theology and Religion. She is conducting research into death rites among contemporary Druids in the UK. In addition to her PhD research, which she is conducting on a part time basis, she is also co-owner and director of a funeral home that forms part of a growing movement in the UK towards greater openness, honesty and authenticity in the way funerals are arranged and conducted In this capacity she has helped to re-imagine and design funeral rituals that are relevant to those involved and has provided help and advice with ‘home funerals’.
Sometimes she sleeps!