You are currently browsing the daily Archive for February 23rd, 2012.
Work Your Proper Hours Day (24 Feb 2012) is the day when the average person who does unpaid overtime finishes the unpaid days they do every year, and starts earning for themselves. We think that’s a day worth celebrating.
Over five million people at work in the UK regularly do unpaid overtime, giving their employers £29.2 billion of free work last year alone. If you’re one, why not take some time to reflect on how well (or badly) you’re balancing your life? This is one day in the year to make the most of your own time. Take a proper lunchbreak and leave work on time to enjoy your Friday evening – You deserve it!
Long hours are not good for us; they cause stress; they’re bad for our health; they wreck relationships; they make caring for children or dependents more difficult; and tired, burnt-out staff are bad for business.
People do long hours for a variety of very different reasons, and work life balance expert Professor Cary Cooper has helped us put together a long hours clinic tool, to give you tailored advice to fit your own situation.
You can also use our online balance check to diagnose what your workplace’s working style is, and then add yourself to our big interactive map to see how you stack up against everyone else. Or just check the map, to see what others have said.
Work Your Proper Hours Day for 2012 will be 24 February, but your own pay day may come earlier or later, depending on the hours you work above your contracted hours. Use our online unpaid overtime calculator to find out when you can celebrate paying off your long hours debt.
(via WorkSmart.org)
Free Music Instrument lessons for the Public
Music for All, the charity of the UK musical instrument industry is proud to announce the first, annual, National Learn to Play Day taking place on March 31st, 2012.
On this day, the UK’s musical instrument shops will open their doors and offer free instrument “taster” lessons to the general public.
There are 15 million people in the UK that either want to play an instrument or used to play one. The Day is designed to welcome people into music shops and to inspire them to get playing. People are often surprised to discover that they ARE musical and simply need a musical “experience” to get them inspired to start playing.
The Day will offer free lessons on a variety of instruments, supported by music teachers and additional guidance on getting started learning to play music. The UK’s instrument manufacturers will also be supporting the event with staff, instruments and special offers!
Participating stores in Edinburgh include Red Dog Music (1 Grassmarket) and Rae Macintosh (6 Queensferry Street).
National Poetry Day takes place across the UK on Thursday 4 October 2012
Help us celebrate the richness, variety and sheer fun of poetry of all kinds, from song lyrics and nursery rhymes to works by poets laureate…
The 2012 theme will be…
We work with National Poetry Day UK, and as soon as the theme is agreed we’ll put it up right here!
National Poetry Day across Scotland and the UK
For details of National Poetry Day events around Scotland, browse our Events Calendar.
For poetry events outside Scotland, visit the National Poetry Day website.
If you’re planning your own National Poetry Day event in Scotland please let us know! Email reception@spl.org.uk
For teachers
Visit our For teachers pages to read poems, find posters, see ideas about how to use poetry in the classroom, and tips for using National Poetry Day postcards.
For librarians
Check our For librarians pages for event format ideas, easy ways to find all sorts of poems on this year’s theme, and other useful resources to help you plan National Poetry Day with flair and not very much cash.
National Poetry Day postcards
You can collect free poetry postcards from the Scottish Poetry Library.
Or read them in our Poem stacks online.
Contact us at reception@spl.org.uk if you would like to get your hands on some, or send a stamped SAE for a free set.
Beatbullying’s Big March 2012 is the world’s first virtual, global march for children’s right to be safe.
On 1st March 2012, tens of thousands of virtual marchers will cross the websites of the world’s biggest brands. They will speak with one voice, and call on the UN to enshrine explicitly in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, “The right of every child to be safe from bullying, violence and the fear of violence by their peers as well as from abuse by adults.” Register now at www.beatbullying.org/bigmarch
