Phyllis

Sharon our housekeeper is leaving us this week to be a stay at home mum to Rhoda.  We are all sorry to see Sharon go and we all wish her the very best.


We are busier than ever this week with three events happening.  Education Law Update and Essentials of Employment law in the North on 28th March and Essentials of Employment law  in the South on 29th March.
The girls will  be ready for their Easter break  next week .


And what will the rest of the hard working staff be doing this week


Scott will be assisting at our mediation in-house training event on Wednesday. On Thursday he will attend the tribunal users’ group meeting at Killymeal House in Belfast

Jayne on Tuesday morning will be at a  Merdien Learning Group in Belfast.  Wednesday hosting at Corrs Corner for Essentials  and on Friday volunteering at St Brigid’s for Time for Read.

 Barry our CEO is in all day today busy with internal meetings and planning a mediation conference for the South later this year. Tomorrow he's facilitating a workshop for Common Purpose. On Thursday he's attending a YENI awards function at the Tullyglass hotel in Ballymena. On Friday he's attending an IOD breakfast seminar on risk assessment.

 Ainsley is volunteering on Wednesday afternoon at Ballycraigy – giving some football coaching. Apart from that he is in the office all week.

Perer F. is volunteering with the footballers at Ballycraigy on Wednesday afternoon

Allison says she is not getting up to anything exciting this week apart from Hockey coaching on Thursday.

We have Public health agency using the training centre today and Schrader in on Wednesday  and Thursday.

So there you have it.  Another busy week for everyone. 

Guest Writer - Arnold Majcher

Welcome on board the Island.  In the picture this week we have Heather, Vanessa and Julie who went to the 'Elisabeth Svendsen Donkey Sanctuary’ in Templepatrick  as part of Business in the Communities 'Saint for a Day' last Friday. Well done to them.

Everybody is back to work after celebrating St. Patrick’s Day and are ready for a busy week  before having three events next week..

Belfast Trust will be using our Training Centre on Friday.

Networking:

Scott

Scott is helping out at a new mediation pilot training course on Thursday. On Friday he is giving a presentation on mediation at an in-house training event for DRD and DCAL.

Jayne

Tuesday – internal meetings all day and interviewing for Housekeeper job.

Wednesday – out with Barry at Omnisoft in Bangor for HR training

Thursday – Visiting Liberty IT in Belfast in the morning for Great Place to Work event, followed by taking the Ballycraigy hockey in the afternoon

Friday – Volunteering at St Brigids Primary, Ballymena then meetings for rest of the day.

Barry

Our CEO has a relatively easy week by his standards. He has internal meetings Monday and Tuesday and is delivering a mediation workshop on Thursday. The night before he's attending a black tie CBI dinner at Le Mon Hotel.

Ainsley

Ainsley is joining Barry at Omnisoft tomorrow afternoon for a meeting

Kerry

On Thursday Kerry will host and attend a Mediation Pilot Workshop that Legal-Island is running in the Island House Training Centre.

Heather

On Wednesday along with Jayne will be meeting Fiona McCabe from Headway Belfast.

On Friday she has Alison from Guide Dogs in Northern Ireland coming in to collect a cheque raised from our 'Rate 2 Donate scheme. She will be bringing along Guide Dog Owner Torie Tennant, she is 21 years old and been blind since birth, and her Guide Dog "Ushi", a golden labrador/retriever.

Have a nice week.

Guest writer: Jacqui

Well what do you think of our intreped workers Scott, James, Arnold and Peter (left to right in the picture) who survived their day of volunteering to help clean up the debris in and around the Giants' causeway. They picked the worst day of last weeks weather to carry out this much needed work, and proved beyond doubt that they are a hardy bunch!!!

This week sees several other staff members heading off to do some voluntary work, namely Julie, Heather and Vanessa, who will be lending a helping hand at a Donkey sanctury as part of the "Saint for a Day" scheme organised through Business in the Community (http://www.bitc.org.uk) this coming Friday.

Allison is heading off the Island also; to Ballycraigy P.S on Thursday afternoon for a few hours to pass on her expertise in hockey to the Girls team, best of luck to them all.


Other news this week...

Barry, our CEO, has a busy week. Today he is meeting Olivia May a mediation trainer. Tomorrow he is judging a YENI business competition.

On Wednesday he's attending the Education Conference in Dublin before heading north for a seminar he's facilitating in the evening at Island House.

On Thursday he's back in Dublin meeting among others Michael Kennedy partner at Byrne Wallace. Friday he's catching up on a load of work before he flies off to London for a Disc Profiling seminar on Saturday.

Jayne will be in the office most of this week except Thursday when she and Donna are in Kilrea doing YENI Dragons Den.

Kerry will be out on Tuesday afternoon visiting the Dunadry Hotel and then going into Belfast to the Titanic Building to see if they could be used as potential NI event venues.  Kerry is then hosting A Mock Tribunal workshop in the Legal-Island Training Centre on Thursday.

Before Heather helps with the Donkey Sanctury clean up, she will be charging down the road to Dublin for the Education Law update which is taking place in the Stillorgan on Wednesday.

As for the rest of the crazy gang, we' re all holding down the fort....

Guest Writer - Jayne Finlay

SPRING TIME...well nearly!

It's the first Monday in March and I'm feeling quite spring like today! For once the sun was shining on the way to work and while there is undoubtedly still a nip in the air, so long as it's bright I have to say I don't mind so much! 

It's another busy week on the Island - what's new with that I hear you say - especially after last week's busy time in Dublin where the HR Symposium team did Legal-Island proud by welcoming 120+ delegates to The Shelbourne Hotel to hear from speakers including PWC, Deloitte, Symbio and Towers Watson. Here is what some of our happy customers had to say:

"Top level of attendees, plenty of opportunities to network, abundant opportunities to interact with presenters, convenience of excellent central location..."

"I thought it was a very good opportunity and a great event for the future. I would definitely go with a colleague in future years so that more could be covered." 

Great job!

Back on the island then and here is what the team is up to this week...

Apart from a lunch time meeting today Barry, our CEO, has a clear diary all week. This will no doubt come as some relief for this week he has two events to sign off and a risk audit to finish.

Peter G from the marketing department will be volunteering with Arnold, Scott and James at the Giants Causeway on Wednesday taking part in a shoreline clean up with the National Trust.

Donna and Sharon will be looking after the Social Services as they train in the training centre today then New Model Business Academy on Thursday. Donna will be at the Women in Business/ IoD event on Thursday.

Scott is facilitating the Discipline & Underperformance workshop on 6^th March, alongside Lorraine Toolan of the EEF. On Wednesday, Scott will be helping with the clear up of the Causeway Coast at part of his volunteering duties. On Thursday, Scott will be chairing a meeting of NI HR conference speakers at the offices of Carson McDowell. Scott hopes to work from home on Friday.

Jayne is on Common Purpose Meridian Course tomorrow then off to join Donna at the Women in Business/ IoD event at La Mon on Thursday.

Ainsley is volunteering at Ballycraigy on Wednesday afternoon, apart from that he is in the office all week.

Have a great week everyone!