Guest Writer – Peter G

“James Bond, the Queen and Mr Bean,” were just some of the names being mentioned around the office this morning, after what was an unforgettable opening ceremony for the 2012 Olympics. Danny Boyle’s production certainly set a high standard for the next couple of weeks; with Team GB gaining their first medals in cycling and swimming, we are hoping for some gold’s to roll in now.

Meanwhile, back on the ‘The Island’ we have our own celebration with Scott’s birthday. Unfortunately he is not here to celebrate with us, but we will keep him some cake.

In 2011 Legal-Island carried out an environmental and a biodiversity audit in partnership with Business in the Community. The audits revealed a number of areas where Legal-Island could make savings in relation to waste reduction inside and outside the organisation. Please see the news item on our website for further details.

Season 2 is moving along nicely in both NI and ROI, with lots of work going into this year’s Annual Reviews. This week’s movements are as follows:

Barry
Our CEO has an easy week ahead by his standards. Today, he has internal meetings pretty much all day. Tomorrow he's out of the office networking. On Wednesday he has a Senior Team meeting whilst on Thursday and Friday he's busy in our R&D department. Sunday and he's off to the Olympics again. Lucky him!

Jayne

Performance Reviews will take up most of Jayne’s week. She has a ST meeting on Wednesday and her final Common Purpose day is on Thursday at the City Hall.

Ainsley
Ainsley is starting the Management and Leadership Development Programme on Friday with John McKee from Linkubator, which will run for the next four Fridays. Apart from that he’s here all week.

Guest Writer - James

Looks like the Sun is making an appearance this week for the Olympics!

That's something else for us in Northern Ireland to enjoy on television...

It's another quiet summer week with a few holidays being taken to the Olympics and other venues.  Scott is on Panda Watch at Edinburgh Zoo and Jacqui will be taking the family off to the Olympic Archery competition.  Let's hope they all return safely...

Barry our CEO has an interesting week ahead. Today, he has internal meetings pretty much all day. Tomorrow, along with Ainsley, he's meeting Sue Holley, Senior Business Manager from Croner. On Thursday he's meeting old friend Peter McBride CEO at Niamh for dinner with Friday kept for a performance review and wrapping up the week. On Saturday he's going with a friend to see the Olympic volleyball at Earls Court.  It's more the weather for beach volleyball I would've thought but that might be just me.

Heather, our chief fundraiser and volunteer, has Vanessa from Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke coming in on Thursday to collect a cheque for £220 which was raised through our Rate2Donate scheme.

Most importantly, on Wednesday we will be celebrating all the July birthdays with cake and buns!  Special mention to Ainsley and Kerry who share a birthday of 26th July.  And of course Scott's BIG birthday on the 30th.  He won't be happy if there's no carrot cake left when he comes back!

Have a great week.

16th July: Guest writer Arnold

Summer is quiet time for Legal-Island. When some staff members are away for holiday others are working hard on Season 2 events and Annual Reviews. Season 2 starts earlier this year with  Section 75 workshop taking place on 10^th August in our Training Centre so don’t miss it.

Networking

Barry, our CEO, fresh back from a weekend away will have to hit the ground running this week. Today he has internal meetings as well as meeting Roger Priestly in the afternoon. On Tuesday he's visiting Employers for Childcare" along with Jayne. On Wednesday he has a business meeting in Dublin. On Thursday he's taking part in a mediation shoot. Friday and he's do the first of two staff performance reviews.

Jayne is out with Barry to Employers for Childcare in the Tuesday morning and on Friday is out to BITC in the morning.

Scott hopes to work from home on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. On Thursday he hopes to shoot a mock mediation film and he has a performance review interview with the Chief Executive on Friday. Scott is on annual leave thereafter until 7^th August.

Heather is meeting this week Roisin from Business in the Community regarding the Marie Curie shop challenge.

Allison is in the office Monday-Thursday then that evening she is  off to White Park Bay to volunteer from 6pm-8am at "Peace Camp”.

"Peace Camp" is a transient coastal installation that is taking place in 6 locations simultaneously throughout the UK and is a celebration of Love, Peace and Landscapes.

Onwards!!!

Guest Writer Jacqui

Well done to everyone who took part in the Inaugral Family Fun Day held here on the Island last Friday. Thankfully the weather held for the event, which was in aid of Tiny Life and a total of £1056.00 was raised for the charity on the day.

Everyone appeared to have an enjoyable day, which ended with some of the Islanders getting a go on the bouncy castles (which were here for the benefit of the children, what ever their age!!)

Now that the event is over, Debbie (main organiser of the day) is feeling a bit deflated, much like the bouncy castles and now needs to find some other cause to get her teeth into!!!! Roll on the Annual Reviews.

Unlike Debbie, alot of the Islanders are working a short week as they need to recharge their batteries, even though they had the weekend to recover.

Our CEO, Barry, has an easy enough week by his standards. Today he has meetings in the office all day with much the same planned until Friday when he meets old friend of Legal-Island Stanley Wallace from the IMI. On Friday afternoon he has a business meeting at the Radisson Dublin airport before flying away for a weekend break

Scott, Barry, Jayne, Ainsley and James are all attending a Strategy meeting on Tuesday, followed by a Senior Team planning meeting on the 2012 annual reviews on Wednesday.

Several of the team are planning to take holiday leave on Friday, and extend their weekends.

I will sign off for now and wish you all a busy, but happy week ahead.....

Guest Writer Jayne Finlay

Congratulations Kerry and Simon!

Despite the awful weather on Saturday Kerry shone on her wedding day and looked a picture of beauty - what a gorgeous bride! We hope she and her hubby now enjoy the amazing honeymoon the couple have planned and we all look forward to spending many a coffee break looking through all the wedding photos on their return!

While the happy couple are off sunning themselves we however are all back in the real world... so here goes with the week ahead...  

A common thread is weaving its way through the week for all staff in this first week of July. On Tuesday we are being interviewed for our Re-accreditation of Investors in People, the ST are going meeting crazy and on Friday we are having a Family Fun Day at our premises - an event open to all so please come along and join us!

On an indiviudal basis here's what some of the team are up to:

Our CEO, Barry, has a busy week. Today he's leading a strategy meeting. Tomorrow he is meeting our Investors in People assessor. Wednesday and he's meetings with Peter Bauer from Pahris software. On Thursday he's in a business meeting with John McKee and other Legal-Island staff. On Friday he's going in to see Adam Brett at Pinsent Masons before returning to the office for our fun day.

Heather is also being interviewed for IiP and will be lending a helping hand on Friday too.

Scott is in Antrim all week attending strategy and IiP meetings and, on Friday, the Family Fun Day. In Scott's words "let’s hope the kids are as cute as the Spanish players’ from the Euro 2012 final".

Ainsley is in Strategy today, IiP Interview tomorrow, Wednesday afternoon strategy, Thursday am strategy, Thursday pm joining Barry for his meeting with pahris software and on Friday helping out at the fun day. Someone will be looking forward to the weekend I'd say!

My week is fairly similar to Ainsleys and I too will be looking forward to the weekend!

Let's all hope for a sunny day on Friday and a bright week ahead!