Guest Writer - Debbie Wilson

Easter is over, back to work...............

 

Welcome back from all at Legal Island! We hope you had a relaxing Easter break.  I had a wonderful time in Co. Monaghan with my family. As you can see from my picture the Easter Bunny still paid a visit to my son Joshua.

It’s a full house today on the Island, we’re all back from our time off and stuffed full of chocolate and ready to start our laps of the car park to work it all off again.

Ready....Get Set.....Go.......

Staff movements this week:

Barry our CEO has a busy week. Today he's meeting Michele Groves of Charis Consultancy. On Wednesday he's meeting Gerry Rooney from Baker Tilly about mediation courses. On Thursday he's in Dublin meeting Grainne O'Boyle about their mediation work before going to a seminar in Blanchardstown on the same subject. On Friday he's facilitating the last of the workshops on behalf of Common Purpose.

Scott has several meetings in Belfast on Wednesday, including Barry Fitzpatrick, Joe Blair of MBS and Angela Schettino & Emer Hinphey of thinkpeople. Scott hopes to work from home on Tuesday and Friday.

Donna is taking part in BITC Connect with Respect...........Diversity Training in our Training Centre today and Hallmark Solutions are using the facilities tomorrow.

Peter is working with our exhibitors for the HR Conference next Thursday. If any of our readers would like to exhibit, please contact peter@legal-island.com by lunchtime on Wednesday.  

Ainsley is meeting Gareth Dunlop on Friday afternoon to discuss our web strategy, apart from that he is in the office all week attending internal meetings.

Heather is taking part in BITC Connect with Respect...........Diversity Training.  On Wednesday she is meeting Jennie from MacMillan Cancer Support to present a cheque of £220 from our Rate2Donate scheme.  On Thursday she will be going to Ballycraigy Primary School to assist with their hockey training.

Kerry will be preparing for next weeks HR conference this week plus she will be attending an Invest NI workshop in the Clandeboye Lodge on Wednesday.  Kerry has the first three days of the NI 8 day mediation course taking place from Wednesday – Friday.

Jayne is taking part at BITC Connect with Respect ...............Diversity Training today at L-I Training Centre. On Wednesday she is at the Ramada Shawsbridge for Health, Wealth and Wellbeing Conference run by Employers For Childcare Charitable Group. On Friday she is at her final Common Purpose Learning Group in Belfast.

Guest Writer - Peter Gilpin

It’s back to the Island this week after a long Easter weekend, spent relaxing and indulging in chocolate treats left by the Easter Bunny.

We were lucky to have a visit from the Easter Chicken at Legal-Island last week, who left some yummy looking chocolate eggs which some of you may be lucky to sample if you are meeting with any members of the team this week. I wouldn’t recommend the use of our omelette recipe with these eggs!

It’s a busy week for us all as we continue our preparation for the upcoming events in our spring calendar.

Here are the following movements for this week:

Barry
Barry our CEO is in the office for much of this short week. On Wednesday he is meeting Andy Cuthbert from Omnisoft with the Peters from the marketing department. That same evening he's chairing The Four Hour Work Week business club here at Island House's training suite? On Thursday he's facilitating a meeting of Common Purposes in Belfast. On Friday he's off to Dublin to do a bit of networking.

Scott
Scott gets a new laptop this week! Watch his blurred fingers as he now types as fast as he thinks instead of having to wait some seconds for screens to appear or to copy and paste. On Friday, Scott will be in Dublin for a number of appointments, including the LRC.

Guest Writer - James

A little taster to get you all in the mood...


And it can help as part of a calorie controlled diet... honest!






As we run up to Easter and some staff taking extended breaks I suspect this week could be quite a busy one.  The good news is, following Sharon's 'retirement' last week, that we welcome Jenny into the fold this week - boy we move quick!  Good luck Jenny on your first day looking after the Public Health Agency in our training centre.


Networking this week:

Barry
Our CEO is busy this week attending a number of innovation seminars at Queen's University. He's also attending the First Thursday Mediation Club on Thursday of this week. The theme for this month's meeting is church mediation apparently. In between times Barry is working hard to close off a number of events for later this year including our big mediation symposium in September.


Jayne
Meeting Jenni Brown from FuturesNI at Hilton Templepatrick on Wednesday morning.
 
Ainsley
Meeting Gareth Dunlop from Fathom at 3pm today, and working with Paula Milligan on the sales strategy tomorrow.
 
 
Beyond that there are numerous internal meetings planned and Jayne and Ainsley will be interviewing for a marketing intern on Wednesday afternoon.
 
Happy Easter Everyone!

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!