Ewords Winter 2012

East Ayrshire makes most of the MO in support of the Provost’s chosen charity

Keeping you informed

Winter 2012

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Keeping you informed

Winter 2012

Contents

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Welcome

A place in history

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Go purple, wear purple, think purple,be purple!

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Welcome to the winter edition of ewords for 2012.

Christmas Gift Cards available now

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Health + Safety

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Surprise, surprise!

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Outdoor champions

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Annanhill daredevils have nerves of steel

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Robert is school champion – it’s official!

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Reaching for the stars

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East Ayrshire makes most of the MO

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As another year draws to a close, we are pleased to bring you the last edition of ewords for 2012. It’s been a busy few months since the last issue. On the fundraising front you have generously supported a range of worthy causes including The Ayrshire Hospice (Go Purple day), Prostate Cancer (Provost Charity / Movember), Macmillan Cancer Support and Ayrshire Cancer Support (Yellow Rose Ball).

Awards in abundance too, as Kilmarnock is shortlisted as a Creative Place Award and individual awards for local janitor Robert Chatham and physics teacher Colin Barbour. Make sure you check out the health and safety pages for some recent updates too.

Coming up in the New Year

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Yellow Rose Ball

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Disclaimer…

East Ayrshire Council makes no claims about the suitability of the information contained via links or connectivity to third party websites contained within this publication. We do not accept responsibility for any loss which may arise from reliance on such information nor do we guarantee that these links will always be available.

ewords is your magazine – get in touch if you or your colleagues have any good news to share!

Please do not print this magazine.

A place in history Imprint, the Council’s very own book festival, held a free workshop last month entitled ‘A Place in History: Exploring the Collections’.

The workshop, which sold out in a matter of hours, provided a taster session for the freely accessible archive and local history collections contained within the Burns Monument Centre.

Principal Archivist Christine Ewing and local historian and staff member, Heather Dunlop, introduced a range of resources including Poor Relief records, Kirk Session records, burgh records and valuation rolls.

Photographs, journals, burgh and church records all paint a fascinating and vivid picture of a place and era and Christine and Heather explained how they can be used for local or family history.

The workshop was so well supported that the team hope to hold a similar event in the near future.

Check out the team’s blog http://bmc.burnsmonumentcentre.co.uk • The team uncovered this very special family bible, belonging to the Dick family of Dick Institute fame. The bible itself dates from 1767, and contains notes on births, deaths and marriages in the family from 1771. It took some detective work to verify that this family was indeed that of James Dick – using the Centre’s family history resources of course!

• The Glenfield image is from a brochure produced for the launch of the wave machine at the opening of Kilmarnock baths in 1940.

• The list of toasts for the opening of the Kay Park and monument /fountain is from 1879.

Keeping you informed

Go purple, wear purple, think purple, be purple!

In October employees from throughout the Council embraced Go Purple day and donned purple clothing in aid of the Ayrshire Hospice.

The Ayrshire Hospice needs funding in order to continue to provide palliative care and other services to the people of Ayrshire.

Thanks to your generosity the Hospice received £508.

Winter 2012

Christmas Gift Cards available now Community Recreation has got Christmas covered with a new Christmas Gift Card.

Perfect for the whole family, the gift cards cover all 18 Community Recreation facilities and include: One month swim card for adults £23 One month swim card for over 60’s £10 One month gym and swim card at Doon Valley Leisure Centre £28 One month Body Station Gym platinum card £25 Aquazumba 10 session card at Doon Valley Leisure Centre £27.50 Pedal Power 10 session card £27.50 Kids Activity saver card 10 hours £10 60 hours £48.00 Gym gift cards include a free gym induction for new members. Terms and conditions apply - please contact your local facility for full details. www.eac.eu/recreation

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Keeping you informed

Health + Safety The Corporate Health and Safety Team provide health and safety advice across all council services.

By working in partnership with managers and employees we aim to raise health and safety awareness, helping to promote a positive safety culture throughout East Ayrshire.

What can we do for you?

• Guidance on health and safety regulations • Advice on the development of health and safety documents such as risk assessments • Advice on asbestos • Construction safety management • Fire risk assessments • Events safety management • Incident monitoring, reporting and investigation • Workplace safety audits • Safety news and information bulletins

Winter 2012

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............Safety flash..........

Are you ready for winter?

Research has shown that the majority of Scots are unprepared for severe weather conditions.

With temperatures getting much colder, make sure you know how to stay safe when driving this winter.

More information can be found in the Winter Safety Flash.

Working together for safety 2013 will see the launch of the Council’s own safety campaign, with its own distinct brand, which supports Europe’s ongoing Healthy Workplaces campaign.

The key drivers of this campaign are: • for managers to set high health and safety standards, always considering safety first • for employees to actively work with managers, to develop safe working practices and share ideas and examples of good practice across the authority As part of the campaign an online forum is under development, which will give all employees the opportunity to submit ideas and comments for the continual improvement of health and safety.

Intranet update The Health and Safety pages of the Intranet have been updated to include more useful information and links, including the revised Safety Standards and Toolbox Talks.

Access the health and safety page at: EAC Health and Safety

Risk assessment update Risk assessments are required where hazards in the workplace need to be controlled. The Standard for carrying out risk assessments has been reviewed and a new risk assessment template developed.

For further information on risk assessment go to: Assessment of Risk

COSHH update The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations 2002 are there to help protect the health of people who come into contact with substances in the workplace which could be harmful to their health.

The Council use a database management system called SYPOL CMS 7, to generate COSHH assessments.

Sections have a responsibility to update and maintain the system for any substances they use, with the Health and Safety Team carrying out training and overall co-ordination.

For further information on COSHH go to: COSHH Sypol System

Keeping you informed

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Protect yourself at work Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is issued to help protect people from hazards in the workplace.

If you need to wear PPE for the task then you must do so. PPE is not optional.

For more information on PPE go to: Personal Protective Equipment

HR Update Master safety files Following a review of the Master Safety Standards, three Per Circulars have been issued which you should take time to familiarise yourself with:

System for incident reporting An on-line electronic Incident/Accident reporting system called SHE Enterprise has been implemented across the authority. This system fully replaced the IncVio1 form on Friday 30 November 2012.

On completion of the SHE training course, nominated employees are able to log an incident online while authorised managers can track incidents, allocate actions and run reports.

Information on the requirements of the Council’s incident reporting procedures can be found in Master Safety Standard B1 Incident Reporting

• Display Screen Equipment • Safe Use of Work Equipment • Electrical Safety

Guidance on the Use of Social Networking Media An employee booklet entitled Guidance on the Use of Social Networking Media has been circulated by global email. Paper copies of the booklet have been issued to employees who are not on the Council’s e-mail system.

In the news A council in England has been fined for failure to act following two instances of refuse collection vehicles striking overhead power cables.

The HSE has urged all waste transfer and skip hire companies to check their risk control measures for use of equipment and vehicles, after nine fatalities across the UK in just twelve weeks this summer.

A school in England has been fined following a serious injury to a pupil who was using a sander in a design technology department. The equipment had not been altered to be used by young people and the risk assessment was insufficient.

Helpdesk enquiry system Remember, the Health and Safety Team is there to help and all enquiries, no matter how small, can be directed through the Helpdesk:

The booklet advises that: • the behaviour expected in an electronic world is exactly the same as other methods of communication, like face-to-face or telephone conversations • statements made on social networking sites could have implications on your employment with East Ayrshire Council • you have a responsibility to comply with the law on issues including discrimination, data protection, libel and copyright The booklet is available to be viewed on the HR Policies, Booklets and Toolbox Talks Quick Link on the Council’s Intranet site. In addition, a the Toolbox Talk on Use of Social Networking Media for Managers to use at team meetings is also available for viewing on the same Quick Link site.

Revised Recruitment and Selection Policy and Procedures Revised Recruitment and Selection Policy and Procedures have been agreed for Local Government Employees, Craft Operatives and Chief Officers.

Details of the revised Policy are outlined in Per Circular 18/12.

Keeping you informed

Winter 2012

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Piling on the pounds for charity Congratulations to Agnes Campbell, Anthea Barbour and all the bakers from the Risk Management Centre who raised a whopping £156 for MacMillan Cancer Support by hosting a charity coffee morning. The homemade cakes were absolutely fantastic!

Thanks also go to Laura Aird who donated a beautiful necklace as a raffle prize.

Kilmarnock is a Creative Place!

Kilmarnock has joined an elite group after being shortlisted for the finals of Creative Scotland’s Creative Place Awards 2013.

One of only nine finalists, Kilmarnock’s submission came from the Cultural and Countryside Services team in partnership with Town Centre Manager Fiona Nicolson, the Town Centre Regeneration team and Centrestage.

Kilmarnock has thriving arts venues and year round festivals which have seen big acts like Calvin Harris and The Feeling performing locally.

A Creative Place Award would give the Council funding to enhance and promote festival programmes and allow vacant shops in Kilmarnock to be used for creative arts which in turn will help to regenerate the town centre.

The winner will be announced at a glittering awards ceremony on Wednesday 23 January at The Byre Theatre, St Andrews.

Kilmarnock town centre parking Car park season tickets for the multi storey car park are available to all who work in or near Kilmarnock town centre.

Council employees can have the costs deducted directly from their salaries.

Prices are as follows: • Zone A (Levels 1 – 4) £20 / 4 weeks • Zone B (Levels 5 – 10) £13.85 / 4 weeks If you are interested in taking advantage of these arrangements please contact Kerry Cassells or Jim Kelly on 01563 503194 or at parking@east-ayrshire.gov.uk.

PVG Scheme registration To help improve disclosure arrangements for people who work with vulnerable groups, the Scottish Government has introduced the Protecting Vulnerable Groups Scheme (PVG Scheme) which replaces all former disclosure arrangements.

The PVG Scheme, which is managed and delivered by Disclosure Scotland, allows employers to check that new employees aren’t barred from carrying out regulated work.

It is essential that all individuals wishing to undertake regulated work join the PVG Scheme. There are a number of employees who currently work with vulnerable groups who have not yet undergone a PVG check and the retrospective programme of registration has now started.

Employees must register with the PVG Scheme and over the next few months relevant employees will receive a letter from Human Resources advising them of the process and documentation required for registration.

The main employee groups affected are front line social work employees, school based employees - including teachers and early years employees; hostel employees and relevant employees within leisure services.

Registration currently costs £59 and this can be repaid over a number of pay periods.

Keeping you informed

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Surprise, Surprise!

No ordinary surprise awaited Annanhill Primary Classroom Assistant Elizabeth McIlwraith recently when she travelled to London to take part in a programme about families who volunteer.

Elizabeth and her husband Gordon have been leaders of the Brownies and the Boys Brigade locally for 30 years and were expecting a normal interview about the importance of volunteering. But when they arrived for filming in London they discovered that they had actually been set up

by Dom Joly and ITV’s Surprise, Surprise team.

The show, which is now fronted by Holly Willoughby, had selected the couple from thousands of applicants following a nomination by their two sons, David and Stephen. They were recognised for their commitment to local children and will be enjoying a two week trip to China in the near future courtesy of the show.

What an incredible story – congratulations to them both!

Outdoor champions An exciting new initiative in East Ayrshire has seen outdoor champions being selected within every early years establishment.

Each champion has the aim to – “support our own staff team, to motivate, inspire and develop our own establishment outdoor area and find a natural space of our own.”

The outdoor champions had a development day at Dumfries House recently where they took part in den building, pond dipping, fire lighting and risk assessing workshops. All the champions went back to their schools full of enthusiasm and inspired to introduce these new skills within their schools.

Further information on the outdoor champion programme is available from avril.mccutcheon@east-ayrshire.gov.uk

Keeping you informed

Reaching for the stars

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Annanhill Daredevils have nerves of steel

The coveted Institute of Physics (IOP), Teacher of Physics award has been presented to Colin Barbour, Principal Teacher at St Joseph’s Academy.

The elegant Intercontinental Hotel, Park Lane, London was the venue for the prestigious ceremony where Colin was presented with a £300 cheque, a paperweight and a certificate by IOP President, Sir Peter Knight.

The award was a complete surprise for Colin. He had been nominated by Professor Danny Graham, retired, of Strathclyde University – Colin had taught his daughter - and Professor Graham’s nomination was supported by Colin’s former pupils.

The whole experience was incredible and the icing on the cake for Colin was chatting with guest speaker and fellow award winner, Professor Brian Cox.

Winter 2012

On a biting cold, and not to mention wet, Sunday in October an intrepid group, known as the Annanhill Daredevils, abseiled from the Titan Crane in Glasgow to raise funds to upgrade IT equipment at Annanhill Primary.

Going 150ft above the call of duty, were parents Anne Dunn and Alan Speirs and from the school Emma Johnstone, Una McKenzie, Karen Moncur and Elaine Smith.

What an incredible achievement, well done to everyone involved!

Robert is school champion – it’s official!

Robert Chatham, janitor at New Farm Primary and James Hamilton Academy, has scooped the School Champion trophy at West Sound’s glittering Cream of Ayrshire 2012 awards.

Robert, who has worked at the schools for 10 years, said: “It’s all about the kids – that’s the bit I like best about my job.

“It was a fantastic evening at the awards, though I was very nervous at the start.”

The School Champion award recognises the achievements of any individual working in or associated with a school, who makes an outstanding contribution to its smooth running.

Keeping you informed

Winter 2012

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East Ayrshire makes most of the MO You may now cast your ‘he’s growing it for charity’ badge aside – Movember is over for another year!

Movember is responsible for a worldwide flurry of facial hair but it also raises huge amounts of money, and of course awareness, for Prostate Cancer UK, Provost Todd’s chosen charity this year.

Provost Todd kicked off Movember in East Ayrshire by meeting the Council team, led by Communication’s Jonathan Burn, providing expert insight to the world of facial hair and words of encouragement to the team. He also visited the intrepid sixth year pupils from St Joseph’s Academy who chose to get behind the campaign.

Bernard Shephard, RS teacher at St Joes also signed up for the Glasgow Mo Run on Sunday 11 November. Bernard already had a healthy facial covering, so he ran for the cause and was generously supported by his colleagues and family.

Friday 30 November was Mo Day when Mo Bros and Sista’s displayed their fabulous facial hair for all to see. Winner of ‘best moustache’ went to Stephen Taylor, Community Recreation/ Leisure Development Assistant from Grange Leisure Centre.

Then on Saturday 1 December the Mo Run Day took place at the Ayrshire Athletics Arena where moustachioed Mo Bros and Mo Sistas took to the streets for a 3k fun run.

As Ewords went to print the team had raised over £3000 and cash is still coming in!

Keeping you informed

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Coming up in the New Year A Different Way of Working: The Prints of Wilhelmina Barns-Graham and St Ives Painting Main Gallery and North Museum, Dick Institute Saturday 19 January – Saturday 11 May Tues – Sat, 11am – 5pm FREE

EAYT presents Peter Pan Palace Theatre Cumnock 8-16 years Wednesday 13 February - 2pm & 7.30pm Kilmarnock 12-16 years Saturday 16 February - 2pm & 7.30pm £7 per person-(concessions available)

*Image credit: Millenium Series Red II, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham

What Presence!

The Rock Photography of Harry Papadopoulos Baird Institute Friday 25 January to Saturday 13 April Thurs- Sat, 11am – 5pm FREE *Image credit: Harry Papadopoulos – Edwyn Collins

Within This Dust Palace Theatre Thursday 18 April 7.30pm £8.50, £5 conc Smallpetitklein Dance Company presents their hauntingly beautiful, full-length programme of dance theatre “Within This Dust”. Developed by award winning choreographer and the company’s Artistic Director, Thomas Small, the performance includes 3 live dance works, film and animation exploring the events surrounding 9/11 and is inspired by the series of photographs by Richard Drew that capture a man falling from the World Trade Center during the attacks.

For more information visit www.visiteastayrshire.com/

Yellow Rose Ball Keeping you informed

In a wonderful tribute to former colleague and dear friend, Etta Goldie, Anne Wilks from Litigation organised the Yellow Rose Ball in her honour, raising funds for Ayrshire Cancer Support.

When Etta was diagnosed with cancer last year she decided to book a 50th birthday party. Etta fought very hard against the illness but sadly passed away before she was able to celebrate her birthday.

Anne, with the support of her family, made the difficult decision to press ahead with the party in Etta’s honour. She decided to organise a charity ball naming it after Etta’s favourite flower, a yellow rose. 210 friends and colleagues joined Etta’s family to celebrate her life and also raise money for a very worthwhile cause.

Anne said: “I can’t thank everyone enough for their support and their generosity. Everyone rallied around buying and selling raffle tickets, making up hampers and goodie bags and organising raffle prizes.

“Extra special thanks go to Carolyn McEwan and Vicki Sharp for all their support and to compère for the evening, John ‘Malky’ Mitchell, who raised £240 on the night by having his head shaved into a Mohawk by two very willing volunteers!

“A big thank you also goes to the Galleon Centre who provided a Gold Membership as one of the top prizes for the raffle, to Perfect Wedding Days who donated chair cover hire and a huge thank you to the Fenwick Hotel who were fantastic and really helped to make the ball such a success.

“The incredible news is that we raised over £8000 for Ayrshire Cancer Support – watch this space we might be organising a sequel next year!”

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