Clocks change Spring 2009

In the UK we all change our clocks and watches by one hour, twice a year. The next time this will happen is on Sunday 29 March 2009 when we will add an hour and go onto what is called British Summer Time.

We’ve been changing our clocks forwards and backwards in the UK since 1916. William Willett, a businessman and keen horse-rider – first proposed the idea of British Summer Time in 1907 in a pamphlet entitled ‘The Waste of Daylight’. Willett had noticed that the summer mornings light was wasted while people slept, and that the time would be better utilised in the afternoon by putting the clocks forward. After campaigning for years the British Government finally adopted the system a year after Willett’s death.

When do other countries change their clocks?
European Union – Most countries change their clocks on the last Sundays of March and October.
North America and most of Canada on the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in November.
Egypt, Namibia and Tunisia are the only African countries who observe daylight saving.
New Zealand and parts of Australia are the only countries in Oceania that currently put their clocks forwards and backwards.

Please let us know when you change your clocks.

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