Put that clock forward Fenland!

This is the time of year that always causes some trepidation in the Fenland Citizen offices.

Why? Well, when the clocks go forward (or in the case of autumn, back) we remember only too well the time some years ago when through human error, we advised our readers to go the wrong way! That is go back (or was it forward?) instead of forward (or was it back?). Such is our influence for a short time this part of the world was in a different time zone to the rest of the country in the switch between Greenwich Mean Time and British Summer Time!

Just to make sure there is no mistake this time, can we just say, the clocks go forward at 1am on Sunday. That is, 1am becomes 2am. That means there is more daylight in the evenings (hoorah!) and a less in the mornings (clocked, as it were, for a relatively short time by most folk). But we do get an hour less in bed on Sunday morning (boo!)

All our errant editor had to remember really is the old adage, “Spring forward, Fall back” with apologies for the Americanism for autumn.

Here are some interesting facts about British Summer Time (well. they pass the time, anyhow):

British-born New Zealander George Vernon Hudson first proposed the modern idea of a two-hour daylight saving in 1895.

British Summer Time was suggested in 1907 by William Willett, a keen horse rider and frustrated by the ‘waste’ of daylight in the early mornings during the summer.

Willett’s pamphlet The Waste of Daylight campaigned for the clocks to be changed, but he died in 1915 before he could see it come into being as the idea was opposed by many, especially farmers.

Austria and Germany were the first countries to enact ‘Daylight Savings Time’ in 1916, quickly followed the same year by the UK and much of Europe.

It was enforced during the First World War, in a bid to save money during wartime.

The current system has been in place since 1972, proposals to keep the clocks at least one hour ahead of GMT all-year round have been debated frequently in parliament but never implemented.

The lighter evenings are also said to reduce road traffic accidents and crime.

It is argued BST is good for physical and psychological health, particularly in terms of relieving the symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).