Clocks go forward on Sunday 31 March

Photo: Journeaux

Clocks going forward on Sunday 31 March giving extra light in the evening

Don’t forget to set your clocks forward by one hour on Sunday 31 March.

The change will officially take place at 1.00am so it is advised that you change your clocks before going to bed on Saturday night.

Bringing the clocks forward by an hour marks the start of British Summer Time, meaning extra light during the day and longer evenings.

If you want to take advantage of the brighter days and longer evenings, then visit Rochdale Online Events where you will find a comprehensive list of local events in the borough:

• www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/events/this-month

Time shifting was first proposed by William Willett in 1907. He published a pamphlet called The Waste of Daylight, outlining plans to encourage people out of bed earlier in summer by changing the time on the nation’s clocks.

He spent the rest of his life fighting to get acceptance of his time-shifting scheme.

He died in 1915 with the Government still refusing to back British Summer Time, but the following year, Germany introduced the system. Britain followed in May 1916, and we have been 'changing the clocks' ever since.

Proponents generally argue that it saves energy, promotes outdoor leisure activity in the evening, and is therefore good for physical and psychological health, reduces traffic accidents, reduces crime, or is good for business.

Opponents argue that actual energy savings are inconclusive, that it can disrupt morning activities, and that the act of changing clocks twice a year is economically and socially disruptive and cancels out any benefit.

The change of the clocks in spring has been linked to a host of ills from heart attacks to car crashes.

Sleep expert Yvonne Harrison of Liverpool John Moores University says that while the hour change was once seen as being 'of little consequence, a growing body of evidence suggests otherwise'.