2012 marks a milestone event for English literature – the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Dickens. Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth on 7 February, 1812, and went on to become the most popular novelist of the Victorian era. He is widely regarded as one of the finest novelists in the history of modern literature.

The UK children’s charity that aims to change the world for children with genetic disorders.
Individually, genetic disorders are rare but together they affect 1 in 25 children born in the UK – that’s more than 30,000 babies each year. Their associated health problems mean that genetic disorders are the biggest killer of children aged 14 years and under.
Jeans for Genes Day is the annual fundraising event and takes place on Friday 7th October 2011. Ask your colleagues at work or the children at school to wear their jeans for the Day and make a donation.

Every September 22, people from around the world get together in the streets, intersections, and neighbourhood blocks to remind the world that we don’t have to accept our car-dominated society.
But we do not want just one day of celebration and then a return to “normal” life. When people get out of their cars, they should stay out of their cars. It is up to us, it is up to our cities, and our governments to help create permanent change to benefit pedestrians, cyclists, and other people who do not drive cars.
Let World Carfree Day be a showcase for just how our cities might look like, feel like, and sound like without cars…365 days a year.

The event’s 10th Anniversary:  this year celebrates 10 years of achievements: since the event started thousands of activities have taken place around the country; more than 70 organisations now take part; over a thousand independent shops, many of the major supermarkets, nine of the largest food service organisations and eight major pub groups have run promotions; retailers report sales increases of 34% as a result; school meals are up 20 – 50% in participating schools; the largest volunteer movement educating people about food has been founded; St Paul’s Cathedral, St Pancras, Harrods, Wembley Stadium, Downing Street and The Archers are just a few of the famous establishments that have taken part; and media coverage about the event is seen or heard over 300 million times every year.

17th Sep 2011 – 2nd Oct 2011

Designing for accessibility is making products and services so that people with disabilities can use them. One could easily assemble a long list of technology accessibility failures. As a budding librarian, I am dismayed by the accessibility problems of library services. Kelly Ford has written about accessibility issues with ebook services and ebook readers (e.g. Kindle). As a music lover, I am disappointed by accessibility problems in online music services like Spotify, Pandora, and iTunes for people with visual impairments who use screen readers like JAWS or Apple VoiceOver to read digital text.
To read the 8 reasons why information professionals should care about accessibility click here

Climate Week is a supercharged national occasion that offers an annual renewal of our ambition and confidence to combat climate change. It is for everyone wanting to do their bit to protect our planet and create a secure future. To see Total Coverage’s policy, have a look at our ethics page, or for more details about Climate Week, click here.

Red Nose Day is on Friday 18th March. It’s a day like no other when the whole country gets together to do something funny for money and change countless lives in the process.
It all culminates in a night of cracking TV on the BBC with some of the biggest names in comedy and entertainment.
And the best bit? All the fun and mayhem helps to raise cash and transform lives across the UK and Africa. You can be involved too – get quick and easy fundraising ideas now.

Southampton-based graphic design company, Total Coverage, has been named ‘Co-operative of the Month’, after completing an initiative to become greener and reduce their carbon footprint. The business, established in 1988, which specialises in delivering engaging communications including marketing literature, corporate publications, display graphics and websites, received the award in recognition for completing the Greener Together – the co-operative way project.

A total of 49 members of the creative co-operative got involved and over the course of the project, managed to reduce 26 tonnes of CO2 emissions in areas such as energy and transport and also saved nearly a tonne of waste being deposited at landfill sites. And the green team is not stopping there! They are continuing to reduce their CO2 emissions by making use of the prizes they have won from the competition, which include a wormery, energy monitor and radiator booster.

Linda Bratcher, Sales and Marketing Director at Total Coverage, said: “We are delighted to be named ‘Co-operative of the Month’ for completing the Greener Together challenge and we’re thrilled with the prizes we have won.

“As a co-operative, we have a very ethical and environmental ethos at our heart and we had been looking at ways in which we could do our bit for the planet, and so joining up to the Greener Together project was ideal for us. We have been very committed to the project from day one and being named ‘Co-operative of the Month’ is just the icing on the cake.”

Greener Together – the co-operative way, is a major project run by Co-operatives UK, the national trade body for co-operative enterprises, which encourages and supports individuals to overcome the barriers of lifestyle change and live in a more sustainable way. The project helps co-operatives make a significant impact on climate change, and reduce their environmental impact in the three key areas of energy, waste and personal transport. To date, thanks to Greener Together, 19 tonnes of waste has been saved from being deposited at landfill and over 460 tonnes of CO2 has been reduced in energy and transport.

Total Coverage will now look forward to joining other co-operatives across the country to celebrate their participation in the project, during the first ever National Campaign to celebrate Greener Together, during Greener Together Week (21 to 27 March 2011).

Part of the Greener Living Fund, sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the project aims to help people to live in a more sustainable way, by focusing on the small actions every individual can take in their daily lives and enables member organisations of Co-operatives UK, the Confederation of Co-operative Housing (CCH) and the Plunkett Foundation to work with their members and customers in achieving greener behaviour.

To find out more about Greener Together, visit the website at www.greenertogether.coop

Over the last twelve months Ainslie Chivers has been involved in Total Coverage’s Greener Together initiative and has become more eco aware because of it. Total Coverage Director, Kingsley Brown (pictured right) presents Ainslie with a hamper full of locally sourced edible goodies for getting involved with the initiative. The hamper from Bay Leaves Larder, a nearby community store, was a thank you to Ainslie for being so supportive. Greener Together aims to help people to live in a more sustainable way. It does this by focusing on the small actions we can each take in our daily lives towards achieving bigger changes in the wider world.