Noticeboard
Planets make sweet music
Around 200 musicians from Leeds University Union Music Society’s symphony orchestra and
choir will perform an incredible evening of music and song for a charity concert on Friday,
March 9, culminating with Gustav Holst’s The Planets Suite.
This event is part of the ‘Life on Mars’ series in the Celebrate Leeds 2007 festival, sponsored by the University and Leeds City Council.
Tickets cost £8 to £12 and are available from the Town Hall box office, phone 0113 224 3801. All proceeds will go to Cancer Research UK and a local charity. For details of other festival events, visit www.celebrateleeds07.com
Conquering computers
Leeds is celebrating 50 years of computing
with a day of events on Friday, March 30.
In 1957, computers were almost unknown, but Leeds was one of the first universities to acquire the technology, and developed the world’s first computerised bus and train schedules. Current and former staff and students are invited to remember how it was done.
Activities will include a talk, Why everything I learned at Leeds in 1972 is no longer true by Dr Andrew Herbert of Microsoft Research, an alumni reception in the School of Computing, unveiling a memorial to Professor Geoffrey Cook, and awarding an honorary Doctorate of Engineering to Emeritus Professor Tony Wren.
To register, visit www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/jubilee or email roger@comp.leeds.ac.uk.
(Photo: loading a paper tape reader on the KDF9 computer (1970) )
Staff benefits fair
Did you know staff can get a 10 per cent
discount on Chinese physio-massage
therapy? Or that you can access free legal
advice around the clock?
Find out about all the special benefits you can enjoy while working at Leeds - on health, travel, shopping and much more - by visiting the University’s Employee Benefits Fair on Thursday, March 22.
The fair will be held in the Parkinson Court between 9am and 4.30pm, providing a one-stop shop for information about benefits offered by organisations both on and off campus. For details, contact Claire by emailing c.s.robinson@adm.leeds.ac.uk or phone ext. 37911.
Rock n’ roll
Don’t miss The Sound of Rocks, a unique
performance of perfectly-tuned musical
stones discovered in the Lake District
in 1785. The March 23 concert in the
Clothworkers, Centenary Concert Hall,
organised by the Yorkshire Quarry Project,
will feature New York artist Brian Dewan and
Jamie Barnes from Keswick Museum.
The concert starts at 12 noon, followed by a seminar about the science of this incredible natural phenomenon. You can even try playing the stones yourself! Admission is free, but bookings required. Contact Bobbie Millar by emailing b.j.millar@leeds.ac.uk
Take a bite
You and your teeth is an interactive learning
event on Saturday, March 10. Some of
Leeds’ top scientists and dentists will be on
hand to explain what makes teeth sensitive,
how to make your teeth look whiter, and what
a healthy mouth should look like. The event
will be held in the Maurice Keyworth building
from 9.30am till 1pm. Tickets are free but
limited. To book, contact Janet Alexander
by phoning 0113 343 1385 or email
j.alexander@leeds.ac.uk.
Green day
Al Gore’s film An Inconvenient Truth will
screen on campus as one of the highlights
in a number of environmentally-conscious
events being held on Wednesday, March 14
for Green Day, organised by the Faculty of
Environment. The film will start at 5pm in
lecture theatre D of the Chemistry building,
and entry is free.
In the School of Geography’s common room, you can visit stalls promoting green organisations and listen to speakers discuss hot topics in transport and permaculture from 12.30pm till 1.30pm. A wild flower planting will take place in St Georges Field at 3pm. For full details email Claire Marsh at cmarsh@env.leeds.ac.uk.
Homecoming for poet
Leeds poet, film maker and alumnus Tony
Harrison will give a lecture on March 15 to
mark his 70th birthday in the city where he
was born and studied for a classics degree.
The University made him an honorary Doctor
of Letters in 2004.
Five of Dr Harrison’s award-winning poems have been nominated for ‘best poem of the year’ as part of this year’s Leeds Read event, see www.leedsread.co.uk
The lecture will be held in the Rupert Beckett theatre in the Michael Sadler building, starting at 5.30pm. For details phone Mark Batty on ext. 34725.
Obesity centre
Leeds is helping to tackle Britain’s
‘fat epidemic’ by launching a new,
interdisciplinary centre for obesity, nutrition
and health on March 28.
Known as ICON-Health, the centre is dedicated to pioneering research into areas such as preventing and treating obesity, and its link with many chronic diseases. Professor Janet Cade will speak about the centre’s vision at the launch, which starts at 1pm. Delegates will then travel by coach to Harrogate for a tour of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Harlow Carr Garden.
To register for the event, please email James Thompson at j.m.thompson@leeds.ac.uk.