The clocks go back tomorrow ahead of Halloween celebrations in Kildare

By Kim O'Leary

As Halloween is quickly approaching, Kildare people are being reminded to put their clocks back an hour tomorrow morning to match the Daylight Saving Time used across Europe.

Early tomorrow morning at 2am the clocks go back, making mornings slightly lighter and evenings darker.  Some lucky people will spend an extra hour in bed and others will get out and embrace the day but an interesting fact is that the whole concept of daylight saving was actually introduced in 1907 by the great-great-grandfather of Coldplay singer Chris Martin!

A former builder William Lillet published a pamphlet called 'The Waste of Daylight' in a bid to get people out of bed earlier by changing the nation’s clocks. Willett then spent the rest of his life trying to convince people his scheme was a good one.

Sadly, he died of influenza in 1915 at the age of 58; a year before his clock-changing plan was adopted by the Germans and the UK in 1916. His great-great grandson, Chris Martin however has had huge success with smash hits ‘Clocks’ and ‘Daylight’ perhaps inspired by his forefather!

There are currently about 70 countries that participate in Daylight Saving Time, including though not necessarily on the same schedule as Ireland.  Ireland is located in the Greenwich Mean Time zone, sharing the same time as Great Britain, Iceland, Portugal, and some countries in northwest Africa.

Most digital devices such as smart phones will automatically put the clock back an hour but other clocks may need to be manually adjusted.

In Ireland, the maximum 17 hours of sunlight - on the longest day in June (the summer solstice) - dwindles to just seven hours and 30 minutes six months later in December (the winter solstice).