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Objective: To assess pedometer-determined physical activity levels and activity patterns in a sample of free-living normal weight and overweight UK adults. Design: Pedometer-based 4-week observational study. Participants: One hundred and twenty-two healthy participants, recruited from two regions in the UK, classified as normal weight (33 females and 26 males) or overweight (31 females and 32 males), in the age range of 18 to 65 years, completed the study. Measurements: Daily step counts were measured using a Yamax SW-200 pedometer, and were then recorded in an activity log. Comparisons were made between activity patterns occurring over different days of the week for the normal weight and overweight groups. Measurements of height, weight and percentage body fat, by bioelectrical impedance, were taken pre-and post-study. Results: A consistent reduction in activity was observed on a Sunday in the overweight group, and mean daily step counts accumulated on Sundays were significantly lower, by an average of 2221 steps/day, when compared with all other days of the week (all Po0.001). In comparison, no day-of-the-week effect was observed in the normal weight group. Mean step counts reported on each day of the week did not differ significantly between the two groups, with the exception of Sunday when the overweight group reported significantly fewer steps than the normal weight participants (8093 versus 10 538, Po0.001). Conclusions: Activity levels dropped dramatically in the sample of overweight adults on a Sunday. Simple instructions to at-risk individuals, to increase their general activity levels on a Sunday, via general practitioners and public health messages could prove to be a subtle, but effective, strategy to tackle obesity.

Results:The normal-weight group had a significantly higher mean step count (10247 steps/day) than the overweight (9095 steps/day) and obese (8102 steps/day) participants (p<0.05). No differences in step counts were observed between the overweight and obese groups. A consistent reduction in activity was observed on Sundays in all groups, with this reduction being two-fold greater in the overweight and obese groups (~2000 steps/day) when compared with the normal-weight group (~1000 steps/day). Conclusions:With the increasing prevalence of obesity in the UK, changes in the activity levels of those at risk are needed. The issuing of pedometers to overweight and obese individuals, with the instruction to increase their ambulatory activity on all days of the week, with particular emphasis on Sunday activity, could be a good starting point in tackling the problem of obesity in the UK.

The rapid programme of school building undertaken across Glasgow by the School Boards left the city with a rich legacy of architecture designed by the top architects of the day. This was in contrast to most other UK cities whose Board schools were designed by a single, directly employed architect. Most analysis of the Glasgow Boards' output has tended to focus on individual schools in isolation, primarily (and with good reason) Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Martyrs' and Scotland Street Schools. However, this approach overlooks the context within which the Board Schools were designed, built and operated. This paper aims to redress the balance, by providing an overview of the creation of the School Boards, the commissioning of architects, development of school design and the educational and social impact of the Boards, with a view to highlighting the importance of what remains of Glasgow's often neglected School Board heritage today. E d u c at i o n i n G l a s g ow i n t h e P r e -S c h o ol B o a r d E r a The Education (Scotland) Act of 1872 was the first real government attempt to control education nationally. 1 It represented the start of a revolution in the level of provision and quality of education available to Scottish children. Prior to the Act, Glasgow's educational needs were provided for by a wide array of individuals and organisations, in schools offering varying standards of teaching and accommodation. Around two thirds were private adventure schools, run by private individuals, with the remainder largely made up of church, charitable or free schools, run by either parish churches or charitable institutions. In addition, there were a smaller number of 'Higher Class' schools, which aimed to compete with the High School. 2 Concerns over the state of Scottish education led to the establishment of the Education Commission (Scotland), also known as the Argyll Commission. 3 Investigating over the period 1864-7, it found most of the private adventure schools to Architectural Heritage XXII (2011): 115-136 Edinburgh University Press be 'little short of hovels run by men and women who were themselves as bereft of any learning as the children they professed to teach'. 4 A report on Glasgow schools in 1865-6 showed that less than half of the city's children of school age were enrolled in a school, and of those enrolled, more than one-fifth attended schools ranked as indifferent or bad. 5 Th e C r e at i o n o f S c h o ol B o a r d s i n G l a s g ow Under the Education (Scotland) Act of 1872, education became compulsory for all children aged five to thirteen. Parish School Boards were established across Scotland to provide a high standard of education for all: to provide high quality buildings and facilities, and monitor and enforce school attendance, 6 supported through local rates. 7 The enormous task of transferring most of Glasgow's privately educated and non-educated children to public schools initially fell to seven separate Boards: 8 Glasgow, Maryhill, Springburn (which, along with Maryhill, amalgamated...