Your Favourite Fashion Jewellery – Pretty, Witty & Elegant or Funky, Chunky &Chic? For professional wear, add a modernistic, geometric wooden brooch to the lapel of last year’s tailored jacket and complete your on trend look with a matching wooden ring! The new generation of pretty ceramic pendants also includes many attractive and unusual items reflecting the playful side of fashion jewellery design. There is no better way to show your individual flair for fashion and styling than to complement your outfit with a couple of well-chosen fashion jewellery pieces. Elegant and attractive, silver jewellery is always in fashion – but the new collections are anything but traditional. Rather than choosing imitation diamonds and gold plate, today’s fashion icons are happier wearing sterling silver, wood, resin and ceramic. The latest designs are revolutionising silver fashion accessories and bringing exciting new trinkets for our delectation. Here are some of the most popular and unusual styles currently gracing the world’s top models. Look out for a host of whimsical fashion accessories, such as hot air balloons or dainty little animal pendants that are fun, fresh and fashionable! Light and comfortable to wear, chunky wooden beads – flat, square or round – are perfect for adding a dash of trendy style to a plain winter sweater. Chunky, wooden bead bracelets (relevant web-site), necklaces and earrings in rich, pomegranate red, burnt orange, warm brown and delicate ecru are everywhere on this year’s fashion runways. Particularly striking are the witty silver rings showing a cut-out bird, just at the moment it escapes its cage and flies away! Shapes inspired by Nature continue to be a popular trend for 21st century fashionistas buying the latest fashion jewellery online. There are pretty pendants in the form of silver-lined clouds and adorable fashion jewellery items inspired by a child’s drawing of a house. It is clear that the sheer range of imaginative designs featured in this season’s fashion jewellery online has fuelled an explosion of interest in affordable fashion accessories. You can also add a splash of colour to a top with one of the pretty resin pendants featuring retro art deco flower images threaded onto a fine chain or coloured thread. In addition, what could be fresher, or more original, than earrings inspired by the unique structure of deer antlers or silver twigs? The range of materials being used these days is enormous, from vintage floral fabrics made into pretty wristbands with dainty silver clasps, to avante garde necklaces, bracelets and other fashion accessories featuring chunky pieces of rock! These splendid design innovations are showing us all that fashion accessories can bring out our youthful aspect and yet remain completely grown up and chic.

But its future across Wales cannot be taken for granted.

Welsh Government strategy on the internal use of the Welsh language. There is an onus on us to take proactive steps to support and increase the use of the language, and to pass it on to future generations. Implementing that vision will involve generational change, halting the decline of the last century. Mae’r ddogfen yma hefyd ar gael yn Gymraeg. An important part of the vision involves renewing the association between the language and the workplace. As a result the Welsh Government has already committed to “… Welsh by our own workforce” (Theme 2 Increasing the Use of Welsh, chapter 6 The Workplace). This file may not be fully accessible. The First Minister has also pledged to “mainstream” the Welsh language into the development of policy and to the way we work more generally. The Welsh language – y Gymraeg – is integral to our culture, our heritage and our daily lives. This is the Welsh Government’s vision for the Welsh language in Wales (Cymraeg 2050: A million Welsh speakers, Welsh Government, 2017). It is to see, by 2050, a million speakers using the language in every aspect of their lives, and doubling the percentage of people in Wales who speak and use the language daily. Set in this context, the Welsh Government’s goal for the Welsh language within the organisation is that by 2050 all staff working for the Welsh Government will be able to understand Welsh. It is part of our shared inheritance and identity as a nation. This will enable staff to work in Welsh from day to day and there will be a significant increase in the use of the language as a result. Welsh is spoken for cultural, commercial, social and emotional reasons, but it is also a vocational skill – a skill that should be better recognised and utilised. So our goal is that the Welsh Government should gradually become a truly bilingual organisation; one in which it is routine for the Welsh and English languages to both be used naturally and interchangeably. The year 2050: the Welsh language is thriving, the number of speakers has reached a million, and it is used in every aspect of life. But its future across Wales cannot be taken for granted. This is something we can all do together. We are proud of the Welsh language and want it to thrive.

Statistics show that 86% of people across Wales feel that the language is something to be proud of.

It is something that can unite us as a nation. It is important to be clear what is meant by a bilingual organisation. Investing in staff and providing opportunities to learn Welsh and develop language skills: it is crucial that effective and convenient training is provided, with people given both time and motivation to continuously improve their Welsh language skills. With that in mind this strategy is underpinned by the following principles. This has relevance that goes beyond being able to provide all outward facing services and internal formal communications in both languages. The language is not exclusive to those who can speak it today. We know that what we do within the Welsh Government will influence other parts of the public sector in Wales. This is why our long term goal is to become a bilingual organisation. Statistics show that 86% of people across Wales feel that the language is something to be proud of. We need to establish a common understanding that the Welsh language belongs to us all whatever our linguistic background. Our strategy on the use of Welsh in the workplace is, in many respects, set by the political direction and legal framework that have already been established; to promote the language and to increase its use. Remaining an open, inclusive and diverse organisation: everyone has the potential to be a Welsh speaker and this strategy does not conflict with our commitment to being open, inclusive and diverse – although Welsh language skills will progressively be needed for more posts, developing a bilingual workforce does not mean (or imply) those skills being a universal pre-requisite for joining the Welsh Government. This is especially the case in so far as those learning Welsh in our schools are concerned, who should understand that the language will be a useful skill for them in the workplace. Eventually a choice of language will be available operationally within the organisation, meaning we will be able to routinely choose whether to communicate (orally and in writing) in Welsh or English, or indeed both. However, we are conscious also that steps taken to increase use of the language must be reasonable and proportionate, which means that becoming a bilingual organisation will involve change that happens gradually. But while some are comfortable speaking Welsh – more often than not as the language was passed on to them by their families – many are not. Making a long term commitment and leading the way: change will be incremental and will happen over time, but we intend to lead by example in the way we promote use of the language in the workplace. We are conscious of how using Welsh in the workplace can give the language more purpose and relevance.

This choice will be made possible by all staff being able to at least understand Welsh. One of the most fundamental elements to the success of this strategy will be the learning and development on offer to staff across all levels of proficiency. This will of course take time and will require a long term commitment (firstly) to continuously improving our language skills and (secondly) to developing a working culture that understands and respects bilingualism. The renewed focus on the language is to be led not just at the political level but also by senior officials. We envisage a process under which the strategy and changes in policy adopted under it are reviewed every 5 years. These, in turn, contribute to reaching the 2050 goal. This can be done in 2 ways; by existing staff starting to learn or improve and by more recruitment of those who already have Welsh language skills. They will be expected to lead by example in promoting use of the language and making its importance to the organisation clear. Our goal is to become a bilingual organisation by 2050, but over the first 5 years our objective is to see the Welsh Government become an exemplar organisation in increasing internal use of the language when assessed against comparable public sector organisations in Wales. The principle of continuous improvement over the long term will be based on the scale currently used to assess Welsh language skills. They will help others to use, learn and improve their Welsh language skills – and develop skills of their own. We want and need more Welsh Government staff to have Welsh language skills they can use in the workplace. Our goal is to allow staff increased opportunities to acquire and then use their Welsh language skills in the workplace, and eventually allow for language choice. As well as setting a long term 2050 goal we are also setting a shorter term objective for the period up to 2025 and 10 actions designed to help meet that objective. This strategy envisages reaching its goal more than 30 years from now, so for obvious reasons it will need to be periodically reviewed and changed. Both of these will be required, as – crucially – is plenty of time and support to adapt. Our focus will be on encouraging people to learn and to continuously improve. The shorter term objective will be reviewed in 2025 and a new objective and associated actions will be set for the following 5 year period – a process that will continue until the 2050 goal is reached. Learning Welsh and facilitating its use by Welsh speakers in day to day work will be a business need across the organisation, and line managers will need to adhere to that principle by demonstrating personal leadership.