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12 Months of Rest and Recreation – Michael Millward image

12 Months of Rest and Recreation – Michael Millward

Rest and Recreation
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9 Plays9 hours ago

Looking back on twelve months of Rest and Recreation

Michael Millward the founder and managing director of Abeceder marks the first year as host of the Abeceder work life balance podcast Rest and Recreation.

Find out more about Michael Millward at Abeceder.co.uk.

Audience Offers – listings include links that may create a small commission for Rest and Recreation

Travel – Holidays can play an important part in preventing burn out. So take a break to anywhere in the world and pay  trade prices on trains, flights, hotels, and holidays as members of The Ultimate Travel Club.

Health – York Test provides an Annual Health Test. An experienced phlebotomist will complete a full blood draw at your home or workplace. Hospital standard tests covering 39 different health markers are carried out in a UKAS-accredited and CQC-compliant laboratory.

Visit York Test and use this discount code REST25.

Rest and Recreation is made on Zencastr, because creating podcasts on Zencastr is so easy, you can as well by visiting Zencastr and using our offer code ABECEDER.

Tech Problems? – Visit Three for information about business and personal telecom solutions from Three, and the special offers available when you quote our referral code WPFNUQHU.

If you have liked this episode of Rest and Recreation, please give it a like and download it. To make sure you do not miss future editions please subscribe.

Remember, at Abeceder we don’t tell you what to think, but we do hope to make you think!

Being a Guest

If you would like to be a guest on Rest and Recreation, please contact Abeceder.

Matchmaker.fm introduce many guests to Rest and Recreation. Matchmaker.fm is where great hosts and even greater guests are matched, and fantastic podcasts are hatched. Use code MILW10 for a discount on membership.

We recommend potential guests take one of the podcasting guest training programmes available from Work Place Learning Centre.

Thank you to you for listening.

We appreciate every like, download, and subscription.

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Transcript

Introduction to 'Rest and Recreation' Podcast

00:00:05
Speaker
on zencastr Hello and welcome to Rest and Recreation, the work-life balance podcast from Abbasida. I'm your host, Michael Millward, the Managing Director of Abbasida.
00:00:21
Speaker
It is December 26th, 2025, the Feast of St. Stephen, or what most people call Boxing Day.

Reflecting on a Year of Podcasting

00:00:29
Speaker
As we are approaching the end of the first year of publishing Rest and Recreation every Friday at 7am UK time, it feels like we have reached something of a landmark.
00:00:43
Speaker
And an appropriate time to reflect on why we started publishing Rest and Recreation and the journey to where we are now.

Appreciation for Listeners and Guests

00:00:52
Speaker
The last 12 months have been an amazing experience.
00:00:57
Speaker
There has been a lot of learning about how to produce a podcast. There has also been an immense increase in our knowledge about all things work-life balance and rest and recreation.
00:01:11
Speaker
I am hugely grateful to the increasing number of people who have listened. Your confidence in rest and recreation, your likes, reviews, subscriptions and comments are all greatly appreciated.
00:01:24
Speaker
Thank you. I am also grateful to the wide range of expert guests that Rest and Recreation has attracted. Almost 60 people from all over the world and across time zones, as well as some from here in Yorkshire, have appeared on Rest and Recreation.
00:01:43
Speaker
Whether they come from near or far, I know that Rest and Recreation has been blessed because of the generous way in which they have shared their knowledge and experience.

Finding Guests via Matchmaker.fm

00:01:56
Speaker
That sharing is the foundation on which rest and recreation has been built. If you are wondering where I find these interesting people, the answer is most often matchmaker.fm.

Acknowledging Sponsors

00:02:11
Speaker
I must also thank our sponsors who have supported Rest and Recreation. The Ultimate Travel Club, York Test and three, the Mobile Communications Company, have all supported Rest and Recreation from the start.
00:02:27
Speaker
It would not have been possible without their support.

Support from Zencastr

00:02:31
Speaker
Thank you. Rest and Recreation is made on Zencastr, the all-in-one podcasting platform that really does make making podcasts so easy.
00:02:43
Speaker
I have benefited from the professionalism and patience of the Zencastr creator support team. Thank you.

Why the Podcast Was Started

00:02:51
Speaker
Lastly, i must thank the Abucida team for their support and constructive feedback.
00:02:57
Speaker
Making Rest and Recreation has been a fascinating voyage of discovery for me and the whole of the Abucida team. Abucida started Rest and Recreation because we were dealing with lots of requests from the employees of our ah HR support clients who wanted to work four-day work weeks, hours that were different to the conventional nine-to-five or work in different locations.
00:03:22
Speaker
When we asked those employees what they would do with the extra leisure time that these working arrangements would give them, the common answer was catch up on chores. We were surprised by the number of people who do not have a hobby or a regular leisure activity.
00:03:39
Speaker
When we asked people why this was, the usual response was that they had never thought about it.

Importance of Leisure Activities

00:03:46
Speaker
So we decided to launch Rest and Recreation to help people discover leisure activities.
00:03:53
Speaker
Good Rest and Recreation is not about doing nothing. Truly valuable Rest and Recreation involves getting our brain and our bodies doing something different to our normal activities.
00:04:08
Speaker
Because as they say, change is as good as a rest. With our HR hat on, we know that people who have hobbies and regular leisure activities are more likely to be happier at work and more productive.
00:04:25
Speaker
This is because of the positive impact a hobby or leisure activity has on mental and physical health.

Future Plans for Exploring Leisure Activities

00:04:32
Speaker
so it makes sound commercial sense for every employer to support their employees to find and participate in a hobby or a regular leisure activity.
00:04:43
Speaker
In 2026, we will be uncovering many more ways to create valuable rest and recreation leisure activities.

Call to Action for Listener Participation

00:04:53
Speaker
Our aim is to demonstrate how easy it can be for an employer to support employee wellbeing by encouraging their employees to be active in different ways when they are not at work.
00:05:05
Speaker
We will be creating more content with more focused series so that we can all learn more about different hobbies and leisure activities. Please let us know about the hobbies and leisure activities that you are interested in learning more about.
00:05:20
Speaker
We will strive to secure guests who are experts or have lived experience of those activities and can provide practical solutions and sound guidance. 2026 will be an exciting year for rest and recreation.
00:05:36
Speaker
I look forward to sharing the ongoing voyage of discovery with you. Thank you.
00:05:46
Speaker
Made on Zencastr.