Bank holidays..

rob · Fri 01 Jun, 2007 14.38

I didn't do much over the Bank Holiday, just sat around eating After Eights.

Couldn't resist

Nick Harvey · Fri 01 Jun, 2007 17.55

miss hellfire wrote:There's 2 in August? I've been robbed!

Well, I suppose you could say there are two in August, technically.

Scotland and Eire have the first Monday; whilst England, Wales and Northern Ireland have the last Monday.

So you could manage two if you move in the middle of the month.

Lorns · Fri 01 Jun, 2007 20.36

Nick Harvey wrote:
miss hellfire wrote:There's 2 in August? I've been robbed!
Well, I suppose you could say there are two in August, technically.

Scotland and Eire have the first Monday; whilst England, Wales and Northern Ireland have the last Monday.

So you could manage two if you move in the middle of the month.

If i move to the Midlands i could try and mumble myself 2 bank holidays in August. Gonna practise my black country lingo.

Nick Harvey · Sat 02 Jun, 2007 13.46

miss hellfire wrote:Gonna practise my black country lingo.

You'll have to move to a kind slice.

Anonymous · Sat 02 Jun, 2007 23.26

Neil Jones wrote:Back then only Easter Monday, Whit Monday (last Monday in May), last Monday in August and Boxing Day were classed as Bank Holidays - Christmas Day and Good Friday were common law holidays. Only Scotland got New Year's Day as a Bank Holiday, it was added 100yrs later for England, Wales & Ireland.

Aren't you partly wrong about Whit Monday being the last Monday in May? Whit Monday would have been the day after Whit Sunday, aka Pentecost which is 50 days after Easter Sunday. Therefore, Whit Monday MUST have been dictated by when Easter Sunday was. In Western Christianity, Easter always falls on a Sunday from March 22 to April 25 inclusive (source Wikipedia).

In other words, if Easter Sunday fell on 22 March, Whit Sunday would be 10 May and Whit Monday 11 May. If Easter Sunday fell on 25 April, Whit Sunday would be 13 June and Whit Monday 14 June.

Ronnie Rowlands · Sat 02 Jun, 2007 23.34

I counted 7 references to dates there. Again :roll:

Neil Jones · Sun 03 Jun, 2007 11.03

Tumble Tower wrote:
Neil Jones wrote:Back then only Easter Monday, Whit Monday (last Monday in May), last Monday in August and Boxing Day were classed as Bank Holidays - Christmas Day and Good Friday were common law holidays. Only Scotland got New Year's Day as a Bank Holiday, it was added 100yrs later for England, Wales & Ireland.
Aren't you partly wrong about Whit Monday being the last Monday in May? Whit Monday would have been the day after Whit Sunday, aka Pentecost which is 50 days after Easter Sunday. Therefore, Whit Monday MUST have been dictated by when Easter Sunday was. In Western Christianity, Easter always falls on a Sunday from March 22 to April 25 inclusive (source Wikipedia).

Whit Monday used to be a bank holiday in its own right until the 1971 act which fixed it to the last Monday in May and reclassified it as what is now called the Spring Bank Holiday. In most cases, depending on where Easter falls it often ends up as being the last Monday in May anyway, though it can fall back as far late as June - in 2011 Whit Monday's as late as June 13th.

Stuart* · Sun 03 Jun, 2007 11.40

Wasn't there a rumour a few years back that we were going to get another Bank Holiday in October? (Trafaglar Day) but then the idea was quietly dropped in case we upset the French (and we can't have that, even though we probably pissed them off by having a war with them in the first place!)

That would be nice as August to Christmas is along time without a Bank Holiday after the glut we get in spring.

Neil Jones · Sun 03 Jun, 2007 12.19

More Bank Holidays would be nice, as we only get eight as it is (Xmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, May Day, Spring Bank Holiday and Summer Break).

Apparently the European average is 12 Bank Holidays per year, and Italy has 16 of the things.

There have been calls for an increase in the number, and particularly for recognising April 23 (St George's Day) in England and March 1 (St David's Day) in Wales to have a public holiday on the feast day of the relevant patron saint. March 17 (St Patrick's Day) is already a bank holiday in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland and, from 2007, November 30 (St Andrew's Day) is a bank holiday in Scotland. There are also calls for new national bank holidays such as one to represent the United Kingdom, British Day (possibly part of Gordon Brown's new Britishness policy), Trafalgar Day as a result of the recent bicentennial, Waterloo Day and also one to represent the European Union, making Europe Day a bank holiday, and one to represent the monarchy such as the Queen's Birthday (as in Australia, New Zealand and Canada) or coronation.

Nick Harvey · Sun 03 Jun, 2007 12.23

Whit Sunday (Pentecost) is always the seventh Sunday after Easter Sunday, regardless of any Bank or Common Law holidays; so it moves around the calendar, just like Easter does.

In the days before the Late Spring Bank Holiday, the Whit Monday holiday was always, therefore, the seventh Monday after Easter Monday.

As mentioned earlier, Pentecost is about 50 (49 to be precise) days after Easter.

Stuart* · Sun 03 Jun, 2007 12.31

Neil Jones wrote:....one to represent the European Union, making Europe Day a bank holiday, and one to represent the monarchy such as the Queen's Birthday (as in Australia, New Zealand and Canada) or coronation.

As a Civil Servant we had an extra 2-and-a-half days a year (Maundy Thursday afternoon, and two movable ones one of which was supposed to be for the Queen's Birthday, not sure what the other one was for).

Maundy Thursday was fixed, but the other 2 we used to tag on to the late Spring Holiday as the Tuesday, and the other was taken after Boxing Day.

However, that was when i worked in MOD, it doesn't seem to be the same in the Department of Health (D'oH)

(I've been robbed!)