SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

I still work for an oranisation that became separate from LCC 22 years ago. At that time I inherited the "bank holidays" under the council. These included the Tuesdays after the long established holidays at Easter, Spring and August Bank Holidays (even though thelatter 2 were moved from Whitsuntide and early August at some stage). The May Day bank holiday, which probably was only introduced in the 1970s did not extend to the Tuesday.It is only about 5 years ago that these 3 days have been added to leave entitlement. Anybody in post at the point of change can still insist on taking those 3 Tuedays as part of their annual leave. Anybody employed since is pretty much guaranteed to be turned down, due to operational need, if they ask for those days.I can't say for definite but believe LCC now have something similar in place. West Yorkshire Police's civilian workforce also definitely have a similar scheme in place.

Johnny39 wrote: When I started work in newspapers in the middle of the 1950's there were only two days on which we did not print, Good Friday and Christmas Day. Gradually, if my memory serves me correctly, Good Friday changed to Easter Monday as the holiday but I believe you could not be forced to work Good Friday if your religion dictated as Good Friday was classed as a Sunday. Boxing Day became an additional holiday sometime in the 60's. New Year wasn't a holiday 'til much later. All this has changed over the years. The first two weeks in August were always the big holiday in Leeds when I was a kid. New Year's Day became an additional bank holiday in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 1974, was this because many did not turn in after the celebrations ?

keyholekate wrote: Johnny39 wrote: When I started work in newspapers in the middle of the 1950's there were only two days on which we did not print, Good Friday and Christmas Day. Gradually, if my memory serves me correctly, Good Friday changed to Easter Monday as the holiday but I believe you could not be forced to work Good Friday if your religion dictated as Good Friday was classed as a Sunday. Boxing Day became an additional holiday sometime in the 60's. New Year wasn't a holiday 'til much later. All this has changed over the years. The first two weeks in August were always the big holiday in Leeds when I was a kid. New Year's Day became an additional bank holiday in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 1974, was this because many did not turn in after the celebrations ? Working New Year's Eve was quite lucrative in those days - T1/2 + a day in lieu. This applied to any Bank Holiday worked.

My first job when I left school was at Wood-Wordsworth Organ Builders on Hanover Avenue.For Easter we had Monday and Tuesday for the holiday. The reason being that much of the work was carried out working away from home all over the country, cleaning and overhauling pipe organs, an operation which could take several weeks. We used to set off at sparrow fart on a Monday returning home on Fridays. So having the holiday this way saved having to break into two weeks.Remember when New Years Day wasn't a bank holiday?One year the group I was in were to play at a nightclub in Millom on New Years Eve, returning the following day which was a Monday. I asked the boss if I could have the day off as we would be travelling home on New Years Day. He said no. When I told the foreman he stuck up for me by telling the boss that half the staff wouldn't turn up anyway and those who did would still be half cut. So I took the day off, but didn't get paid.