Leeds holidays

Your favourite days out round Leeds
raveydavey
Posts: 2886
Joined: Thu 22 Mar, 2007 3:59 pm
Location: The Far East (of Leeds...)
Contact:

Post by raveydavey »

I know there has been mention on here of the traditional "Leeds Weeks" holidays (which are fast approaching again) when many of the factories etc closed down, but I wonder if anyone can shed light on another peculiarity which seems confined to Leeds?I worked in the motor trade around Leeds for a good few years and it was always practice that at Easter half the staff would take the traditional Easter holidays (Good Friday and Easter Monday), whilst the other half would take Easter Monday and the following Tuesday.This happened at several firms that I worked at - it meant that they where able to open Good Friday with skeleton staff.To be honest, I always used to take the Tuesday - Good Friday was generally a quiet day as most people assumed that you were closed anyway and having Tuesday off meant that you missed what was usually a manic first day back after the long weekend.I know work elsewhere in West Yorkshire and when I mentioned this recently I was looked at like I was daft - none of the rest of the people I worked with had ever heard of such a thing (apart from one lad from Bradford).Is this a Leeds thing? Or perhaps just a Leeds motor trade thing?
Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act – George Orwell

morleyhall
Posts: 56
Joined: Wed 02 Dec, 2009 7:24 am

Post by morleyhall »

I worked in the motor trade myself between 1987 & 2003 in Halifax. I always remember working till lunchtime on Good Friday at the main dealerships & having the Monday & Tuesday off. A couple of the smaller garages that I worked for, would maybe just book a couple of mot tests in on Friday morning, then a couple of hours cleaning the workshop up and then an early finish in the pub.When I moved into Breakdown Recovery, I worked 5 on 2 off on rota, so Bank Holidays, Xmas day etc. became just another working day for a few years depending on the rota. I think it depends on the individual company around Halifax, but most of the firms I've worked for plumped for the Monday/Tuesday off at Easter.

majorhoundii
Posts: 404
Joined: Sat 12 Mar, 2011 6:55 am

Post by majorhoundii »

In the mill towns of the West Riding it was usual for the holidays to be Easter Monday and "Easter Tuesday" with work as normal on Good Friday. I was told that this happened in the days when the mills worked Saturdays, it didn't make economic sense to shut the steam boiler that powered the mill engine down on Good Friday and then fire it up again for Saturday, so the compromise was to work Good Friday and have the following Tuesday off in lieu.I used to work for a national company with a major distribution centre for the North of England based in Leeds. The two other Northern outlets at Wigan and Newcastle wanted Friday and Monday, we wanted Monday and Tuesday - so there had to be staff in both days.On the other hand in those days New Years Day was not a Bank Holiday and in Leeds it was Christmas that was the main celebration, we used to work in normally whereas they (Newcastle and Wigan) would be closed - they took a day's annual leave.

pon2cho
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon 18 Apr, 2011 8:16 am

Post by pon2cho »

hi there to all. i worked in the tailoring and they were jewish. but we had our good friday and easter mon & tues. but if the passover clashed with our holidays we would get extra days, but we didn't get paid for having there days off.
brenda littlejohn

User avatar
chameleon
Site Admin
Posts: 5462
Joined: Thu 29 Mar, 2007 6:16 pm

Post by chameleon »

Don't expect to be able to solicit anything from LCC until Wednesday - they seem to still close on Easter Tuesday

Johnny39
Posts: 894
Joined: Mon 11 Jun, 2007 3:54 pm

Post by Johnny39 »

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.
Daft I call it - What's for tea Ma?

raveydavey
Posts: 2886
Joined: Thu 22 Mar, 2007 3:59 pm
Location: The Far East (of Leeds...)
Contact:

Post by raveydavey »

chameleon wrote: Don't expect to be able to solicit anything from LCC until Wednesday - they seem to still close on Easter Tuesday I could be wrong, but I think they apply the same principle on every Bank Holiday Monday.
Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act – George Orwell

majorhoundii
Posts: 404
Joined: Sat 12 Mar, 2011 6:55 am

Post by majorhoundii »

raveydavey wrote: chameleon wrote: Don't expect to be able to solicit anything from LCC until Wednesday - they seem to still close on Easter Tuesday I could be wrong, but I think they apply the same principle on every Bank Holiday Monday. I don't think they have the Tuesday after May Day and I don't think they have the Tuesday after August Bank Holiday.When I first started work, August Bank Holiday was the first Monday in August, and the "Leeds Holidays" were the first two weeks in August. In Morley we had "Morley Feast" which were the second and third week in August. Most Morley firms instead of having Bank Holiday Monday had "Morley Feast Monday"For some reason I never managed to work out (I was only there two years)where I worked we used to get neither.

Leeds-lad
Posts: 347
Joined: Wed 30 Apr, 2008 5:30 pm

Post by Leeds-lad »

chameleon wrote: Don't expect to be able to solicit anything from LCC until Wednesday - they seem to still close on Easter Tuesday The council do not take Tuesdays as Bank Holidays anymore.If LCC employees want Tuesday off they have to take it as part of their Annual leave.
"always expect the unexpected"

majorhoundii
Posts: 404
Joined: Sat 12 Mar, 2011 6:55 am

Post by majorhoundii »

Leeds-lad wrote: chameleon wrote: Don't expect to be able to solicit anything from LCC until Wednesday - they seem to still close on Easter Tuesday The council do not take Tuesdays as Bank Holidays anymore.If LCC employees want Tuesday off they have to take it as part of their Annual leave. Can't speak for Leeds, but I belong to an organisation that uses Dewsbury Town Hall and it is certainly closed on the coming Tuesday and will be closed on the Tuesday after Spring Bank Holiday due to no staff.

Post Reply