Easter Break Dilemma

Everyone at LDSTS actually took a day off for Easter Sunday – but it will be all systems go again on Monday!

The main problem with working through the Easter break is the large volume of traffic we have to contend with on the roads. Yesterday, for instance, there was a dreadful crash on the M6 between Junctions 16 and 17, and the motorway was closed in both directions for at least three hours. I’m sure you can imagine the tailbacks this caused and we had real problems reaching the Sandbach Roadchefs to refill our stands. However, we eventually sneaked in through the back entrances - much to the surprise of the staff!

Apparently, this has been the earliest Easter for 95 years and, although it won’t happen again for another 220 years, it has led to calls for a fixed date to be introduced to minimise disruption to the tourism industry (and others). At present, Easter Sunday can be anything from 22nd March to 25th April but it would seem that many hoteliers in the UK would prefer a definite date some time in mid-April. There is something called the Easter Act, which provides for Easter to fall on the first Sunday after the second Saturday in April, but it can only be brought into effect if Christian churches around the world agree.

The poor weather this year has also caused some major headaches and means that many businesses will open for only a couple of days and then close again for a few weeks.

Would a unified spring holiday around the first weekend in April (not linked to the religious festival) be preferable? Perhaps Good Friday and Easter Monday shouldn't be bank holidays? Surely, this would be far more sensible from the point of view of both employers and schools. What do others think?