Are we getting a brand new financial institution vacation in 2025? Britons have their say on plans for a four-day weekend within the coming months
Brits have had their say on whether a new bank holiday should be introduced in 2025.
It’s not unusual for the country to be treated to days off in commemoration – including the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee which was celebrated between June 2 and 5.
To add to that, the day of her funeral, September 19, was also made a bank holiday.
In May 2020, communities across the UK came out to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day, with neighbours staging socially distanced street parties amid the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Three years later, in May 2023, street parties were once again held to mark the Coronation of King Charles.
And in June 2022, Brits enjoyed a bumper series of bank holiday celebrations as part of Queen Elizabeth II‘s Platinum Jubilee bonanza.
Now, an overwhelming number of Brits have said they would support a new bank holiday to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War next year.
In a poll conducted by the Mirror, 73 per cent of respondents backed having a special day, whilst just 13 per cent were opposed to a day marking the end of global hostilities and peace at last.
Brits have had their say on whether or not we should introduce a new bank holiday in 2025
Union Jacks and flags of Commonwealth countries decorate The Mall leading to Buckingham Palace on the eve of the coronation of King Charles III
Londoners celebrate VE Day in 1945 – when Nazi Germany surrendered, finally ending the war in Europe
After being asked, ‘do you believe that younger generations know enough, too little or too much about the sacrifices made by their predecessors during WWII?’, 66 per cent said they thought young people were not as aware as they should be.
And just 20 per cent thought the younger generation knew the right amount about the suffering and sacrifice British people endured during the war.
If the UK were to celebrate the anniversary, it would mark the heroics of the ‘Greatest Generation’ who fought against Hitler and the Nazis in Europe and Africa, and Imperial Japan in Asia.
Earlier this year, it was reported that as part of a big year of events, a four-day jamboree will reportedly be staged either in May or August.
No decision has yet been made on which date will host the celebration, but an announcement is said to be imminent.
May 8 marks Victory in Europe Day, when the Allies accepted Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender, while August 15 marks the day Japan surrendered, effectively ending the Second World War.
It’s understood plans are being discussed by the Government which could see May 9 and May 12 wiped free to allow nationwide celebrations – or August 22 added to the traditional summer bank holiday on August 25 to create a four-day weekend.
It’s hoped the dates will provide the nation a landmark opportunity to pay tribute to Second World War heroes still alive today.
A new bank holiday is planned which could see communities coming together to throw street parties to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War (pictured: Gosport, Hampshire, partying during the King’s Coronation bank holiday)
Ronald Hendrey salutes as he visits the headstone of a comrade at the Bayeux War Cemetery on June 5 this year. He is one of the few WW2 veterans who was able to attend the D-Day event
King Charles paid tribute to the ‘remarkable wartime generation’ who made the ultimate sacrifice to keep the world safe from tyranny on the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings
Military aircraft fly over the beach at Arromanches in Normandy as they travelled over the northern coast of France to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day in June
Second World War veteran Len Gibbon, 96, stands to watch a Spitfire fly over the Care for Veterans site in Worthing, Sussex, to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day in 2020
While millions served in the war, precious few are alive in 2024, with about 70,000 people who fought between 1939 to 1945 remaining today, with some appearing in Normandy earlier this year to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
And as numbers of the Greatest Generation continue to dwindle, it is thought this will be the last major opportunity for people to give their thanks directly to those who fought in the Second World War.
Geoff Roberts, 99, a veteran of Operation Market Garden, said back in November: ‘I think it’s very important in these current times we remember those that gave their lives for our freedom and peace in Europe.
‘We should never forget them. Maybe an extra bank holiday will help to remind people about what’s happened in the past.’
Marie Scot, 98, was 17 on D-Day and worked in a secret underground bunker passing coded messages from military top brass to their troops landing on the beaches – all while hearing the battle as it raged on the beaches in Normandy.
Speaking of next year’s bank holiday celebrations, she told the Express: ‘An additional bank holiday would be an opportunity to thank all those wonderful people who made such a spectacular victory possible because, without them, the future could have been very dire indeed.’
Speaking to commemorate the D-Day veterans in Normandy in June, he expressed his ‘profound sense of gratitude’ for the men and woman ‘who did not flinch when the moment came to face that test’
Geoff Roberts, 99, was a hero of Operation Market Garden. He has welcomed new bank holiday plans to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War
Marie, 98, was 17 on D-Day and worked in a secret underground bunker passing coded messages from commanders to their troops on the beaches of Normandy
This home in Cambridgeshire was illuminated with the Royal family and Winston Churchill to mark VE Day during the last major commemoration in 2020
Pictured are Jane and Toby Lyde outside their house in Tooting on the 75th Anniversary of VE Day, London in 2020
The monarch, who has this year faced a battle against cancer, described the ‘supreme test’ faced by the troops, in reference to the speech made by his grandfather, George VI, who broadcast to the nation 80 years ago: ‘Once more a supreme test has to be faced. This time the challenge is not to fight to survive, but to fight to win the final victory for the good cause.’
He also spoke of the importance of remembering what the War taught us: ‘We recall the lesson that comes to us again and again across the decades: Free nations must stand together to oppose tyranny.’
During his passionate speech at the British Normandy Memorial where the names of 22,442 heroes who died are etched, the monarch hailed the generation for being the ones who ‘did not flinch’ when the moment to act came.
He closed: ‘Our gratitude is unfailing and our admiration eternal.’
