New UK bank holiday ‘planned for next year’ as Brits to be given four-day weekend marking 80th anniversary of WW2 ending
A NEW bank holiday is reportedly planned for next year with Brits to be given a four-day weekend marking the 80th anniversary of WW2 ending.
Britain will thank all those who fought the Nazis and Japan with a four-day jamboree in either May or August.
No decision has been made yet on which date it will be, but an announcement is imminent, the Express reports.
May 8 marks Victory in Europe Day, when the Allies accepted Nazi Germany’s surrender, while August 15 marks the day Imperial Japan surrendered.
That brought to an end the six years of the most destructive war in human history which saw 450,000 Brits die.
It is understood the government’s plans under discussion could see May 9 and 12 wiped free to allow nationwide celebrations, or August 22 bolted on to make the summer bank holiday on August 25 a four-day festival.
That would allow communities across Britain to celebrate the milestone event.
Next year will be the last chance for a major celebration with dwindling numbers of the Greatest Generation alive.
Only 70,000 veterans who fought in a myriad of ways remain with us, with some appearing at Normandy earlier this year to mark 80 years since D-Day.
Geoff Roberts, veteran of Operation Market Garden, said: “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 Scott was 17 on D-Day and worked in a top secret underground bunker passing coded messages from military chiefs to soldiers landing on the beaches.
The 98-year-old said: “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.”
D-Day celebrations in June saw King Charles represent the country only hours after receiving care for cancer.
The 75-year-old monarch was in a London hospital on Tuesday but remained keen to join veterans the next day and “lead from the front”.
He gave a passionate speech at the British Normandy Memorial where the names of 22,442 heroes who died are etched.
He hailed the generation who “did not flinch” when the moment to act came. And he urged the world to learn from the past, calling on free nations to “stand together to oppose tyranny”.
Eight decades on, The Many are now The Few, with the youngest in their late 90s.
Only 44 veterans were still fit and well enough to return to the beaches to honour the 22,442 killed under British command between June and August, 1944.
Other recent one-off bank holidays have also been held in summer.
The late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee was celebrated between June 2 and 5, while the day of her funeral, September 19, was also made a bank holiday.
Britain also enjoyed an extra bank holiday for the coronation of King Charles with May 8 declared a public holiday two days after the crowning ceremony at Westminster Abbey.
Next year eight public holidays are scheduled.