9 May falls on a Saturday this year and the States confirmed back in 2015 that it would no longer hold an official bank holiday in instances where Liberation Day fell on a weekend.
‘It’s disappointing, if unsurprising. It is a cold confirmation of where our priorities lie,’ said former deputy Chris Green, writing in today’s Guernsey Press.
‘In Guernsey, it has been effectively decided that if freedom doesn’t fall on a Monday-Friday billing cycle, it is not worth the “cost” of a substitute day.
‘By refusing to grant a bank holiday in lieu, we are sending a clear, crushing message – our collective heritage is only worth honouring when it does not interfere with the bottom line.
‘We owe it to the generation that was liberated to ensure that their precious story is not relegated to a weekend activity that competes with the household chores and everything else.
‘Every time we choose productivity over memory, we lose a bit of the island’s soul. People are generally happy to accept public holidays for a royal milestone or religious festivals; but our own unique moment of survival in overcoming Nazi occupation is treated as an optional extra.’
In 2015 then deputy Matt Fallaize led a requete to demand an alternative bank holiday when it fell on a weekend.
It lost on a tied vote at 20-20, following warnings that an extra bank holiday would cost the public purse £250,000.
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