Bank Holidays are like buses- you wait ages for one before they all come along at once. Tomorrow will be our fourth state-mandated day off since the 18th April. It might be another golden opportunity to head to B & Q and buy bags of compost. But isn’t it all a bit much?

Don’t get me wrong. I love Bank Holidays, and I think we should have more of them. But why do so many of them come in an April and May cluster? After tomorrow we have nothing till late August – and then no more until Christmas.

Reinstating Whit Monday would be a welcome affirmation that we are not ashamed of our Christian heritage

Why is this? In the late 1960s and early 1970s, we substituted the old Whit Monday Bank Holiday, which often fell in June, with a new, secular ‘Late Spring Bank Holiday’. Getting rid of Whitsun probably seemed terribly modern in the Sixties. But like Dr Beeching’s axe of  branch railway lines and replacing Dixon of Dock Green with Z Cars, was it really such a good idea?

At least the early May Bank Holiday- introduced in 1978 – has some significance: May Day to maypole enthusiasts and Labour Day to socialists. More importantly, it’s the World Snooker Championships Final Day.

But what does the ‘Late Spring Bank Holiday’ signify? Nada. Just another football play-off final. For most of us it means another Monday at DIY outlets, so soon after the last one. It is a problem when it comes to Bank Holidays that Easter is a moveable feast. But at least we know Whitsun always comes seven weeks after Easter.

Scrapping the ‘Late Spring Bank Holiday’ and reinstating Whit Monday would be a welcome affirmation that we are not ashamed of our Christian heritage. Britain is a multi-faith country, but Christianity is still our most popular religion. Whitsun – or Pentecost as it’s known elsewhere-  is an important date in the Christian calendar, commemorating the descent of the Holy Spirit. Rather shamefully we no longer officially observe it.  Christmas and Easter were too big for the secularists to topple; poor old Whitsun has been the fall-guy.

There are so many lovely, joyful traditions associated with Whitsun, as opposed to its soulless Bank Holiday successor. Parades, processions and fairs, children dressed in their new set of clothes, music and dancing and ‘Whit Walks’ in the north. Going back to the Middle Ages, the week following Whitsuntide was one of the three weeks’ holiday for medieval serfs, along with Yuletide and Eastertide. You don’t have to be overly religious to mourn the demise of Whitsun and be sad that its customs no longer command the national attention they once did. Ask anyone under 50: ‘What is Whitsun and when is it? and the chances are you’ll receive a blank look.

What a pity. On the continent, many European countries have kept Pentecost as a public holiday. The irony is that we did too, until just about the time we joined the then EEC. After 100 years Whit Monday lost its Bank Holiday status in 1972. We joined Europe, but became less European. But it doesn’t have to stay like this.

If we’d have kept Whitsun, the Bank Holiday this year would instead have been on Monday 9th June, two weeks later and a bigger gap since the last one we had, on 5th May. Under the current system, we have no Bank Holidays at all in either June or July.

Bringing back Whit Monday wouldn’t always mean a June day off. An early Easter could mean the holiday would be even closer to May Day. Last year, Whit Monday fell on 20th May. In 2026 it would be 24th May and in 2027 16th May. But in 2028, 2030 and 2031, and this year, it would be in June.

Would anyone really miss the ‘Late Spring Bank Holiday’ if we showed it the red card and brought back Whit Monday? It would be a welcome nod to tradition – and we could still go to B & Q to get that bag of compost if we needed to.