Wakes Weeks

It has to be admitted that the link between BAYKO and the social phenomenon of Wakes Weeks is not immediately obvious, but it's there nonetheless, if only in the train of thought which fired in my little brain. The recent acquisition [isn't eBay wonderful!] of the 1966 BAYKO Stock Reorder Form, or, more accurately the MECCANO General Products Reorder Form which is on the flip side, the heading of which can be seen immediately below.

The above isn't the only document, of MECCANO origin, which announces the dates of their factory closure to Wakes Weeks sceptics, and, more significantly, to toy shop owners to step up the pace on their next order of assorted MECCANO products.

As far as I'm aware, Plimpton Engineering did not subscribe to the Wakes Weeks concept, though, possibly due to their longer pedigree, clearly MECCANO came closer, though, outside Wakes Weeks areas, factory closures for a couple of weeks weren't exactly unusual. According to my brother in law, who has lived in various bits of Liverpool over the last 1,000 years, Wakes Weeks were not a scouse thing. In contrast his wife, my sister, worked in Widnes [which is next door to Liverpool] since the mid 1970s, and remembers Wakes Weeks features, including her own workplace shutdown.

Personally, as a Lancastrian, I grew up with Wakes Weeks as part of my DNA, and it wasn't until I went up to town, as the patronising phrase has it, that I realised there are such things as Wakes Weeks deniers. So what what exactly are Wakes Weeks?

According to Wikipedia - "The Wakes Week is a holiday period in parts of England and Scotland. Originally a religious celebration or feast, the tradition of the Wakes Week developed." In reality, the major regions which particularly [but not exclusively] adopted this strategy were North West England, plus Glasgow in Scotland.

Simplistically, by the time of my appearance on the planet in 1950, in towns which adopted Wakes Weeks [for a fortnight] the town closed :-

The earliest record of the concept of Wakes Weeks, that I can find, is, unbelievably, from Glasgow in 1190, yes 1190, just for completeness, that really is 1190(!) and no, that's not just a silly way of saying half past twelve.

The Wakes Week concept, as it embraced, or was embraced by, the industrial and then transport revolutions in the nineteenth century, was a popular concept for a number of reasons : -

† There are examples [Huddersfield] of engineering firms taking 'Engineering Weeks', at a different time to the Wakes Weeks, to facilitate this.

As an aside, from time-to-time, people float strange proposals to alter the way school holidays are structured, particularly the long summer one. The bean counters have moved us away from Wakes Weeks shutdowns, for "Just in Time" and inventory management reasons, and that's fine, but lets incorporate one of the covid lessons into our thoughts.
People who can't work from home are in roles where their presence is necessary. Enabling them to go on holiday requires [sometimes] complex rotas and organisation to ensure their role continues in their absence. I'm aware that the same is true for some home workers, but that adds to, rather than detracts from, my argument that playing with holiday timing and structures ain't as simple as some idiots people would have us believe.