We welcome Lord Goldsmith’s proposal for a new national public holiday to celebrate ‘Britishness’. Britain has fewer public holidays than any other European country except Romania, with just eight days a year, so a new holiday would enjoy huge public support. But a ‘Britishness’ day that is just a flag waving exercise would be a missed opportunity, as it would fail to bring the people together in the way that a well-thought out new holiday could do. Instead, the new day should celebrate our great tradition of helping others by bringing together community groups, charities, sporting groups and all the other people whose efforts enrich our lives for a day of celebration.

Lord Goldsmith’s review identified volunteering and community work as one of the corner stones of British citizenship and made recommendations to get more people involved. Why not give volunteering and community work the boost it needs by making it the focus of a new Community Day public holiday during the autumn half term break?

Signed:
Brendan Barber, TUC General Secretary
Stuart Etherington, Chief Executive, National Council for Voluntary Organisations
Justin Davis Smith, Chief Executive, Volunteering England
Kevin Curley, Chief Executive, National Association for Voluntary and Community Action
Dame Elisabeth Hoodless, Executive Director, Community Service Volunteers