Wakes postcards

Found these postcards in the Rochdale museum a while ago and have only just got round to scanning them. They are reproductions of some old cards that were found in a local post office, from a time when workers would be lucky to get one or two weeks a year to go on holiday. During Wakes week, all the mills in a town would close and everyone would go away at the same time. Each town had its Wakes at a different time so the local resorts weren't overwhelmed. Rochdale Wakes used to be the last week of June and the first week of July, which was great because you could get a cheap holiday before the rest of the schools in the country closed for the summer.