THE people I feel most sorry for this week are teachers. The poor lambs have to end their summer holidays and go back to work like the rest of us.

And the crushingly bad news for them is that there is not a half term holiday in sight until the end of next month. Gosh how will they all cope?

Yes, here I go being facetious again about a very valuable profession. And before they all send me letters threatening to put me in detention, I do value the work they do for us. I couldn’t control a classroom full of kids all day long, so I take my hat off to the sirs and ma’ams who perform one of the most important tasks in our society.

But equally, they have to admit they do get a lot of holiday. I calculate about 13 weeks. Even taking away the extra hours preparing for classes, this still is substantially more than the rest of us.

Now, I also accept this perk is why some go into the job in the first place, and that their holidays are always having to be taken in high season.

But they must also accept their bosses, the county council, are in a terrible financial fix and are having to make savage cuts to services.

So how about this idea: each teacher has to give up say two weeks of leave per year to perform (for free) a community function such as special literacy classes to help adults find jobs. Or how about the council hires out their teaching services for these two extra weeks to bring extra income in for taxpayers?

Of course, it will be a sacrifice, but seeing as the rest of the county is having to make equally hard sacrifices, it would be the teachers’ way of giving us a wonderful lesson in altruism.