diff --git a/_posts/2024-12-13-archer2-festive-period.md b/_posts/2024-12-13-archer2-festive-period.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c6c7f66e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/_posts/2024-12-13-archer2-festive-period.md
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+---
+layout: post
+title: ARCHER2 Festive Period
+date: 2024-12-13 11:00:00
+author: ARCHER2 Support team
+tags: [blog] 
+categories: [news]
+---
+
+
+
+The ARCHER2 Service will observe the UK Public holidays and will be closed for Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.  
+
+<!--more-->
+
+We fully expect the ARCHER2 service to be available during these holidays but we will not have staff on the Service Desk to deal with any queries or issues you may experience. Users will be able to connect to the system and submit jobs as usual. The Service Desk will be open as usual on all other workdays (Monday - Friday from 0800-1800) excluding these holidays.
+
+**Key Dates**:
+
+- **Wednesday 25th December** - ARCHER2 Service Desk Closed
+- **Thursday 26th December** - ARCHER2 Service Desk Closed
+- **Wednesday 1st January** - ARCHER2 Service Desk Closed
+    
+
+As always please contact [support@archer2.ac.uk](mailto:support@archer2.ac.uk) if you have any questions or problems and please check the [ARCHER2 Status page](https://www.archer2.ac.uk/support-access/status.html#service-alerts) for updates
+
+
+
+![image]({{ site.baseurl }}/img/splash/old/211216-festive-w.jpg)
+{: .img-center style="width: 95%" 
+alt="ARCHER2 Festive Period Service information" }
+
+
+
+
+<!--
+
+Image with scaling
+
+![image]({{ site.baseurl }}/img/splash/221117-calendar.jpg)
+{: .img-center style="width: 30%" 
+alt="ARCHER2 calendar 2023" 
+title="ARCHER2 calendar 2023"}
+
+Image with scaling and url link
+
+<a href="https://bit.ly/ARCHER2-Calendar-2023">
+![[image]]({{ site.baseurl }}/img/splash/221117-calendar.jpg)</a>
+{: .img-center style="width: 30%" 
+alt="ARCHER2 calendar 2023" 
+title="ARCHER2 calendar 2023" }
+
+
+
+
+<img src="{{ site.baseurl }}/img/news/210127-IMG_0126.jpg" alt="ARCHER2" title="ARCHER2"/>
+
+<img src="{{ site.baseurl }}/img/logos/euro-cc.jpg" alt="EuroCC" title="EuroCC" align="right" width="10%" />
+
+<a href="https:www        ">
+<img src="{{ site.baseurl }}/img/blog/211030-uk-stats-auth.jpg" alt="ARCHER2" title="ARCHER2" style="width: 30%"   /></a>
+
+
+
+![image]({{ site.baseurl }}/img/blog/210412-systems-blog_pic2.jpg)
+{: .img-center style="width: 60%" 
+alt="ARCHER2" 
+title="ARCHER2"}
+
+
+
+<div>
+
+<iframe title="Video"  width="1000" height="560" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UXHE7ljmhaQ" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
+
+</div>
+
+
+-->
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/img/splash/241201-training-dec24.jpg b/img/splash/241201-training-dec24.jpg
index b0461f65..6a202287 100644
Binary files a/img/splash/241201-training-dec24.jpg and b/img/splash/241201-training-dec24.jpg differ
diff --git a/index.html b/index.html
index 13cafd9d..b5768fed 100755
--- a/index.html
+++ b/index.html
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@
 	<div class="col-md-12">
 	  <div class="block">
 
-		<a href="https://bit.ly/ARCHER2-Calendar-2025"><img style="width: 48%" src="../../img/splash/241010-calendar.jpg" alt="ARCHER2 Calendar 2025" /></a> 																				  
+		<a href="../../news/2024/12/13/archer2-festive-period.html"><img style="width: 48%" src="../../img/splash/231220-festive.jpg" alt="ARCHER2 festive period 2024" /></a> 																				  
 		<a href="../../training/#upcoming-training"><img style="width: 48%" src="../../img/splash/241201-training-dec24.jpg" alt="Upcoming training" /></a> 	
 
 			</div>