Alastair Kneale's blog

Isle of Man Post Office (Manx: Oik Postagh Ellan Vannin), in collaboration with the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company (Manx: Sheshaght Phaggad Bree Ellan Vannin) and Biosphere IOM, have issued a twelve stamp issue. The stamps celebrate the Manx National Anthem ‘O Land of Our Birth’. The images on the stamps are taken from twelve winning photographs selected from a recent competition titled ‘O Land of Our Birth’. The final choice of images reference the words of the national anthem.

A recent article by the Mannin Branch of the Celtic League draws attention to a shocking proposal by the Manx Environment Minister Geoffrey Boot to import Grey Partridge to the Isle of Man. The purpose being so that hunters can shoot them! This revolting proposal stands in stark contrast to those that truly support nature conservation. Not least the great work of pioneering Welsh naturalist and ornithologist Peter Hope Jones recently reported on by Transceltic.

NEWS RELEASE FROM CULTURE VANNIN:

Jeelane Tootagh - Diary of a Wimpy Kid now published in Manx!

Best-selling Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney is now available in the Manx language.

News from the Celtic League:

An alarming news item has been published by the Celtic League into an ecological disaster that is at present unfolding south of the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean. A massive fleet of mainly Chinese trawlers have spread a wall of nets some 350 kilometres (218 miles). Effectively a 'wall of death' for fish, sharks and marine mammals.  The article by Bernard Moffatt can be read below:

"A Net Wall Stretching 350 KM Spells Destruction For Marine Life

Media release from Culture Vannin:

More creative projects underway as part of Culture Vannin’s #treisht2020 scheme

The first round of #treisht2020 projects launched by Culture Vannin was so successful that it has been repeated. The scheme re-purposes grant and development money from cancelled events and projects, offering creative projects primarily to freelancers who need the work, with the option for original ideas to be proposed.

In 2008 the Isle of Man Post Office Manx: Oik Postagh Ellan Vannin) issued a set of stamps to celebrate the links among the Celtic nations. The set of stamps were presented at Lorient Interceltique Festival in Brittany that year. The eight stamps featured the National flags of Ireland (Éire), Scotland (Alba), Isle of Man (Mannin), Wales (Cymru), Cornwall (Kernow), Brittany (Breizh), Galicia and Asturias.

Tynwald Day (Manx: Laa Tinvaal), the National Day of the Isle of Man (Mannin) is held on the 5th of July. It is traditionally when the government for the Isle of Man go to Tynwald Hill to read a summary of the laws passed over the last year. Although the Tynwald fair and ceremony is this year taking place tomorrow and has been scaled down due to the coronavirus pandemic.  The reading is given in Manx Gaelic and English. The artificial hill, which is thought to have started as a Bronze Age burial mound, is made up of four circular platforms.

Speaking at the Downing Street press briefing, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that: "Instead of quarantining arrivals from the whole world, we will only quarantine arrivals from those countries where the virus is sadly not under control."  The result is that people travelling from a named list of 59 places and 14 British overseas territories will not have to quarantine on arrival in England unless they have travelled through a place which is not exempt.

NEWS RELEASE FROM CULTURE VANNIN: 

The Voyage of Odin’s Raven now online

The story of sailing of a Viking longship from Norway to the Isle of Man 41 years ago is one of the most unusual and fascinating Manx tales of modern times.

Now it is available online thanks to a full reading of a wonderful account written by a member of the crew.

Northumbria was one of the most important kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England, lying north of the River Humber. The name derives from the Old English Norþan-hymbre meaning "the people or province north of the Humber". The dates for the Kingdom of Northumbria are often given as 654-954 AD, although others give an earlier date for its founding of 547. This Kingdom experienced a period of significant expansion, including into the Celtic lands of the Picts and Gaels in present day Scotland.