Valerie Caine's blog

Local quartet Drogh Yindys was selected to represent the Isle of Man at the annual Pan Celtic International Song Contest in Letterkenny, County Donegal, during the local heat Arrane son Mannin at the Masonic Hall in Peel recently.

The annual candle-lit, musical evening held in Holy Trinity Church in the parish of Patrick, has now become an established event on the Manx calendar, with entertainment provided by local early music group Hartes Ease.

Organised by Michael Heritage Trust, the traditional Oie'll Verree held at the Ebenezer Hall in the village follows a tried and trusted format, which in the age of contemporary entertainment can still muster a full house.

Members of the audience were welcomed by the Chair of Michael Heritage Trust, David Corlett, before returning compére, Zoë Cannell, took to her feet to act as lynch pin between the varied acts on the programme.

The annual ceremony commemorating the anniversary of the death of William Christian took place at Hango Hill, just outside Castletown, close to the site of both his execution and now demolished abode at Ronaldsway.

His death in the seventeenth century has long provoked comment and vitriol, with many still divided on the subject of whether he was a traitor or a patriot.

The much loved, annual Mollag Ghennal, which has its roots in the Garden Room of the old Villa Marina, before the Mollag Band took over the baton from the Calor Gas Ceili Band in 1993, celebrated its twenty fifth anniversary during the festive season.

It's a busy time for those keeping Manx traditions in the spotlight on the Isle of Man when St Stephen's Day (Boxing Day) dawns, with a surge of interest in events this year providing a welcome boost for the future of these important occasions.

This new book, which charts the success of the revolutionary Cunningham's Young Men's Holiday Camp on the Island, is not only informative and revealing, but proves beyond doubt that the concept of the holiday camp began on the Isle of Man.

Annual calendars come in many forms, but there's something a little different in the offing for next year with the release of the Manx Traditions Calendar for 2019 with all proceeds awarded to the Island based charity Crossroads Care.

Designed and created by local artist and ceramist Felicity Wood, her designs are based on a number of Manx traditions throughout the year and her love of Celtic knot work, which she has developed into a modern style.

Those who treated themselves to Maria Darnoult's debut novel, Face The Music, will be delighted to know that the sequel, Crescendo, is now available.

Maria's latest book continues to follow the love story of William Waverley and Hannah Corlett which scandalised the inhabitants of Castletown at the turn of the twentieth century. William, an aging widower, headmaster, church organist, choir master and pillar of local society, raised more than a few eyebrows in the ancient capital when he fell under the spell of a shop girl almost thirty years his junior.

This year's Manx language festival Cooish kicked off with the annual Ned Maddrell Lecture given by the Irish Gaelic academic Tadhg Joseph Ó Ceallaigh, a lecturer in Limerick who explored language education.

He was speaking about the different methods used to teach Irish and how this was integrated into the education system, but revealed he was impressed with the work undertaken on the Island which has revitalised the Manx language.