Blogs

Here on the Isle of Man, the annual Shennaghys Jiu festival will be celebrating its twenty first anniversary (30th March - 2nd April). Predominantly based in Ramsey (with a special concert in Peel on Sunday afternoon), organisers are planning to highlight a wide range of local talent in conjunction with a continuous development of the festival atmosphere.

The Get Creative Festival (https://getcreativeuk.com/) 17th to 25th March, aims to shine a light on all the fantastic cultural activity which takes place across Britain, encouraging everyone to have a go at something new and imaginative.

During the festival, the Isle of Man Branch of the Embroiderers’ Guild will be holding a Celebrate Stitch Day from 10.00am until 4.00 pm on Saturday 24th March at St Andrew’s Hall, St Ninian’s, Douglas.

The following statement has just been received from C4C:

Dear Friend,

Last weekend (10 March 2018) the event ‘Planning for People or Profit?’ was attended by scores of town and parish councillors environmental associations, local action groups and other activists in Cornwall. The common concern to everyone is over-development and a Planning system that strongly favours profit-seeking housing corporations over the needs of communities.

Kernow

12 III 2018

The following statement has been received from Cornish Solidarity:

Cornish Solidarity was pleased to take an active role to demonstrate its support for Cornwall 4 Change and the Community Voice on Planning (COVOP).

We were able to join everyone in welcoming Cornwall Councillors Rob Nolan and Loveday Jenkin and a number of town and parish councillors along as observers.

Scottish tennis star Andy Murray, a three-time Grand Slam tournament winner and two-time Olympic champion, is among a group of celebrities who have called on the UK government to use new trade freedom powers after Brexit to ban all fur imports. They have sent an open letter to a Sunday newspaper pointing out that it is hypocritical that fur farming was banned in the UK but that products could still be imported. They write :“If fur is too cruel to produce in this country, it’s too cruel to sell in this country.

Elections have just taken place to the Legislative Council (Manx: Yn Choonceil Slattyssagh), which is the upper chamber of Tynwald, the legislature of the Isle of Man (Mannin). It is often referred to as "LegCo". To be more accurate they are less elections and more sham elections. The LegCo consists of eleven Members (MLCs): Eight elected members and three ex officio members made up of the Bishop of Sodor and Man, the President of Tynwald, who has the casting vote, and the Attorney General, who is non-voting.

There was a feverish, expectant ripple amongst the audience at the Centenary Centre as they awaited the phenomenally talented band Holy Moly and the Crackers, but before this everyone was thoroughly entertained by local singer/songwriter Rhiannon Jade. Her soulful rendition of original compositions (except for a Bob Dylan piece) revealed a new name to watch in the future, with a powerful projection and excellent diction reverberating around the recently decorated entertainment centre, which fell silent in tribute to her undoubted talent.

Ireland's Taoiseach (Prime Minister) is undertaking his customary visit to the United States this week ahead of the St Patrick's day celebrations. Today he will be visiting the Choctaw Native Americans in Durant, Oklahoma. He will thank the Native American community for a remarkable act of kindness, when, in 1847, at the height of the Great Famine, the Choctaw community sent $170 to Ireland to help the poor and the starving. This at a time when the native American people's own position was very precarious.

C4C - CoVoC Conference a resounding success!

An excellent conference was organised on Saturday 10th March, 2018 at Crossroads, Scorrier, Redruth organised by Cornwall4Change and Community Voice On Planning.

Extremely well attended including by many KMTU members, the room was crowded with scores of those concerned at the amount of house building going on in Cornwall which is destroying all that is held dear.

Cwll Cllrs Loveday Jenkin and Rob Nolan were present in the audience along with dozens of town and parish councillors.

The Marble Arch Caves are a series of natural limestone caves located near the village of Florencecourt (Irish: Mullach na Seangánin) in County Fermanagh  (Contae Fhear Manach) in the north of Ireland. They are close to a natural limestone arch called Marble Arch, under which the Cladagh River flows and from where the caves get their name. The caves are formed from three rivers draining off the northern slopes of Cuilcagh mountain, which combine underground to form the Cladagh.