Valerie Caine's blog

The annual World Bonnag Championships was a great opportunity to combine a talent for baking with an evening's entertainment, drawing competitors and onlookers from all parts of the Island.

The Manx bonnag is a simple, un-yeasted bread which once figured prominently upon many farmhouse kitchen tables, but remains a favourite at a number of social gatherings and in some Island households.

Sponsored by Shoprite, the winners were:

There's a fresh, new name on the festival calendar, but behind it a rich background of history and social enterprise.

Celtfest Isle of Man has been organised by Yn Chruinnaght (a group of like-minded individuals who love all things Celtic) and promises to invigorate mid-summer with a selection of new ideas and trusted favourites.

With the success of a local campaign to raise funds for a permanent gravestone at the burial site of one of the Island's unsung heroes, there was an opportunity for some of those involved with the project to view the finished stone before transportation to New York.

Trustees of the William Kennish Memorial Trust, Robert Stimpson and Roy Moore (a descendant of the Kennish family) invited those who had donated to this unique marker along to Manx Memorials in Peel, where Matthew Gregson, who worked on the stone, was on hand to answer questions, together with the trustees.

With daffodils raising their heads well above the parapet, in a seasonal surge of expectation and solidarity, it's a sure sign that the festival season is about to spring into life.

Manx performers will be entertaining audiences both at home and abroad, including the Welsh inter-Celtic festival Cwlwm Celtaidd, headlined by Jamie Smith's Mabon, which includes talented locally based musicians Jamie Smith and Paul Rogers, along with Welsh band Calan who performed in Peel last year.

Despite its title, this book has little to do with Norse mythology, but one of its meanings, 'fearful destruction', is a perfect epitaph of the life-changing consequences of what was termed the Great War.

The effect of war is, by its very nature, manifold, but in her new book Patricia Skillicorn reveals the true picture of how the Island fared during World War I and what became of it at the cessation of conflict; including some valuable first-hand accounts.

There's a special event coming up at Dalby to mark Fairtrade Fortnight, where there's sure to be a warm welcome, along with a film made during a visit to Kathmandu and an opportunity to purchase some tasty Fairtrade products.

As the worldwide achievements of Manx men and women continue to bring international recognition for the Isle of Man, Bob Stimpson and Roy Moore have successfully joined forces, as trustees, to raise funds for a memorial to be dedicated to one of the Island's most prolific inventors.

The campaign's success has now secured shipment of the stone for cutting before transfer to Manx Memorials for specific work on the grave-marker's inscription by Matthew Gregson.

If there's one way of shaking off those winter blues, it's undoubtedly a visit to the hugely successful Scottish festival Celtic Connections, where musicians linked to the Manx music scene showed ticket holders just how vibrant the trad scene is on the Isle of Man.

Based in Glasgow, this annual folk, roots and world music festival attracts more than two thousand musicians from across the globe, for eighteen days of festival fusion and the pick of a staggering three hundred events.

A local charity, challenged with the task of establishing a new project in the village of Patrick, recently held a special candle-lit musical evening to help raise funds for their vision regarding the World War I internment camp previously based at Knockaloe Moar Farm.

Holy Trinity Church, at the heart of the village's community, became the venue for a concert of music performed by the local, early music group Hartes Ease, who delighted everyone with a range of songs and tunes.

This year the annual Reih Bleeaney Vanannan (Manannan's Choice of the Year), presented by Culture Vannin, has been awarded to the hard working Michael Players, who, during a period of more than sixty years have brought their unique presentation and promotion of Manx dialect theatre into the community.

The idea of reviving the tradition came after World War II when Miss Mary Cannell began producing plays for the Manx branch of the Celtic Congress. They were also produced by Mrs Edna Cooil and enjoyed occasional tours beyond the fringe of Kirk Michael, where they were based.