Valerie Caine's blog

There's a special treat for ornithologists later this month, with a joint presentation organised by members of both the Manx Ornithological Society and the local charity Manx Bird Life.

This inaugural conference, which celebrates the Island's population of wild birds, will be introduced by the Lieutenant Governor, Sir Richard Gozney, before a number of experts will discuss a range of subjects at the Manx Museum lecture theatre.

With Cornwall's international Celtic festival, Lowender Peran, firmly ensconced in its new location in Newquay, both singers, dancers, musicians and visitors (including those from the Isle of Man) will converge on the Atlantic Hotel, for a festival which has long held ties with the Island.

As in previous years, organisers of this popular festival will shoe horn a large number of family-friendly events into a five day period, with some free time to explore the surrounding area and sample a selection of typical Cornish fare.

If you're aged 10 - 18 and have a creative flair for music, song, dance, or storytelling, you are warmly invited to join a number of local tutors at Culture Vannin's Bree workshop weekend at the Youth Arts Centre in Douglas, on the 29th and 30th October.

As the breathtaking scenery of Cape Breton Island takes on a rich mantle of vibrant colour during its most spectacular season, the twentieth anniversary Celtic Colours Festival will also be attracting many visitors and musicians - including two groups from the Isle of Man.

Local favourites Mec Lir and Barrule made a memorable impact at the annual event on previous occasions, and have been invited back especially for the anniversary celebration.

The Swedish folk dance group Sunnerbogillet recently completed an exchange visit as guests of their long-term friends in the Manx Folk Dance Society, with time in their schedule for joint displays at the Quarter Deck in Port Erin and Laxey Square.

Members of the Manx Folk Dance Society travelled to Ljungby in southern Sweden during 2015, where they visited the Europeade Folk Dance Festival in the town of Helsingborg, on the Baltic coast.

After the Island's phenomenal success at last year's Lorient Inter-Celtic Festival, which put the Isle of Man firmly on the map for hundreds of thousands of visitors to the event, Manx officials and entertainers will be mixing with their antipodean cousins at the start of this month.

It has been ten years since Australia was designated as the honoured country, but with substantial emigration from countries such as Scotland, Ireland and the Isle of Man, approximately half of its population can lay claim to Celtic roots.

As the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway reaches its one hundred and fortieth anniversary, debate still rages about its future, although many of the issues raised during recent discussion are reflected throughout its long history.

Requiring an Act of Tynwald, the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway was created by entrepreneur Thomas Lightfoot in 1876, after he retired to Douglas. A Yorkshireman by birth, Lightfoot's other notable achievements included the first Woodhead Railway Tunnel.

If you're looking for somewhere vibrant, family-friendly and entertaining at the beginning of August, then you need look no further than the west coast of the Island, as the town of Peel prepares for its annual carnival and the Traditional Boat Weekend.

There's more of an international feel to this year's Peel Carnival, with the introduction of Viva Brasil, an exotic troupe of feather-clad, costumed, Brazilian samba dancers, who will be promoting the event and joining the popular afternoon parade.

Currently teaching at Harvard University, internationally famous photographer, Chris Killip, recently returned to the Isle of Man for the opening of a new exhibition of his work at the Manx Museum, and to present a sell out talk about his life and work.

His seminal work The Isle of Man: A Book About the Manx, published in 1980, captured a view of Manx life which was soon to disappear, focusing on a rural community through the lens of a plate camera, and the stark black and white images, with which Chris Killip made an indelible mark in the photographic world.

A recent exhibition organised by members of Rushen Heritage Trust, focusing on the hey-day of tourism in the south of the Island, attracted a large number of visitors to Port Erin; many of whom reminisced about those halcyon days.

Situated in St Catherine's Church Hall, a stone's throw from Port Erin Bay, the organisation's volunteers had brought together a wealth of information and memories describing how visitors entertained themselves in Port Erin, Port St Mary and beyond.