Valerie Caine's blog

The launch of The Mollag Band's new CD, Afloat, took place on the final day of Yn Chruinnaght as part of events being held on the forecourt of the House of Manannan in Peel, where a large crowd gathered to hear the popular local band, followed by a selection of other Celtic musicians and dancers.

Bathed in warm, summer sunshine the seven-strong Mollag Band presented a selection of songs and tunes based on their extensive repertoire, including material from their new CD.

This year's inter-Celtic Manx festival, Yn Chruinnaght, promises a bumper bundle of events during mid July, but to get you in the mood there'll be a selection of Manx, Irish and Menorcan dance displays in the Mooragh Park and the annual Ian O'Leary Lecture in Ramsey as part of the celebrations for Manx National Week.

Largely based in Peel, the festival provides a great opportunity to hear some talented musicians from both at home and abroad and learn something new, with a number of events free of charge.

The annual Ned Maddrell Lecture took place this year at Tynwald Mills in St John's with guest speaker, Finbarr Bradley, discussing The Manx Creative Edge: Why Authenticity and Place Matter.

With this year's TT races well underway, Culture Vannin has released an updated version of their successful Manx Gaelic guide, which provides a variety of key phrases for visiting bikers.

The guide, which has been supported by local mobile phone company Sure IOM, contains translations for phrases such as 'mist on the mountain road' (Kay er Giat y Clieau) and 'Mad Sunday' (Jedoonee Keoi).

The National Mills Weekend, organised by the Mills Section of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, is a popular annual festival celebrating the milling heritage of the British Isles, providing a unique opportunity to visit a large selection of windmills and watermills.

Until the advent of the steam engine, windmills and watermills provided the only source of power for a number of processes, but here on the Isle of Man little remains of this once vibrant industrial heritage, with many of the mills having fallen into neglect.

The sinking of the luxurious liner Lusitania just off the Old Head of Kinsale in Ireland in 1915 by a German submarine resulted in the loss of 1,201 lives. A significant turning point during World War I, the doomed vessel sank in just eighteen minutes, but this year the curator of The Leece Museum in Peel, Roy Baker, will be speaking at the annual commemorative service for the first time about the heroic involvement of a Manx fishing boat, PL11 The Wanderer, in the rescue of passengers and crew.

Manx born poet Thomas Edward Brown (colloquially known as T. E. Brown), will be remembered by members of the World Manx Association as they gather in Glen Falcon Gardens, off Broadway in Douglas, for an annual garlanding ceremony on his birthday, 5th May.

Born in Douglas in 1830, T. E. Brown attended King William’s College before gaining a double first at Christ Church, Oxford, and entering the teaching profession, eventually retiring as Master of Clifton College in Bristol in 1892.

There’ll be plenty of activity in Peel and the west during the early May Bank Holiday weekend (3rd – 5th May), with the third Western Open Studio Art Trail offering some new and colourful developments as part of their celebration of the visual arts.

This annual festival has proved a popular addition to the local events calendar, and will include more than forty artists from all over the Island who will be exhibiting and demonstrating their work in over eighteen venues.

Manx group Shenn Scoill scored a win for the Isle of Man in last night’s Pan Celtic International Song Contest (the Island’s first victory in the competition’s history) with their evocative composition Tayrn Mee Thie (Drawing Me Home), winning €3,000.

Held as part of the 43rd Pan Celtic Festival, the annual event crossed the Irish border for the first time in its history this year, as the annual celebration moved to the city of Derry in Northern Ireland.

As Ireland prepares to celebrate the millennium of the Battle of Clontarf, Isle of Man Stamps has issued a set of six stamps to commemorate one of the most definitive battles of Irish history.

But the Isle of Man is closely linked to this event by the Vikings Bródir and Óspak, who gathered a substantial army of men in the western port of Peel before heading off to fight, taking with him a large number of Manx Vikings.

And although stories differ in the retelling, it is suspected that they were implicated in the death of Brian Boru.