Manx Government Value Our Culture - It Was Not Always So!

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NEWS FROM THE CELTIC LEAGUE

MANX GOVERNMENT VALUE OUR CULTURE – IT WAS NOT ALWAYS SO!

Another release arrives from Culture Vannin about the coming joint effort by Mann with Cornwall in fielding a major presence at the Lorient festival in Brittany . The release refers to a visit to Mann by ‘French’ media to get some background ahead of the event.

Unfortunately I could not find a link on the CV website at present but I’m sure our friends at ‘Crowndependency’ website will not mind me linking to them as they have posted the release in full (here):

https://www.facebook.com/crowndependencypoliticalnews/posts/945419015479...

The media in question appear to be Breton based including TV station FR3 which effectively is like the UK ITV which provides cross country coverage on a regional basis. The good thing about FR3 is its regional programming tends to also be picked up by TV5 Monde (the equivalent of the BBC World Service) and if this were the case with this material the potential audience runs to many hundreds of millions globally.

I was quite taken by the amount of government support for the Manx Lorient venture. Obviously ‘the usual suspects’ are there like IOM Arts Council, Culture Vannin. MNH etc but also main stream Manx Government Departments like DEC (Department of Education and Children), DEFA (Department of the Environment, Food and Agriculture) and the DED (Department of Economic Development). It is quite amazing what a transformation in attitude has taken place within the Manx government to Manx culture and its value.

In a few days time many of the musicians and dancers scheduled to depart for Lorient in August will polish their skills publicly as an integral part of Tynwald Day and indeed Tynwald Week. It was not always so!

I was reminded of this when I stumbled on an article in Carn 59 (1987) which reported that musicians and dancers were not welcome at Tynwald that year.

Ahead of Tynwald in February 1987 the Tynwald Arrangements Committee had refused to allocate plots for music and dancing. The resourceful group ‘Sleih Gyn Thie’ got around this by booking a stall for the sale of books etc and dancing nearby much to the ire of officialdom which went as far as a veiled threat to one member of the group employed by government.

Link: Carn 59 Autumn 1987 Page 21 – ‘Tynwald Day - Disturbing Restrictions’:

http://www.celticleague.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Carn%2059%20Summe...

It seems like an age away now but it was less than thirty years ago!

J B Moffatt (Mr)

Director of Information
Celtic League

27/06/15

(Please note that replies to correspondence received by the League and posted on CL News are usually scanned hard copies. Obviously every effort is made to ensure the scanning process is accurate but sometimes errors do occur.)

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