TT on iMuseum and TT Films

With TT 2013 starting this Saturday, iMuseum gives fans access to hundreds of photographs, news articles and objects from previous race years, right back to when racing started in 1907.  Go to www.imuseum.im or visit iMuseum (next to the Manx Museum, Douglas) to:

·         Look at images from the Island’s National Photographic Archive and objects such as the Suzuki RG 500 motorcycle ridden by Mike Hailwood in 1979. 

·         Explore TT & MGP is a database that lets you search for race, rider and machine.

·         Read articles from the Manx newspapers and the TT Special for 1907 to 1961.

·         Tell us about your TT memories by clicking on Your Stories.

The Manx Museum also brings fans some unmissable film showings this TT week including 'TT Legends', an exclusive film following the Honda TT Legends throughout the 2012 racing season, showing from 27^th May to 8^th June. 

Two film showings and talk shows will take place on Mad Sunday, during a special Sunday opening of the Manx Museum. Marking the 90th anniversary of sidecar racing at the Isle of Man TT Races a showing of Cabell Hopkins short film ‘No Ordinary Passenger’ joined by former world champion Stan Dibben and TT legend Dave Molyneux. 'A Dangerous Addiction', a documentary film by Al Jazeera, will be followed by racing banter in an interactive Q&A session with the filmmakers, joined by team managers Hector Neil and Wilson Craig, TT racer John Ingram and TT winner Milky Quayle. 

Tickets are £10 per screening available now from the Manx Museum and online, with all profits to The Rob Vine Fund, The Joey Dunlop Foundation and Manx Museum and National Trust. To find out more and buy tickets visit http://www.manxnationalheritage.im/whats-on/tt-mgp/.

The TT or Tourist Trophy races are staged each summer, over the famous Mountain Course. This annual event attracts thousands of bike fans, from all over the world. The TT is possibly the most demanding race on earth, both on machinery and riders, and is also steeped in history. The Mountain Course is the oldest motorcycle racing circuit still in use, and in over a hundred years only two world wars and the outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease have prevented the TT.

ENDS

Image captions;

Could you tell us more about these photographs or the riders?

PG/12100/42   BMW sidecar outfit (number 5) passing through Onchan village, 1950s

PG/12100/2     TT sidecar riders Cyril Smith and Eric Oliver with their passengers, 1950s

For further information, please contact:Email: Jude Dicken – iMuseum TT Images
jude.dicken@mnh.gov.im

Call: 01624 648000

Lynsey Radcliffe – TT Films
Email: lynsey.radcliffe@mnh.gov.im

Call: 01624 648000

Isle of Man Photographic Society to celebrate 75 years

Isle of Man Photographic Society to celebrate 75 years in anniversary exhibition at the House of Manannan

The Isle of Man Photographic Society is celebrating its 75th anniversary with an exhibition at the House of Manannan in Peel from Saturday 18 May 2013 to Sunday 4 August 2013.
Jointly curated by Manx National Heritage and the Isle of Man Photographic Society, the exhibition will feature works by the society’s members together with vintage cameras and photographic equipment. There will also be a mock darkroom and a studio set out as a Victorian drawing room to serve as a backdrop for visitors to take their own photographs.

The exhibition will be supported by a series of photography workshops hosted by leading Isle of Man professional photographer Andrew Barton LBIPP LMPA, proprietor of Andrew Barton Photography Limited.
The workshops take place from 10.30am to 4pm, on Sunday 23 June, Sunday 30 June, Sunday 7 July and Sunday 21 July.
The first workshop will serve as a general introduction to photography; the second explores still life techniques; the third, at Peel Castle weather permitting, offers an opportunity to photograph people using volunteer models provided; and the fourth will trace developments in photography in the Victorian era.
Mr Barton said:

“Over the years the Isle of Man Photographic Society has done so much to promote the art of photography to a wide audience thanks to the boundless enthusiasm of its members. I’m delighted, therefore, to be able to share my passion for photography by contributing to the celebrations marking the Isle of Man Photographic Society’s 75th anniversary with this series of workshops that I hope will prove of interest to the novice as well as the accomplished photographer”.

 Isle of Man Photographic Society President Tony Curtis said:

 “This is a fantastic milestone in the society's history, and I am honoured to be president at this time. The exhibition is the most ambitious event that we have undertaken so far, with much more than just ‘pictures on a wall’. It is a celebration of all things photographic; from exhibits of old cameras and equipment, through a darkroom and studio installation, to four exciting workshops hosted by Andrew Barton of Andrew Barton Photography.
The exhibition will have something for anyone interested in photography no matter what their style or ability”.

IOM Stamps – The Three Legs of Man

The Three Legs of Man - a triskelion

The distinctive triskelion is inevitably, although not exclusively, identified with the Isle of Man, but is recognised worldwide as a badge of identity throughout the Island’s sometimes turbulent history.

It’s a powerful symbol linked to a rotary movement which is seen as representing the three-spoked wheel of the sun god’s chariot as it crossed the sky.

Locally this evocative image appears in a number of guises, but not always the correct way round, nevertheless, Manx people are justly proud of their distinctive emblem, although when first in use on the Island remains un-established. Sir William Scrope (a former King of Man) used a strikingly similar example when sealing and signing a treaty between England and France in 1396, but it’s most notably connected to the Manx Sword of State which may date back to 1422.

The Latin motto, Quocunque Jeceris Stabit, which accompanies the symbol, has also been subject to change, although its core meaning (we’ll survive whatever happens) remains constant. The motto itself originally featured on the family badge of the Byzantine/Roman General Flavius Belisarius (505 – 565 AD) along with a representation of a caltrop (a ball fitted with four spikes) which, no matter where it fell would always prove injurious to any beast following in battle. It’s assumed that someone remembered this and resurrected this timeless phrase for the Isle of Man.

Little did they know how popular this powerful combination would become centuries later as both an identification marker and as a veritable gift to the tourism industry.

Valerie Caine

© May 2013

World Fiddle Day 2013

Manx fiddle players will be joining forces in a global initiative when they gather at the Strand Shopping Centre in Douglas on the Isle of Man to celebrate World Fiddle Day.

Organised locally by the Manx Heritage Foundation, Island based fiddle players of any age or ability have been invited to participate in the first ‘Manx Music flash mob’ to be staged on the Isle of Man, which it’s hoped will involve all members of the violin family, including viola, cello, double bass, hardanger and viola da gamba.

Using a set of tunes led by David Kilgallon, they will include Peter O’Tavy, Three Little Boats and Car y Phoosee and will be followed by free traditional music workshops with two of the Island’s leading fiddle players and composers, the aforementioned David Kilgallon and Katie Lawrence.

World Fiddle Day is the brainchild of Caoimhín Mac Aoidh, a Donegal fiddle player who decided upon an annual celebration of the instrument and its extensive family, after realising that a dedicated day of celebration was yet to be established on the calendar.

It’s a day in the year when fiddle players from all over the world can celebrate the beauty of the instrument together, and is timed to fall on the Saturday closest to the 19^th May, the date of the death of Antonio Stradivari (Italian luthier and crafter of stringed instruments) and brings together people in both the northern and southern hemisphere with the hope they can hold outdoor events involving groups of people.

Events will be happening all over the world, including Ireland, Germany, Holland, Cuba, Canada and the USA.

worldfiddleday.com

Valerie Caine

© May 2013

Conserving the Peggy

Manx National Heritage is currently embarking upon an ambitious five-year programme to conserve and study Castletown’s 18^th century yacht, The Peggy, housed in the cellar of the Nautical Museum.

The Peggy was built for George Quayle of Castletown, one of three similar vessels built for the Quayle family between 1789 and 1793. She is a registered vessel on the National Historic Ships Register and is held in the care of Manx National Heritage.

The current conservation project includes the installation of a new support cradle for the Peggy, with the new cradle scheduled for delivery on Tuesday 21 May 2013, when the cradle will be lifted by crane into the yard of the Nautical Museum and later assembled under the Peggy. 

To facilitate delivery of the new cradle, Bridge Street will be closed to vehicular traffic in the area fronting numbers 10 to 12 (including the Nautical Museum) between 10am and 2pm on Tuesday 21 May 2013.  Pedestrian access will be unaffected.  The road closure will be lifted as soon as works are complete. 

Anyone interested in hearing more about the project is encouraged to call into the Nautical Museum between from Wednesday 22 May 2013 to Sunday 26 May 2013, when Manx National Heritage staff will be on hand to tell visitors more about the project.  Admission will be free of charge. 

The project will be followed by further conservation works to the Peggy including removing and later returning the boat from her cellar to an environmentally controlled workshop in 2014, when Peggy will undergo further analysis and conservation.

Further details on the project can be found online at http://peggy-of-castletown.blogspot.com/.

Visit Kentraugh Mill and Raise Money for Charity

With home baking on the rise and a resurgence in bread making, National Mills Weekend will be a great opportunity to see the many windmills and watermills which still survive across the British Isles.

In the south of the Island, Kentraugh Mill (near the Shore Hotel) will be welcoming visitors to see how one of the best preserved Manx watermills operates, with guided tours throughout the weekend.

Organised nationally by the Mills Section of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, Kentraugh Mill (also known as The Little Mill) was run by the Qualtrough family for over 400 years, but is now owned by Canon and Mrs Sheen who live in the adjoining miller’s house. Probably a working mill for centuries, it’s believed to have been largely re-built about 1832, when the current machinery was installed, but ceased as a working mill in 1943. Lying unused and forgotten for more than 20 years it was restored by Mr R. M. Nuttall after purchasing the miller’s house in 1965.

Visitors will be able to join an extensive tour of the three-storey building, see the mill in action, learn more about its history and visit the Chapel Garden, used as both a miller’s storeroom and as a meeting place for the Primitive Methodists.

Although admission is free, donations are welcome towards the owners’ chosen charity, the United Society (Anglicans in World Mission) with an invite to the miller’s house for some delicious home-made refreshments.

Further information is available by phoning 832406 but visitors are reminded that tours of the mill are undertaken at their own risk.

Open Days

Saturday 11^th May 10.00am – 5.00pm

Sunday 12^th May 11.00am – 5.00pm

www.nationalmillsweekend.co.uk

Valerie Caine

© May 2013

(Courtesy of Manx Tails)

Bear Grylls visits IOM as Chief Scout.

The UK's Chief Scout Bear Grylls has visited the Isle of Man as part of a flying tour of the North West Scouting Region.

The survival expert arrived in Peel by helicopter to take part in a range of activities including kayaking and raft building.

The 38-year-old adventurer said he was "super excited" to visit Scouts in the Isle of Man.

Mr Grylls became the UK's youngest chief scout in 2009, aged 34. 

Assistant director of the Scouts, Simon Carter, said Mr Grylls was full of energy and enthusiasm over the event and "absolutely blown away" by the young Scouts in the Isle of Man.

Mr Carter said 4000 people turned up to the event including the island's 130 Scouts.

"It's been brilliant. You can taste the atmosphere in the air." The trip was part of a whistle-stop tour of 12 Scouting events by Mr Grylls across the North West over the weekend. Mr Grylls has featured in a number of TV programmes using extreme survival techniques which include killing alligators and sleeping in a camel.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-isle-of-man-22480427