Around 500 people packed the Gaiety Theatre on Tuesday night for the sold-out finale of the Cooish Vooar Manx Language Festival, a concert that wove Manx, Scottish Gaelic and Irish through song, tune and verse, Energy FM reported.
Three languages, one stage
The Allt quartet (Julie Fowlis, Zoë Conway, John McIntyre and Éamon Doorley) shared the bill with Ruth Keggin from the island and the harpist Rachel Hair from Scotland.
Keggin slipped in a quick Manx lesson, “Mannin aboo” included, before all six closed with Ushag Veg Ruy and Faca sibh Màiri nighean Alasdair?, each sung in all three tongues.
“We were blown away by the musicality and warmth of the singers and musicians,” said Tiffany Kerruish, the Year of the Manx Language coordinator.
Looking up
Thursday night’s aurora alert fizzled under cloud, 3FM reported. Forecasters offered a second go on Friday night, with clearer skies and the best window between sunset and 01:00. Night owls will know if it paid off.
Plenty more dark is on the way: the Met Office says around two hours of daylight disappear over October, and the clocks go back later this month.
Manx names in lights
Joe Locke walked the red carpet at the Royal Festival Hall on Wednesday, 7 October, for Elsinore, his new film about the actor Ian Charleson, which opened the 70th BFI London Film Festival, 3FM reported. Andrew Scott and Olivia Colman joined him; cinemas get it in January.
Louis Theroux says Patrick resident Tyson Fury is among eight guests on his returning podcast, due out on Wednesday, 14 October. Fury’s December bout with Anthony Joshua in Cardiff sold out in 40 minutes on Friday, 3FM reported.
Pumpkins first, tinsel later
The Pumpkin Field Isle of Man in Sulby reopens for its fifth season on Saturday, 24 October, in good time for Hop tu Naa. Locally grown pumpkins and turnips await; entry is free, no booking is needed and you pay only for your haul.
Christmas is already pencilled in, too. The Mama Hub’s Big Toy Swap, billed as the island’s first, lets families trade outgrown toys for pre-loved ones at Douglas’s Noa Market Hall from 17:30 on Thursday, 19 November.
Bree turns 20
Culture Vannin’s youth music and dance movement Bree, Manx for “vitality”, is 20. Alumni include the harpist Mera Royle and the fiddler Isla Callister, the BBC reported.
Its birthday Big Bree Workshop in St John’s on 27 and 28 October costs £20 for 10 to 18-year-olds; applications close on Friday, 16 October. The folk tale on the menu, Isle of Man Today reported, is ‘The Lazy Wife’, renamed ‘The Clever Wife’. Quite right too.
On the bill
Band-a-Thing is under way at Quid’s Inn in Douglas today: 12 hours of live music from 13:00, a fundraiser marking 10 years of the charity Without Wings, Manx Radio reported. In Peel on Thursday, 15 October, Fun Science Isle of Man pairs chemistry with cocktails at Cranky’s Coffee from 18:00.
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