Festival of Trees 2008

The Festival of Trees has become an annual display at Ronaldsway airport. Having started in 2001 in aid of Save the Children, it has become one of their biggest fund generators and promoters.

The first time I came across the Festival of Trees, it took my breath away. I felt like Alice in Wonderland. It was a surreal experience full of magic and inspiration. You would think that after the first year, it would have become repetitive and dull. However, not only is it not dull and boring, it actually manages to retain the magic and uniqueness every year that I experienced the first time I saw the festival. Each tree is a work of art and riot with imagination. The trees are themed, decorated and created by small Manx businesses. Anyone passing through can actually vote for their favourite tree. I can only imagine the pride of winning the best tree award, because each tree is obviously put together with pride, care and great attention.

I took my toddler son to the festival and he was in his own magical winter wonderland. He loved the rocket (though not quite so tree themed in my opinion) by Thomson Travel, but his favourite was the one with silver stars sprinkled at the bottom – Wish Upon a Star by One World Centre! I am sure that is because he did not notice the one with chocolate coins and monopoly money by Eden Park Garden Centre. I personally loved the tree made of Balloons by Balloons To Go, though the tree made out of little children’s hand prints definitely caught my attention. This is not to say that the others were not just as fascinating. You see, Santa was there having his beard curled for Christmas, there also was The Teddy Bear Tree (selling Teddies in aid of Save the Children), the table of Trees, The Opticians Letter Tree that wished a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, The Red Christmas Tree and so many more. There were more than 20 entries this year.

My biggest problem? Deciding who to give my vote for, as they were all so good. So, if you have time to pass by the airport, do go take a peek. It can make a good outing out that won’t even cost a penny bar perhaps a donation to Save the Children.

Milner’s Tower

Standing on Port Erin’s sandy beach, one of the landmarks that is clearly visible is Milner’s Tower, sitting proudly upon Bradda Head. Milner’s Tower is easily accessible from Port Erin just by following Tower Road all the way to it’s end. Once you reach the tower you can climb up the 40 steps inside it and enjoy amazing views of the surrounding landscape, and breathtaking view out to sea.

Milner’s Tower was built in 1871 in honour of William Milner, known as “The Godfather of Port Erin”. Milner, a safemaker from Liverpool, who moved to the Isle of Man shortly after 1860. Milner came to the Island following a tragic accident in Burnley where a public demonstration of the strength of one of his safes resulted in the death of a young boy. Milner, full of remorse, retired to the Isle of Man and set up a number of charities to help local residents, particularly poverty-stricken fishermen. The tower was built out of local slate as a memorial “to his many charities”. To commemorate Milner’s heritage, the tower was built in the shape of a key, with a spiral staircase inside.

The tower was meant to be built in secret as a surprise, but once Milner found out he donated much of the building cost. Milner contributed to Port Erin even after his death, St. Catherine’s church in Port Erin was erected around 1879 with money from Milner’s will.

Milner’s Tower

Milner’s Tower is only a short walk from Port Erin and if you’re visiting the south of the Island, it’s well worth a visit. After you have taken a look, you can walk through Bradda Glen along the coastal path or explore the surrounding area.

A new beginning

Welcome to ManxVoice. This is a website devoted to the Isle of Man, to Manx culture and to the people who call the Isle of Man their home. Our aim is to produce and collect a number of different posts and articles centred around the Isle of Man which will hopefully prove interesting both to locals and those who reside far from our shores.

This website was originally started as a blog where we could post views and reviews about the Isle of Man, but it has the potential to grow into an exciting source of information and opinions. To this end, we took the decision to open up the website, asking other people to contribute in order to make the site more interesting to a wider audience. We would like to give a Voice to anyone who would like to use this medium to publish their own content, as long as it relates in some way to the Isle of Man.

We’re also planning on trying to bring together other resources from all around the Internet. Whether it’s a collection of feeds from Manx bloggers, links to other Manx websites, photos of the Isle of Man from Flickr and anything else that the Web allows us to mash into this website. Once again, if you have any ideas of things you’d like to see, we’re always happy to listen to feedback. Together we can turn this into an amazing website.

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