Friday, January 27
Broadway Cinema
• The Descendants (15). Nightly 7.30pm, also Wednesday 2.30pm.
• Alvin and The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (U) Saturday and Sunday 2.30pm
• The Secret of Nimh (U) Saturday and Sunday 1pm
Palace Cinema
• War Horse (12A) Nightly 7pm. Also Saturday and Sunday 1.30pm
• The Sitter (15) Nightly 7.30pm
• Sherlock Holmes A Game of Shadows (12A) Saturday and Sunday 2pm
Friday, January 27
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Saturday, January 28
• The Next Big Thing grand final, Gaiety Theatre, Douglas, 8pm. Tickets £8, concessions available.
Friday, January 27
• 3 Million at the Bay Hotel, Port Erin.
• Dickie Kelly at the Whitehouse, Peel 9pm.
• Little Miss Dynamite at The Creek, Peel.
• Soul Suspects at Jaks, Douglas.
• Little Miss Dynamite, Friday at The Creek, Peel
• Thai Night, authentic food and music, The Railway, Douglas, 6pm. Also Wednesday.
• Manx Music session, Tynwald Hill Inn, St John’s, 8.30pm.
• Irish Traditional Music session, The Mitre, Ramsey, 9pm.
• Kiaull as Gaelg, The Albert, Port St Mary, 9pm.
• Full On Fridays, Fiesta Havana, Douglas. Also ‘Alternative Havana’ on Thursday.
Saturday, January 28
• Skeet at The Sidings, Castletown
• Shades of Purple, Cat with No Tail, Governor’s Hill, Douglas.
• Age of Steam at The Pinewood, Pulrose.
• Dickie Kelly at the Mitre Ramsey 9pm.
• Blues At The Institute, Laxey Working Men’s Institute, 7.30pm.
• Power Cut at Jaks, Douglas.
• 3 Million at The Creek, Peel.
• Manx Music session, The White House, Peel, 10pm.
• Karaoke with Dobbo at the Decks Liverpool Arms, Baldrine.
• Karaoke at the Central Hotel, Ramsey.
Sunday, January 29
• One Wo/Man One Guitar at The Tynwald Hill Inn, St John’s. 8.00pm.
• Karaoke at The Crescent, Douglas
• Ray Sloan Karaoke at Jaks, Douglas.
• Karaoke at the British, Douglas.
• DJ Karaoke & Disco at Jaks, Douglas.
Monday, January 30
• Omri Epstein, Piano & Ori Epstein, Cello, Ramsey Grammar School, West Hall, 7.45pm
Tuesday, January 31
• Acoustic Sing -a- Round, The Manor, Willaston.
• Soundcheck, live bands, Basement Youth Arts Centre, Kensington Road, Douglas, 6.30pm. Also Rock Choir. Singing 6pm-7pm. Also Thursday and Saturday.
• The What You Want Acoustic Music Club, The Manor, Willaston, 8.30pm.
Wednesday, February 1
• Karaoke at the British, Douglas.
Thursday, February 2
• Ramsey Folk Club at The Britannia, Ramsey, 9pm.
• Karaoke with Ray Sloane at The Saddle Inn, Douglas.
• 1hr guitar practise sesion 5.45-6.45pm, Archibald Knox meeting rooms, Onchan. Free for all levels.
Friday, January 27
• MS Society Southern Coffee social afternoon. The Cherry Orchard, Port Erin from 1.30pm.
• Freetime, Youth Arts Centre, 2-4pm, Also Monday 2-4pm; Tuesday 2-4pm Wednesday 2-4pm; Thursday 2-4pm; Art Club 4-6pm, Tuesday 4-6pm; Youth Arts 6.30-9pm: Fame 7.30-9; Glee 6-7.30pm.
• Parent and toddler group, Ballasalla Primary School, 1.45pm.
• Peel Youth Club, girls club, Shore Road, Peel, 4-6pm. Also school years 9 upwards, 7-10pm; Saturday, Drop In, 7-10pm; Monday, Manx speakers, 7-9pm; Tuesday, school years 7-9, 6.30-8.30pm; Soundcheck, 6.30-9.30pm; Thursday, Homework Club, 4-6pm; Monday and Wednesday, school years 4-6, Peel Clothworkers School, 6.30-8pm.
• Youth Club, school years 9 and upwards, Cafe Laare, Lord Street, Douglas, 4-11pm. Also, Saturday, 1-11pm; Sunday, 2-5pm; Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 3.30-5.30pm.
• Castletown Youth Club, school years 4-6, Youth Centre, Arbory Street, Castletown, 6-7.15pm. Also school years 7-9, Friday, 7.30-9.30pm; Wednesday, 6.45-8.45pm; school years 9 and upwards, Saturday and Tuesday, 7.30-10pm; soundcheck, Monday, 6-9pm; girls club, school years 9 and upwards, 7-9.30pm.
• Youth Club, school years 7-9, Douglas Youth Centre, Kensington Road, 7-10pm. Also Saturday, school years 9 and upwards.
• Laxey Youth Club, school years 4-6, Laxey School, 7.30-9pm. Also school years 9 upwards, Laxey Youth Centre, New Road, 7-10pm; school years 7 and 8, Wednesday and Thursday, Laxey Youth Centre, New Road, 7-9pm.
• Youth Club, school years 9 and upwards, Cronk-y-Berry School, Douglas, 7.30-9.30pm. Also, Wednesday, school years 4-6, 7-8.30pm; Thursday, school years 7-9, 7-9pm.
Sunday, January 29
• Task and DFC children’s club, Abbey Church, Ballasalla, 10.45am.
Monday, January 30
• Gym time active play for pre-school children, Manx Gymnastics Centre, Glencrutchery Road, Douglas, 9.30am. Call 625636. Also Wednesday and Thursday - 14/10/11
• Daniel’s Den, Methodist Church, Arbory Street, Castletown, 10am. Admission £1, Call 822374.
• Mannin Art Group, St Paul’s Hall, Ramsey, 10am. For further details email mailbox@manninart.org
• Onchan Ladies’ Choir, Methodist Hall, 1.30pm. Call 673453.
• Onchan Pensioners Club, bridge, 2pm; bingo 7pm, Morton Hall, Onchan. Also Tuesday, coffee morning, 10.30am-midday; Wednesday, Onchan Ladies Club, 2pm, whist, 7pm; Thursday, coffee morning, 10.30am-midday; bingo, 7pm; Friday, sequence dancing, 2pm.
• Peel Craft Club, the family room, Peel Methodist Chapel, 2pm-4pm.
• Sulby Youth Club, school years 4-9, Sulby School, 6-8pm.
• Onchan Rainbows, 5.30pm. Also 1st Onchan Brownies, 6.30pm.
• Onchan Rotary Club, The Max Restaurant, Groudle Road, Onchan, 6.30pm.
• Brownies, Corrin Hall, Peel, 6.30pm.
• Ayre WI, Grosvenor Hotel, Andreas, 7.30pm. Call 818194.
• Sulby WI, St. Stephen’s Church Hall 7.30pm
Tuesday, January 31
• Onchan Pensioners’ Social Club, Morton Hall, 10.30am. Also Thursday.
• The Tuesday Group, flexible learning room to try your hand at basic crafts, have a chat, coffee and fun, Peel Clothworkers’ School 1.15pm. Pre-school children catered for. Call 614180.
• Baldrine WI, Methodist Sunday School, Baldrine, 2pm. Call 818194.
• Braddan WI, Methodist Church Hall, Union Mills, 2pm. Call 818194.
• Peel Footlights Youth Theatre for ages eight-16, Philip Christian Centre, Peel, 4pm. Contact 843819. Also Thursday.
• Cheerleading, All Saints Church Hall, 4.30pm. Contact 254499 or email gengym@manx.net
• 2nd Onchan Beavers, Scout Headquarters, Onchan, 5pm.
• Youth Club, school years 4-6, Ballaugh Village Hall, 6-7.30pm. Also, school years 7-9, 7.30-9pm.
• Isle of Man Chess Club, Belsfield Hotel, Church Road Marina, Douglas, 7.30pm. Call 495097 or email Zahed.miah@gov.im
• Army Cadets, Scout Hall, Peel, 7pm. Also Thursday.
• Rotary Club of Rushen and Western Mann meet, Falcons’ Nest Hotel, Port Erin, 7.30pm.
• Glen Maye WI, St James’ Church Hall, Dalby, 7.30pm. Call 818194.
• Mannin Quilters, Ballabeg Methodist Hall, 7.30pm. Call 628921 or 628655.
• Ballacottier Senior Youth Project for school years 10+, Ballacottier School Youth Room, 7.30-9.30pm.
Wednesday, February 1
• ‘The Waves’ by Virginia Woolf with EAC Book Circle, Erin Arts Centre, Port Erin, 1.30pm.
• Busy Bees parents and tots, Beehive Kindergarten, Onchan, 1.30pm. Also Thursday. Call 674655.
• Ballaquayle Bears Toddler Group, Ballaquayle School Hall, 1.45-3pm.
• Homework Club for year 7s, Youth Centre, Arbory Street, Castletown, 4pm. Call 822490.
• Snaefell Cubs, Scout Headquarters, Onchan, 7pm.
• Youth Group Computer Club, Commissioners Office, Close Corran, Braddan, 7pm. Call 686057.
• Youth Club, school years 4-9, Ballasalla Community House, 7-9pm.
• Peel Pensioners Club, Philip Christian Centre, Peel, 7.30pm. Call Elaine on 844972.
• Isle of Man Photographic Society, Assignment Competition, ‘Song, Book or Film Title’, Thie Ellyn, off Withington Road, Douglas. 7.30pm.
Thursday, February 2
• Harbourside WI, St. Paul’s Church Hall, Ramsey, 10am Call 818194
• ‘Colour Matters’ with Elizabeth Rae for Manx Floral Art Luncheon Club, Wentworth Suite, Mount Murray Hotel, Santon, 11am. Followed by luncheon at 1pm. Call 827265
• The Dalby Art Group, St James’ schoolrooms, Dalby, 2pm. Bring your own equipment. Call Cheryl on 843471.
• Avondale WI, Onchan Community Centre, 2.15pm. Call 818194.
• 2nd Onchan Beavers, Scout Headquarters, Onchan, 5pm.
• Guitar Lessons, Meeting Rooms, Archibald Knox, 5.45-6.45pm.
• Santon Beavers, Kewaigue School, 5pm. Also Cubs at 6.30pm. Call 623244.
• Good News Club for primary school children, Living Hope Community Church, Bayview Road, Port St Mary, 6pm. Email weirfamily55@hotmail.co.uk
• Arbory Youth Club, school years 7-9, Ballabeg Village Hall, 7-9pm.
• Onchan District Explorers, Scout Headquarters, Onchan, 7.30pm.
One minute you can be saving someone’s life, the next stemming a simple nosebleed or getting to grips with an aggressive drunk ... there’s never a dull moment in a busy hospital casualty department.
After 40 years’ service with the NHS, Lancashire nurse Joan Woodcock has seen it all but it was in the A&E department at Wythenshawe hospital in south Manchester that she learned the importance of keeping a cool head.
Now retired and living on the Fylde coast, Joan’s career took her from casualty and geriatric units to austere prison clinics, GP surgeries and the distressing work of Lancashire Sexual Assault Forensic Examination (SAFE) centre at Royal Preston Hospital.
She has witnessed operations and amputations, made up thousands of beds, mopped miles of floors, offered unstinting care and comfort and, as a Marie Curie nurse, helped patients to die in peace.
Matron on Call is the entertaining and revealing follow-up to her best-selling memoir, Matron Knows Best, and recounts in colourful and graphic detail the highs and lows of her six years in casualty.
The fictional Chatsworth estate featured in the Channel 4 TV series Shameless is based on Wythenshawe and the hospital has been featured in several episodes.
During Joan’s stint in the hospital’s A&E department in the 1980s, she dealt with every manner of injury from broken limbs, horrific road accidents and fatal heart attacks to drunken patients jumping the queue, ingrown toenails and earache.
Taking place over 24 hours one New Year’s Eve, Matron on Call shows what really goes on behind the scenes in Accident and Emergency and proves that Joan has a talent for dispensing common sense as well as bandages and balms.
Casualty, she says, is a department that nurses either love or hate because it is so different to the rest of the hospital. The permanent staff tend to have their own clique and there is little time for niceties as everyone is generally so busy.
The frantic pace of the department is not helped by the public using it as an extension of their GP surgery, appearing with ailments that should have been treated by a family doctor or pharmacist.
There are also those who repeatedly turn up at A&E feigning illness to gain attention, and time wasters like the young woman who had the temerity to sit in the waiting room with no more than a broken fingernail!
There are also the hazards of children running riot without any effort from the parents to control them and other adults increasingly reluctant to intervene. ‘Discipline in general,’ claims Joan, ‘now seems in retreat.’
Casualty, particularly at weekends, can be an alarming place for patients and staff as the department copes with the fall-out from excessive drinking – drunks ranting and making threats, fight injuries and road accidents.
Porters regularly came to the assistance of night staff if a situation got out of control and one stalwart became their unofficial bodyguard as he had the knack of always being there at the right time.
In between the routine work, there were dramas like the doctor in a cardiac ‘crash’ team who dropped down dead racing to a heart attack victim, resuscitating an elderly woman in a cramped lift and a knifeman who threatened to kill a nurse, saying he hated gypsies and that she looked like one.
Joan never fully came to terms with sudden tragic deaths, particularly when the victims were young, but she learned to accept that not everyone can be saved and ‘after everything, there is always another patient waiting’...
Funny, compassionate and compelling, Matron on Call is a heart-warming and honest portrayal of nursing in all its goriest and most glorious moments.
(Headline, hardback, £12.99)
Shoulder pads, pixie boots, Curly Wurly bars, ET, Dallas, Cagney and Lacey, Boy George and the Falklands War ... who could forget the 1980s?
Many of us can still remember the heady days of Fame and Raleigh BMX Burners, but few with the clarity and recall of headmaster-turned-author Jack Sheffield.
He’s now on the sixth instalment of his hilarious and heart-warming Teacher series and the memories, wry commentary and side-splitting fun are still flowing with the same irresistible ease and charm.
The stories feature school and village life in the fictional village of Ragley-on-the-Forest Primary School but are based on Sheffield’s real-life experiences at two North Yorkshire schools in the 1970s and 1980s.
Each of his books covers a period of the school year and the series has become cult reading for those who can’t get enough of the brave new world of the Eighties and love Yorkshire humour and a genuinely warm and touching tales.
There’s no high drama here (apart from a visit from an educational time-and-motion expert, a lost tortoise and the arrival of the new 20p coin) but there’s laughs, social nostalgia and entertainment on every page.
It was an age when people reflected incredulously on the prospect of a ‘cashless, chequeless’ financial future in which schools would more than likely use computers and two-way videos as teaching tools (as if!).
In Educating Jack, we have arrived at the start of the new academic year in September 1982. Jack is now happily married to fellow headteacher Beth, a car accident earlier in the year has tilted everyone’s familiar world a few degrees and there’s a dress-code problem with four-year-old new starter Patience Crapper whose newly pierced ears and leg warmers are causing a stir in the playground.
In the larger world, there are also strange happenings. Coca-Cola has introduced something called ‘Diet Coke,’ women protesters are camping at RAF Greenham Common and a perplexing man known as Ozzy Osbourne has decided to bite the head off a bat during a live concert.
And it’s not all plain sailing for Jack who has to contend with his wife’s worrying ambitions, attempts by other family members to get him out of his comfy herringbone sports jacket and into a flamingo-pink shirt, and a visit from the time-and-motion man whose claim to fame is that he ‘never smiles.’
Add to this the visiting vicar’s ongoing problems with children who ask awkward and unanswerable questions, embarrassing moments with Cleethorpes clairvoyant Phoebe Duckworth and a quirky new job for village layabout Ronnie Smith and there’s never a dull moment in Ragley!
The joy of Sheffield’s laugh-out-loud books is his attention to period detail and his ability to tap into the fun and foibles of both school and village life.
Educating Jack is a delight from start to finish – a trip down memory lane for ‘golden oldies’ and a journey of discovery for younger generations.
(Bantam, paperback, £12.99)
Draw the curtains, throw a log on the fire and cosy up with one of the most bewitching books likely to come your way this year.
So what it’s all about, the debut novel that has been causing a buzz in publishing circles long before it hit the shelves this week?
Is it a romance, a historical novel, a fairytale pastiche, an atmospheric journey into the wintry wonderland that is Alaska or a deeply moving story about a couple’s longing for a child?
Amazingly, The Snow Child is all of these and more ... a tale of pure magic which touches the parts that many other books fail to reach; a timeless and exquisitely crafted tale of love and loss, of harsh climates, harsh truths and the spirit of human endurance.
Less of a surprise is that it comes from the pen of an author who lives amidst Alaska’s snowy wilderness and who was rather romantically named after a character from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.
In the pages of her book you’ll find hope, heartbreak, compromise, mystery, ethereal beauty, raw power and enough snow-covered mountains, frozen rivers, swirling snowflakes and icy tracks to make you reach for a survival suit.
And survival is one of the resonant themes in a story inspired by a Russian fairytale, The Snow Maiden, but which Ivey uses here as the springboard to introduce new themes like the power of nature, childlessness, parenthood and loneliness.
Set in Alaska in the 1920s, we meet Jack and Mabel who are approaching their 50s and have staked all on making a new home ‘at the world’s edge’ in the raw Alaskan wilderness.
The move was motivated more by Mabel’s desolation at the birth of a stillborn baby some years ago and her subsequent inability to have a child rather than a real desire to test out Jack’s old dream of carving out a living in such a wild and grand place.
She had imagined them far away from the sound of children ‘playfully hollering’ and ‘all those sounds of her failure’ and instead working happily together in clean, cold air under vast blue skies.
But the reality has proved very different for Mabel... the isolation has increased her sense of bleak loneliness, the cold is relentless and she and Jack are virtually starving and speaking to each other less and less.
Everything changes one snowy night when, in a rare moment of carefree fun and laughter, Jack and Mabel build a snow child outside their cabin and dress it in a scarf and mittens.
The following morning, the snow child has become a shapeless heap, the scarf and mittens have disappeared and a small set of boot prints leads across the snow and out into the trees beyond.
When both Jack and Mabel start glimpsing the figure of a small girl flitting through the nearby forest, the spell of this amazing story is cast. Is the child real, is she a figment of their wishful imaginations or are they suffering the hallucinatory ‘cabin fever’ that afflicts those cut off by the harsh Alaskan weather?
Mabel is convinced that the girl is magical, sent to fill their bleak and empty lives; Jack is determined to follow the tracks wherever they may lead, and to whatever the real truth may be...
The Snow Child is a remarkable achievement, a debut novel of awesome beauty, soaring imagination and descriptive power.
Let’s hope there’s more to come from this very talented author.
(Headline Review, hardback, £14.99)
FORT Island Ltd, by the receiver sold six plots of land, including the Fort Island Hotel, Langness, Malew, for £2,500,000 to FI Developments Ltd, of Dandara Group Head Office, Cooil Road, Braddan.
This sale along, with these others, have recently been recorded at the General Registry in Douglas.
Jennifer Anne Baggott sold St Elmo, Keeil Pharick Road, Glen Vine, Marown, for £635,000 to Simon Rupert Leaton and Julie Michelle Leaton, of 7 Foxglove Close, Abbeyfields, Douglas.
John Allan and Maria Teresa Allan sold 4 Elm Bank, off Ballagarey Road, Glen Vine, Marown, for £215,000 to John Henry Griffin and Kathryn Stephanie Griffin, of Orchid House, Main Road, Foxdale.
The representatives of the estate of Florence Beatrice Lilian Bird sold 5 Larivane, Andreas, for £270,000 to Andrew Gavin Callister, of 5 Lamb Hill, Bride.
Graihagh Mylchreest and Sally Ann Farrell sold 36 Westbourne Grove, Douglas, for £220,000 to Stephen Robert Anthony Pitts and Vikki Louise Pitts, of 35 Princes Street, Douglas.
The adminstrators of the estate of James Henry Crellin sold Kerroo Chord, Main Road, Greeba, for £165,000 to Kevin Ronald Spicer, of Port-e-Candiss Barn, Ballacraine, St John’s.
• We publish details of all house sales unless we receive a written request from the police or probation service.
Sponsored by Cowley Groves. Follow them on {http://twitter.com/#!/CowleyGrovesiom|Twitter} and {http://www.facebook.com/CowleyGrovesiom|Facebook}.
James MacDonald is a son of the British Empire, a rich tea planter in India with a distinguished family history ... the lives of his two beautiful daughters should be mapped out for comfort and wealth.
There’s just one giant stumbling block for Serafina and Mary – their mother is James’s Indian concubine and that means the girls were born illegitimately from two different worlds but belong to neither.
In the claustrophobic colonial climate of the 1920s, their very existence is a social and cultural disaster for both parents, and one which will affect the fate and fortunes of both girls.
In a novel spanning over 80 years of history, Alison McQueen carves out the gripping and heartbreaking story of two young women who must endure prejudice and risk everything if they are to find a place for themselves in a cruel world.
Their journey to belong will take them through cataclysmic events like the Second World War and the turmoil of Indian independence and into a new and uncertain dawn...
In Assam in 1925, James MacDonald has taken India to his heart and made it his own, his life inextricably entwined with the jewel in his king’s crown.
The remote tea plantation suits his introverted temperament and he feels perfectly in tune with the harmonious flow of the seasons.
He has no interest in the wide-eyed English girls sent out to India in search of a suitable husband and instead decides to satisfy his occasional loneliness with a ‘clean and pure’ Indian girl who should feel it an honour to be chosen as his concubine.
Enter Chinthimani, fresh from a family ‘cursed’ with four daughters and a father only too happy to hand over what he regards as ‘a dishonourable burden.’
James falls for her instantly but the locals, unsure of where she comes from, believe she might not be a human at all but the daughter of one of the gods, sent to do their bidding.
Others whisper that Chinthimani will be his downfall...
It’s a heady time for the teenager who revels in her new status, resplendent and beautiful in her happiness and good fortune despite having to live in secret quarters away from the main house.
What wasn’t in the script was Chinthimani falling pregnant – twice – and producing two daughters who, however beguiling they are, threaten to bring shame on James’s family because they have mixed the heritage of his bloodline.
The two girls grow up strong and well fed, but always hidden away. Their strange names, paler skin and hair that waves mark them out in the nearby village where they are forbidden to play with local children.
Serafina, the older sister, is proud, handsome and demanding while Mary is trusting, compliant and good-natured. Both will be tested when events mean that they must move away from all they have ever known and make choices that will last a lifetime.
McQueen was inspired by her own family history and this gives added impetus, realism and resonance to a tale which is rich in emotion, cultural complexity and India’s vibrant landscape.
Her characters are beautifully imagined ... the relationship between the two sisters is lovingly developed as their contrasting lives intertwine through war, partition, hardship and happiness.
She portrays the cultural chasm between Indian native and British colonialist with care and compassion to create a sweeping and moving saga that will live long in the memory.
(Orion, hardback, £9.99)
PREMISES in Strand Street have been sold for more than £3 million.
Strand Street Properties (IOM) Retail Ltd, Queen Victoria House, Victoria Street, Douglas, sold 27/33 Strand Street, Douglas, for £3,225,000 to Limmia Investments Ltd, 48 Athol Street, Douglas.
Other transactions recorded at the registry:
Holborn Enterprises Ltd, Peregrine House, Peel Road, Douglas, sold a plot of land adjoining Ballagyr and Kirk Michael roads, German, for £1,500,000 to Time and Tide Homes Ltd, 3 The Elms, Lezayre Road, Ramsey.
William Anthony Harrison and Carmel Kathleen Harrison sold 31 The Park, Onchan for £430,000 to Paul Oliphant-Smith and Doreen Oliphant-Smith, 7a King Edward Road, Onchan.
JCP Consulting (IOM) Ltd, sold 4 Albert Street, Douglas, for £275,000 to Kesslea Estates Ltd.
Margaret Joan Rushton sold 53 Campion Way, Douglas, for £245,000 to Manlo 62 Ltd, 14 Links View, Onchan.
Barbara Clarke sold 56 Ballamaddrell, Port Erin, for £180,000 to Edwin Aidan Kewin and Sarah Jane Kewin, Anfield, Somerset Road, Douglas.
The administrators of the estate of Hilary Joyce Cooper sold 4 Victoria Avenue, Douglas, for £95,000 to Delia Marie Christine McGuire, 5 Castlemona Avenue, Douglas.
• Please note: We publish details of all house sales unless we receive a written request from the police or probation service.
Sponsored by Cowley Groves. Follow them on {http://twitter.com/#!/CowleyGrovesiom|Twitter} and {http://www.facebook.com/CowleyGrovesiom|Facebook}.
In the teeming market of romantic fiction, a clever, classy page-turner always acts like a breath of fresh air.
And they don’t come with more pizazz than Rival Passions, the second glitzy novel from Irish author Zoë Miller who finds rich inspiration in the breathtaking Wicklow countryside for this delicious concoction of realism and romance, home life and high life, ambition and compromise.
There’s all the stock ingredients here – glamorous settings, handsome heroes, beautiful heroines, oodles of passion and a sprinkling of mystery – but Miller works a kind of magic in the mixing process.
The result is a super family saga full of domestic drama, human emotion and just enough intrigue to keep you hooked from page one, all set against the alluring backdrops of lush and lovely Wicklow and the glittering Côte d’Azur.
Stars of the show are 35-year-old twins Serena and Jack Devlin who are joint owners of the luxury Tamarisk Hotel in Wicklow, the ultimate retreat for socialites and celebrities, and currently aiming to win Ireland’s Exceptional Haven of the Year award.
It’s two years since they took over the running of the hotel from their widowed mother Charlotte and it is famed as the kind of chic establishment where pampered guests enjoy sound-proofed suites and can even specify the thread count in their cotton sheets.
Attention to detail and making sure that her clients have the ultimate experience is as natural as breathing to Serena, but success has come at a cost.
Behind her carefully cultivated public image as a top hostess, her private life is far from flourishing.
Husband Paul, a research scientist, is kind, considerate and protective and their four-year-old daughter Harriet is a delight to them both, but Harriet sees little of her busy mother and Paul is desperate for Serena to cut down her workload and have another baby.
Serena knows she lives two lives, both at terrible odds with each other, and she has no idea how they can be reconciled. Will she have to sacrifice her marriage for her career?
Jack, meanwhile, is struggling to recover from the death of his wife Amy a year ago and has been finding solace for the last six weeks at their sister hotel, La Mimosa, in the south of France.
He has reached the stage where despair, guilt and anger have finally been replaced by resigned acceptance ... but he’s still reluctant to return to Tamarisk.
When he misses his flight to Ireland, he visits a cafe in Nice and in a heartbeat his life changes. English waitress Jenni catches his eye and for Jack, it’s like someone has ‘lobbed a tiny gemstone into the still, flat pool of his consciousness.’
He knows he should be returning home rather than allowing himself to be caught up in a fizz of instant attraction, but is his birthright more important than following his heart?
Back in Ireland, their mother Charlotte is reflecting on her own life, only too aware that neither of her children is happy and that she is partly to blame.
Life for the privileged Devlins is growing more and more complicated...
Miller’s novel is a classic modern tale about the dilemmas facing working families... it’s also an entertaining curl-up-and-enjoy book for those long winter nights.
(Piatkus, paperback, £7.99)
GOOGLE searches may have us believe that Five Dollar Shake is an ‘award winning producer of luxury greetings cards and stationery’, but we know better. We know it is the title of Manx band Seversyn’s debut album.
The rockers were finalists in November’s battle of the bands at Amber, and have released the album on iTunes and Amazon, with hard copies available at the launch gig later this month.
Seversyn have been described as a marriage between Smashing Pumpkins and Red Hot Chilli Peppers, a comparison singer, guitarist and primary song writer Nick Kinrade seems comfortable with.
‘My dad is a bass player so I grew up hearing funk – my songs always end up with funky basslines,’ said Nick.
Outside of that there is a definite grunge-tint to Seversyn’s music, with the riff’n’roll element of Pearl Jam and the darker and heavier moments evocative of the likes of Soundgarden.
The album was recorded in September, the other side of the Irish Sea at Sandhills Studios in Liverpool, which they settled on afer shopping around for a studio.
‘Sandhills had done a load of differnet styles, like electro-pop and punk, so we knew they weren’t going to push their own sound on us as they were so varied,’ explains Nick.
‘Plus we could shove all our stuff in the van and Liverpool’s right there.
‘My brother Elliot is in This Year’s Winner Is who went up to Aberdeen, but we didn’t fancy that kind of journey!’
It was the first recording experience for the band, who normally operate as a four-piece but recorded as a three-peice, and the Sandhills decision was a good one.
They booked for seven days and planned on recording seven tracks, but the speed at which the two engineers worked – the bass and drums were done within two days meant they had time for an eighth.
‘The parts in the songs the guys decided to hold back or bring out changed the feel, and we were really impressed with how it came out,’ reports Nick.
The line-up is completed by Nick’s wife Maria on bass and Daniel Mills on drums, and newest addition Owain ‘the beard’ Brimfield on lead guitar.
‘The only pain about the recording was that Owain joined after we’d finished,’ said Nick.
‘It misses what he’s added to the songs.
‘He’s brought new songs to the band too, I’m currently arranging them for Seversyn.’
The album tracks will be performed and available for CD purchase at Severysn’s gig at The Clarendon in Douglas on Feburary 11.
‘We’re playing with Uber Room, and hopefully we will shift a few albums and people will like it.’
Seversyn have only now got round to releasing the album as they were finalising the cover art with local talent Adam Berry, who’s done an inspiring job.
There was also the matter of a good run in last year’s battle of the bands, despite some major line-up shifts.
‘We never envisaged getting to the final,’ recalls Nick,
‘The guys were away so me and Maria played the first round as a duo- and got through!
‘Daniel would be away for the final but we played the second round anyway.
‘When we got through, we needed a drummer. My dad’s friend Johnny Peacock stepped in and learned the set in a week – that was scary.’
Seversyn’s schedule for February also includes a slot on Manx Radio.
l Have you seen Seversyn in action? Or do you plan to dowload their new album? If so we want to hear what you think of the band’s music.
Email our music man lee.brooks@newsiom.co.im and let him know your thoughts.
For some of England’s most historic estates, the current imperative to preserve our past has come far too late.
A case in point is Lancashire’s old estate of Lathom, near Ormskirk, which had at its centre one of the finest classical houses in the county, built on the site of the 15th century neo-castle home of the Stanleys, Earls of Derby, the family which helped establish the Tudor dynasty.
The medieval house, which boasted nine towers and a moat, was demolished by Parliamentarians at the end of the Civil War and the 7th Earl of Derby, ironically from a family noted for always choosing the right side, was executed at Bolton for supporting the Royalist cause.
When the estate was bought by Sir Thomas Bootle, chancellor to Frederick, Prince of Wales, in 1724, he commissioned the Anglo-Venetian architect Giacomo Leoni to create an imposing Palladian house.
It had ‘a sumptuous and lofty’ frontage with a pair of flanking pavilions and a beautifully landscaped park with one of the largest and widest avenues in England – over two and a half miles long and 200 yards wide.
The park was embellished by the succeeding Earls of Lathom with further planting, water features and new buildings including a temple and an icehouse.
All that stands now is the west pavilion which has recently been restored and converted for residential use. The carefully and lovingly planted 300-year-old trees have long since been felled and the site is dominated by Pilkington’s Technical Centre, a huge, dull 1950s office block.
Lathom and its former glories provide some of the most compelling pictures in a magnificent new book from architectural historian John Martin Robinson.
Felling the Ancient Oaks offers a stunning and heartbreaking visual record of our most spectacular and scenic country estates which have been broken up for sale and lost forever, often to be replaced with an endless sprawl of light industry and soulless suburbia.
The collapse of Lathom in the early 20th century was swift and destructive, and entirely due to the shenanigans of Edward Bootle-Wilbraham, the 3rd and last Earl of Lathom (1895-1930), a ‘theatrically obsessed chum of Noël Coward’ who failed to produce an heir and sold up in 1925 to pay off his debts.
Before inheriting Lathom, he lived at Blythe Hall, an outlying property on the estate, and transformed it into an American-style Elizabethan house with bowling alley, Hollywood inspired swimming pool and crystal stair spindles. These extravagances, and a theatre built especially for Noël Coward, finally finished off Lathom estate.
And the end was definitive with all family archives being fed into the furnaces of the estate’s colliery at Skelmersdale. Three years before his death, the earl unexpectedly married an exotic divorcee originally from Singapore but such was the notoriety of his finances that the Ritz requested his wedding reception was paid for in advance.
The purchaser of Lathom demolished the main block of the house and felled every tree in the park. The flanking pavilions were left standing but allowed to fall into dereliction, with the east service wing disappearing in the 1950s. A sad end to over 600 years of local history...
Robinson pulls no punches in his illuminating book which surveys 20 lost gems from Haggerston Castle in Northumberland to Hinton St George in Somerset using over 150 stunning photographs.
A modest municipal park is all that survives of the impressive Cassiobury estate near Watford, the once splendid Normanton estate now lies underneath the expanse of Rutland Water and Deepdene in Surrey is memorialised only by an ugly office block.
Felling the Ancient Oaks reminds us of how our landscape looked before death duties, mining subsidence and sometimes the recklessness and incompetence of the black sheep in the family took their toll and forced the break-up of so many historic landed estates.
It’s a book to return to time and time again, a treasure trove of history and a reminder of a part of our heritage that now exists only in long-forgotten photographs...
(Aurum, hardback, £30)
A DOUGLAS house has sold for £3.6 million.
Brian Damian O’Connor and Mary Margaret O’Connor sold Thie-ny Struan, Hillberry Green, Douglas, for £3,600,000 to Mumba Holdings Ltd, 33-37 Athol Street, Douglas.
Other transactions recorded at the registry include:
John Eaves Ashworth and Lynda Ashworth sold 21 Farmhill Lane, Douglas, for £600,000 to Base Investments Ltd, 1 Ballanard Woods, Ballanard Road, Douglas.
Graham Spencer Ashworth, Mauna Kea, Ramsey Road, Laxey, and Jeanne Marie Ashworth, 30 Malew Street, Castletown, sold Mauna Kea, for £550,000 to Ian Crossley Musgrave, 89 Majestic Apartments, Onchan.
Mount Rule Land Corporation Ltd, 8 St Georges Street, Douglas sold The Moar, Glen Auldyn, Lezayre, for £500,000 to North Harbour EnterprisesLtd, 31b Derby Road, Douglas.
Julie Clare Diamond sold 35 Majestic Drive, Onchan, for £360,000 to Ann Briggs, 11 Turnberry Avenue, Onchan.
Graham Alan Wilkinson and Jayne Wilkinson sold 3 Crosby Terrace, Crosby, Marown, for £249,000 to Richard David Challenor and Catherine Anne Amelia Tyrer, Sunnybank Cottage, West Baldwin.
The representatives of the estate of George Graham Thompson assigned the lease of Penthouse 2, Admirals Court, Mooragh Promenade, Ramsey, for £220,000 to Roger Henry Beardmore and Sheila Margaret Beardmore from Cheltenham, Gloucester.
Carl Keith Underwood and Tracy Jacklyn Underwood sold 15 Second Avenue, Onchan for £186,000 to Kevin Ronald Dodds and Claudia Nerissa Ruth Alexandra Fiserova, 20 Queens Drive, Peel.
The Trustees of the estate of Jean Barron Bibby sold 1 Snaefell Road, Agneash, Lonan for £120,000 to Groves Property Ltd, Ballameanagh Mooar, Baldrine, Lonan.
•Please note: We publish details of all house sales unless we receive a written request from the police or probation service.
Sponsored by Cowley Groves. Follow them on {http://twitter.com/#!/CowleyGrovesiom|Twitter} and {http://www.facebook.com/CowleyGrovesiom|Facebook}.
The tenderness of a teenage girl’s sexual awakening played out against a city stalked by savage mutants ... it’s a love affair to die for!
Susanne Winnacker’s perfectly pitched young adult novel takes two age-old themes – romance and horror – and turns them into a dazzling dystopian blockbuster.
A naïve 15-year-old girl, trapped for one fifth of her life in an underground bunker, falls for a good-looking 19-year-old boy who rescues her from certain death only hours after she resurfaces into what will now be her real world.
It’s the stuff that fairytales are made of but for Sherry and Joshua, it’s the start of a nightmare with no certainty of a happy-ever-after ending.
The Other Life – set amidst the ruins of Los Angeles after a rabies virus has caused most of the population to mutate into terrifying killers known as Weepers – is a gripping and gritty page-turner with an achingly beautiful teen romance at its fast-beating heart.
The contrast between the remaining humans’ desperate battle for survival and the slow awakening of the love between Sherry and Joshua is subtly counterpointed by Winnacker’s narrative device of providing snatches of Sherry’s ‘Other Life,’ those halcyon days before catastrophe struck.
Sherry enjoyed a normal life until three years, one month, one week and six days ago when she and her family – mum, dad, grandma, granddad, brother Bobby and sister Mia – took to their home-made bunker on the advice of the US military.
A rabies virus was getting out of control and spreading to humans. The only means of escape was to stay underground for four years and hope that the virus had run its course.
During that time granddad has died, his body is in the now empty freezer, and the family is down to its last tin of corned beef. There’s only one thing for it – dad and Sherry will have to step out of their relative safety zone and go looking for food.
Above ground they find a vision of hell. The city has been bombed to try to halt the spread of the virus, their neighbours’ bodies lie mangled and half eaten on the lawn, and there’s not a soul in sight.
But worse is to come when they drive to a deserted supermarket and are ambushed by a deadly mutant, a hunched beast with yellow, weeping eyes that flicker with madness ... and raw hunger.
To the rescue comes drop-dead gorgeous Joshua who carries a screaming Sherry to safety, but dad has been injured and captured by the Weepers and this is no time to try to find him.
Sherry and her family take shelter with a small group of other people at an old winery, Joshua’s Safe Haven, but he is a troubled young man who has become obsessed with killing the Weepers, and his desire for vengeance threatens to put all their lives at risk...
The superbly understated love affair between Sherry and Joshua is exquisitely developed and the dominant use of time – the past, the present and its constant measurement in terms of days, hours, minutes and seconds – adds both poignancy and depth to the dilemma of the two young survivors.
The Other Life is a clever and compelling debut full of character and contrasts, and its intriguing denouement promises more to come...
(Usborne, paperback, £6.99)
Friday, February 10
• MADF One Act Play Festival, Erin Arts Centre, Port Erin, 7.30pm. Tickets £8, concessions available. Also Saturday.
Saturday, February 11
• Billy Connolly Tribute Act, Centenary Centre, Peel, 8pm. Tickets £12.
Friday, February 10
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• ‘Forms, Movement and Flow’, Jelena Benson exhibition, Sayle Gallery, Douglas. Monday, 1-5pm, Tuesday-Saturday, 10am-5pm, Sunday, 1.30-4pm. Until March 4. • REVEAL: Andi Howland photography exhibition, Villa Marina Gallery Space. Until March 19.
• Past Times in the Parish of Patrick, photographic exhibition, Patrick Church, February 12 to March 31.
Friday, February 10
• Step in Time, Ballroom Dance, Youth Art Centre, Kensington Road, Douglas, 4-6pm; Also Saturday 10am-1pm, Tuesday 4-6pm, Wednesday 4-6pm, Thursday 4-6pm. Also Dynamix 7-9pm; Also Dance Exchange 4-6pm.
• Sequence dancing, Onchan Pensioner’s Social Club, Morton Hall, Onchan, 2pm.
• Argentinian Tango beginners class, St Paul’s Hall, Ramsey, 7pm. Call 880650 or 324110.
• Line Dancing, Ebenezer Hall, Kirk Michael, 7pm. Beginners welcome, adults £3.50, children £1.50 including tea and biscuits. Call 878687.
Saturday, February 11
• Dance Time for children, Port Erin Methodist Hall, sessions from 9.30am. £2.50 per half hour session. Call 835696.
• Ballroom dancing for children of all ages, Royal British Legion Hall, Port Erin, sessions from 10am.
• Irish Dance Mixed, Dance Factory, Onchan Park, 3pm. Also Prim/Int on Monday at 4.30pm and Tuesday at 6.15pm. Beginners on Tuesday at 5.15pm.
• Stage Snr, Dance Factory, Onchan Park, 4pm. Also Stage Int at 5pm,
• Social sequence dancing, Onchan Methodist Church hall, Onchan, 8pm-10.30pm. Call 829669.
• Social sequence dancing, Pulrose Methodist Church hall, Douglas, 8pm. Also Monday; Sunday, sequence dancing with latest dances only; Wednesday, sequence dancing. Call 842878.
Sunday, February 12
• Perree Bane Manx folk dancing, Ballasalla village hall, 7pm.
Monday, February 13
• Ballet, Viking Works, Riverside, Peel, 5.45pm. Also Thursday at 4.30pm.
• Irish Dance Prim/Int, Viking Works, Riverside, Peel, 6.30pm. Also Wednesday at 5.45pm. Beginners, Wednesday at 5pm.
• Modern, street and stage dance classes at Rinkey Studios, Mill Road, Peel from 6pm. www.rinkey.co.uk
• Line dancing, Port Erin Methodist Church hall, 8.15pm. Call 436219.
• Modern line dancing, Legion Hall, Onchan. Also Wednesday and Thursday. Call 670308.
Tuesday, February 14
• Oriental Dance Exercise. 10am Peel, Genas Dance Academy. Also Wednesdays 10am Ramsey. The Gym
Contact Petra 300020 or
facebook - Oriental Dance Exercise.
• Adrenalyn, Youth Arts Centre, Kensington Road, Douglas 6-8pm. Also MNYT Junior, 6-7.30pm; Young Magicians 7.30-9pm, Johnny & the Dead 7.30-9pm.
• Sequence dancing and social, South Douglas Old Friends Assoc, 7.30pm. Admission £1.50.
• Beginners Line Dance, St John’s Football Club, 7.30pm-9pm. Call 462104.
• Sequence dancing with Port Erin Dancing Club, Port Erin Methodist Church hall, 8pm. Admission £1.50.
Wednesday , February 15
• Sequence dancing, Morton Hall, Castletown, 2pm. Admission £1.
• Ballroom dancing for children, Centenary Centre, Peel, 4pm. Call 450688.
• Ballet, Dance Factory, Onchan Park, 4.30pm.
• Modern Line Dance-exercise class for beginners, Legion Hall, Onchan, 7.15pm. £3.50
• Ballroom dancing, Villa Marina, Douglas, 8pm. Call Ellis Killey 623414.
• Rhythmic dance, St Ninians Dance Studio, Douglas, 8pm.
Thursday, February 16
• Tea dance, South Douglas Old Friends Association, Finch Road, Douglas, 2pm.
• Dance classes for children, Centenary Hall, Peel, 4pm. Call 450688.
• Shake It classes, combines Latin moves with karate, tango and hip hop moves 7pm to 8.15pm.
• Strictly Come Dancing for beginners, Royal British Legion, Port Erin, 8pm. £3.50 per person.
• Irish set dancing Douglas Old Friends’ Club, Douglas, 8pm. Call David on 457268.
Friday, February 10
• MS Society Southern Coffee social afternoon. The Cherry Orchard, Port Erin from 1.30pm.
• Freetime, Youth Arts Centre, 2-4pm, Also Monday 2-4pm; Tuesday 2-4pm Wednesday 2-4pm; Thursday 2-4pm; Art Club 4-6pm, Tuesday 4-6pm; Youth Arts 6.30-9pm: Fame 7.30-9pm; Glee 6-7.30pm.
• Youth Club, school years 7-9, Douglas Youth Centre, Kensington Road, 7-10pm. Also Saturday, school years 9 and upwards.
• Laxey Youth Club, school years 4-6, Laxey School, 7.30-9pm. Also school years 9 upwards, Laxey Youth Centre, New Road, 7-10pm; school years 7 and 8, Wednesday and Thursday, Laxey Youth Centre, New Road, 7-9pm.
• Youth Club, school years 9 and upwards, Cronk-y-Berry School, Douglas, 7.30-9.30pm. Also, Wednesday, school years 4-6, 7-8.30pm; Thursday, school years 7-9, 7-9pm.
Saturday, February 11
• Dr. Harold Mytum Archaeological Excavations at Port-y-Canadas. Results and Interpretations. 2.30pm at the Manx Museum.
Sunday, February 12
• Task and DFC children’s club, Abbey Church, Ballasalla, 10.45am.
• Isle of Man Poetry Society, Archibald Knox meeting room, Onchan, 8pm. Call 664796 or 897815.
Monday, February 13
• Gym time active play for pre-school children, Manx Gymnastics Centre, Glencrutchery Road, Douglas, 9.30am. Call 625636. Also Wednesday and Thursday.
• Daniel’s Den, Methodist Church, Arbory Street, Castletown, 10am. Admission £1, Call 822374.
• Onchan Jubilee WI, The Methodist Church Hall, 10am. Call 818194.
• Onchan & District WI, Onchan Church Hall, 2pm.
• Onchan Rotary Club, The Max Restaurant, Groudle Road, Onchan, 6.30pm.
• Brownies, Corrin Hall, Peel, 6.30pm.
• Onchan Silver Band practice, The Band Room, off Main Road, Onchan, beginners 6.30pm and Seniors 7.30pm.
• Cornaa WI, Maughold Parish Hall, 7.30pm. Call 818194.
• Sulby WI, St. Stephen’s Church Hall 7.30pm.
uesday, February 14
• Onchan Pensioners’ Social Club, Morton Hall, 10.30am. Also Thursday.
• Peel City WI, Guild Room, Athol Street, Peel, 10.30am. Call 818194.
• The Tuesday Group, flexible learning room to try your hand at basic crafts, have a chat, coffee and fun, Peel Clothworkers’ School 1.15pm. Pre-school children catered for. Call 614180.
• ‘Chocolate’ – a talk by John Becket for Southern Ladies Luncheon Club, Cherry Orchard Hotel, Port Erin, midday for 12.30pm. Contact Betty Hunt 836996.
• Baldrine WI, Methodist Sunday School, Baldrine, 2pm. Call 818194.
• Peel Footlights Youth Theatre for ages eight-16, Philip Christian Centre, Peel, 4pm. Contact 843819. Also Thursday.
• MRA Whist afternoon at the Cat with No Tail, Douglas at 2pm. Also Thursday Stretch & Flex at the NSC at 10am and Indoor flat green bowling at the NSC Douglas from 2pm to 3.30pm.
• Cheerleading, All Saints Church Hall, 4.30pm. Contact 254499 or email gengym@manx.net
• Isle of Man Chess Club, Belsfield Hotel, Church Road Marina, Douglas, 7.30pm. Call 495097 or email Zahed.miah@gov.im
• Army Cadets, Scout Hall, Peel, 7pm. Also Thursday.
• Monthly Craft Club for adults at Onchan Library. Come along any time between 5 - 7pm with your current Art or Craft project, whatever it is. Meet up with other enthusiasts, learn new skills, or find some inspiration. No charge, and refreshments are served. Please call Onchan Library 621228 for more information.
• Castletown Metropolitan Silver Band rehearsals, Queen Street Mission Hall, 7.30pm.
• Rotary Club of Rushen and Western Mann meet, Falcons’ Nest Hotel, Port Erin, 7.30pm.
• Michael WI, St Michael’s Hall, Kirk Michael, 7.30pm. Call 818194.
• Michael WI, Kirk Michael Church Hall, 7.30pm Call 818194.
• Mannin Quilters, Ballabeg Methodist Hall, 7.30pm. Call 628921 or 628655.
Wednesday, February 15
• Carers and Tots, St. James Dalby 10.30am-noon.
• ‘Director of Manx Heritage’ – talk by Edward Southworth for Methodist Ladies’ Luncheon Club, Palace Hotel, Douglas, 12.15pm. Contact 620236.
• Snaefell Cubs, Scout Headquarters, Onchan, 7pm.
• Isle of Man Photographic Society, Open Competition, Thie Ellyn, off Withington Road, Douglas. 7.30pm
• Ballabeg WI, Methodist Sunday School, Ballabeg 7.30pm. Call 818194.
• Ian Young slideshow and talk for Peel Heritage Trust, Centenary Centre, Peel, 7.30pm. Followed by annual general meeting.
• Castletown WI, Methodist Hall, Arbory Street, Castletown, 7.20pm. Call 818194.
• Peel Pensioners Club, Philip Christian Centre, Peel, 7.30pm. Call Elaine on 844972.
Thursday, February 16
• Krafty Kids (pre-school age) Philip Chrsitian Centre, Peel, 10am.
• Harbourside WI, St. Paul’s Church Hall, Ramsey, 10am Call 818194.
• ‘Young Offenders’ – talk by Jill Morgan for Northern Ladies’ Luncheon Club, Ramsey Golf Club, Ramsey, 12.15pm.
• The Dalby Art Group, St James’ schoolrooms, Dalby, 2pm. Bring your own equipment. Call Cheryl on 843471.
• Avondale WI, Onchan Community Centre, 2.15pm. Call 818194.
• 2nd Onchan Beavers, Scout Headquarters, Onchan, 5pm.
• Guitar Lessons, Meeting Rooms, Archibald Knox, 5.45-6.45pm.
• Santon Beavers, Kewaigue School, 5pm. Also Cubs at 6.30pm. Call 623244.
• Good News Club for primary school children, Living Hope Community Church, Bayview Road, Port St Mary, 6pm. Email weirfamily55@hotmail.co.uk
• Kirk Bride WI, Bride Church Hall, 7pm. Call 803804.
• Arbory WI, Colby Methodist Hall, 7.15pm.
• ‘Wish You Were Here’ with Tommy Cashen for Ramsey Heritage Trust, Ramsey Town Hall (rear entrance), 7.30pm.
• Port Soderick WI, Port Soderick Recreation Hall, 7.30pm. Call 818194.
• Parkfield WI, St Andrew’s Church Hall, Douglas, 7.45pm. Call 818194.
Friday, February 10
• Pilates, St John’s Methodist Church Hall, 9.30am. Contact Liz 427401. Also Wednesday 6.15pm,Thursday, 6.15pm and Friday 9.30am.
• Walk and talk, NSC, Douglas, 10am. Also Monday, Pulsom Park, Castletown, 10.30am and Noble’s Park, Douglas, 5.30pm; Tuesday, NSC, Douglas, 10am; Wednesday, Ramsey Rugby Club, 10am; Thursday, Harbour Lights Cafe, Peel, 10am. Call 688592.
Walk and talk, Earroo Nane House, 1 Snaefell View, Threshold Estate, Jurby, 10am.
• Chair based exercise sessions, Port Erin Methodist Church hall, 2pm; Monday, Ramsey Town Hall, 10.30am; Tuesday, Castletown Sandfield residents lounge, 2pm; Wednesday, Westland’s residents lounge, Peel, 10.30am; Thursday, Onchan Youth and Community Centre, 1.30pm. Call 642668.
• Manx ABC Boxing, Palace Terrace, Douglas. Juniors, 6pm. Seniors (age 16+), 7pm. Beginners welcome. Also Monday and Wednesday.
• Tai chi chuan, Murrays Road School, 7.30pm. Call 612305.
• Indoor bowls, Legion Hall, Port St Mary, 7.30pm. No experience necessary.
• Yoga, Morton Hall, Onchan, 6.30pm. Call 494489.
Saturday, February 11
• Pregnancy yoga, All Saints Hall, Douglas, 10am. Call 461461.
• Yoga, Laxey Working Men’s Institute, 10.15am. Also Monday.
• Yoga, Arbory Parish Hall, 10.30am. Call 494489.
• St Mary’s AFC mixed under 11s training, Pulrose Football Fields, 10.30am. Call 405859.
• Tae Kwondo beginners, Pinewood Complex, Pulrose, 10.45am. Also 6-7yrs, Wednesdays at 5.30pm and Monday and Wednesday, 8-13yrs at 6pm, all ages at 7.15pm. Text 432152.
• Gentle Circuits, NSC, Douglas, 11am. Also Thursday. Call 688588.
• Gymnastics and dance, St Ninians School, Douglas, 2pm. Also Wednesday, Call 254499.
Monday, February 13
• Ladies’ activity morning, NSC, Douglas, 9.30am. Call 688556.
• Pilates, St. John’s Methodist Church Hall, 9.30am Call 427401.
• Aquafit, NSC, Douglas, midday. Also Tuesday midday and Wednesday at 6pm. Call 688556.
• Arthritis exercise, NSC, Douglas, 1pm. Call 688588.
• Zumba Fitness, Morton Hall, Castletown, 3.30pm. Also Tuesday, Glen Helen Inn, 7pm; Wednesday, Corrin Hall, Peel, 6.30pm; Thursday, Jurby Parish Hall, 6.30pm. Call 230369.
• Beginners Pilates, Rushen Primary School, Port Erin, 6.15pm. Also Improvers at 7.30pm; Beginners also Wednesday at Victoria Road Primary School, Castletown, 7.30pm. Call 491963.
• Zumba, NSC, Douglas, 6pm. Call 688588.
• Exercise Boot Camp, Corrin Hall, Peel, 6.15pm. Also Wednesday, Philip Christian Centre, Peel, 6pm; Thursday, Glen Vine Church Hall, 9.15am.
• Yoga - Rushen United FC Clubhouse, Port Erin, Monday night, beginners 6pm - 7.15pm, intermediates 7.30pm - 8.45pm, Wednesday morning, 9.30am. - 10.30 am. Yoga & Nutrition for Endurance Events - Karma Yoga Studio, Douglas, Sunday 6pm - 7.30pm.
• Cardiotone, Laxey Working Men’s Institute, 7pm. Also Thursday. Call 452729.
• Aerobics and body toning, bring your own mat, Park View Hall, Kirk Michael, 7pm. Also Thursday, Philip Christian Centre, Peel, 7pm. Call 455924.
• Deep Water Aquafit, NSC, Douglas, 7.15pm. Call 688588.
• Women’s self-defence classes, British Legion Hall, Port Erin, 7.30pm.
• Zumba Toning, Morton Hall, Castletown, 7.40pm. Also Wednesday, Corrin Hall, Peel; Thursday, Jurby Parish Hall. Call 230369.
• Kirk Michael Badminton Club, Park View Hall, Kirk Michael, 8pm. Call 878536.
• Zumba, Carrefour Health Club, Douglas, 8pm. Aso Wednesday at 9.45am; Thursday at 6.30pm.
Tuesday, February 14
• Thighs, Bums and Tums, Laxey Working Men’s Institute, 9.30am. Also Thursday. Call 335635.
• Aquafit, Western Swimming Pool, Peel, 1.15pm. Also Thursday, 7pm.
• Southern Gymnastics Club, Castle Rushen High School, from 5pm. Also Thursday, Ballasalla School, from 4pm. Call 473741.
• Pilates for Horse Riders, Ballaugh, 5.15pm and 6.30pm, Call 465115.
• Pilates, St Paul’s Hall, Ramsey, 6.15pm. Call 491449.
• Zumba, Fiesta Havana, Douglas, 7pm. Email sjh@manx.net
• Tai Chi Chuan, Lezayre Parish Community Hall, 7pm.
• Badminton club, Arbory School, Ballabeg, 8pm. Call Liz on 832904.
• Zumba, The Dance Factory, Onchan Park, 7.30pm. Call 425270. Also Thursday.
• Qigong, Community Hall, Clenagh Road, Sulby, 7pm. £5 per session, Call 878607.
• Body Toning, NSC, Douglas, 7pm. Also Wednesday at 11am. Call 688588.
• IOM Karate Federation, Murrays Road School, Juniors 7pm, Seniors, 7.30pm. Call 612305.
• Arbory Badminton Club, Arbory School Hall, 8pm. Call 832094.
Wednesday, February 15
• Gentle yoga, ladies class, Gena’s Dance Academy, Peel, 9.30am. Call 456782.
• Pilates, NSC, Douglas, 12.10pm. Call 688588.
• Pilates, Braddan Church Hall, 5.30pm and 6.45pm. Call Suzanne 465115.
• Thompson Travel Netball Club junior training, Braddan School, 6pm. For ages 10-14.
• Yoga (Iyengar inspired) Every Wednesday 6pm to 7.30pm.
• Valkyrs Hockey Club training, QEII Astro pitch, Peel. Juniors (8 and up), 6pm; Seniors (13 and up), 7.30pm. Call 801802 or cathkilley@manx.net
• Bowling club night, Port Erin Bowling Club, Breagle Glen, 6.30pm.
• Beginners yoga, St Ninians Dance Studio, Douglas, 6.30pm.
Thursday, February 16
• Fitness league exercise class, Ballafesson Church hall, Port Erin, 10.30am. Call 832759.
• Tai Chi Chuan, Lezayre Parish Hall, 2pm. Call 813222.
• Northern Gymnastics Club, Ramsey Grammar School, 5pm.
• Braaid Fencing Club, Foxdale School, 5.45pm. Call 801832.
• Aqua Zumba, NSC, Douglas, 6pm. Call 688588.
• Western Athletics Club, QEII High School, 6.30pm.
• Peel Badminton Club, Corrin Hall, Peel, 7pm.
• Yoga, Cooil Methodist Hall, 7.15pm. Call 494489.