Saturday 4th July – Marine Day & Yn Daunse n Skeddan’

Marine Day 2009 builds on the success of last year’s event where thousands came out despite the rain for what was a fantastic Day in Port St Mary. This year’s event starts at 11am and has the extremely popular marine touch tanks, courtesy of Manx Wildlife Trust, for kids and adults to get up close with the fish and plant species that live in the surrounding sea. Around the touch tanks will be a whole host of events, stalls, live music and competitions.

This year also sees the return of the Port St Mary Trawler race! Prizes are on offer for a time trial and also the best dressed boat which I bet will be worth the trip to Port St Mary in themselves.

Again there will be cooking and seafood preparation demonstrations as well as plenty of food available for you to enjoy throughout the day. The Lifeboat, Barrule Fisheries Vessel, Coastguard, 7th Wave and Manx Wildlife Trust will all be there giving you a chance to interact and maybe get involved with.

It really will be a great family day out and if last year’s is anything to go by it doesn’t matter what the weather is doing.

Yn Daunse n Skeddan’ or The Herring Dance starts at 8pm in the Stone Field in Port St Mary and goes on till late. For those of you that don’t know the Stone Field, it is at the cross roads by Port St Mary School. This is just a good old fashioned knees up; licensed bar, live music and a great laugh. Those of you that remember the Stone Field doos from the past will be able to vouch for how good these nights are and I’m sure there’ll be many Stone Field veterans there on the night. Bunch of Skankas & The Tholtan Builders are providing the entertainment so not one to be missed!

Thursday 2nd July – It’s all Beneath Us

Thursday will be a fantastic day for underwater enthusiasts. This includes diving, snorkelling and fishing. With both a junior fishing competition from Port St Mary breakwater and an adults competition aboard local charter boat ‘Gemini’, parents and kids can get involved in the fun. For those wanting to try diving or snorkelling instruction will be given on Chapel Beach and will be a great introduction to the sport.

For those not wanting to be quite so energetic we are also very lucky to have footage from underwater in Manx seas which will be projected onto a big screen in the Carrick Bay Factory at the top of the Alfred Pier in Port St Mary.

Special thanks to Paddy’s Market for their sponsorship of Thursdays events.

More details of Thursdays events can be found here >>>

‘Fishing into the Past’ a great success.

Tonight’s opening event, Fishing into the Past, was a great success and proved a fantastic way to get the Festival underway. The weather remained good to us and the green outside Mount Tabor was packed with people enjoying the sunshine and the activities. I’ve added a whole load of photos to the Queenie Festival Flickr page if you’d like to see more.

The re-enactment was really well put together and told the story of the fishing industry to the Isle of Man, and Port st Mary in particular, over the years. Manx Queenie Paella was served with traditional Spuds ‘n’ Herrin’ whilst live music and the Fairly Famous family entertained everyone.

It was also great to see the photographic display in Mount Tabor capturing ‘A day in the Life of Port St Mary’ from 1979. I could recognise a few faces and it was great to see some of the hairstyles and fashions from back in the day. The display will remain in Mount Tabor for the next couple of days for anyone that didn’t get down to see it tonight.

Queenie Festival Opening Event – Fishing into the past

Monday promises to be a great opener to this years Isle of Man Queenie Festival with a walk down memory lane. With Manx music and dancing, a quiz, food and refreshments, a heritage walk through Port St Mary with re-enactments, a photography display and a Manx language evening in the Albert pub; there is plenty going on in Port St Mary to keep you entertained.

And all this has been made possible with the help of our Monday night sponsor, EMCS.

The evening starts at 6pm at Mount Tabor Chapel, with your tour guide walking you through the changes Port St Mary and the fishing industry have faced over the years before returning you to Mount Tabor. A photography display will be opened on Monday night from 6pm showing ‘a day in the life of Port St Mary’ as captured by the Southern Photographic Club in 1979. Fisheries Minister, Phil Gawne, has also arranged Manx Music and Dance at Mount Tabor which is always great to get involved in.

Adrian Cain will be running a Manx Language evening in the Albert Pub which will be a sociable and fun event to round off Monday night’s entertainment.

Check out Mondays Information Here

Monday’s event update

Details have now been finalised for the first event of Queenie Festival 2009.

When: Monday 29 June 2009
Theme: Fishing into the past
Venue: Mount Tabor Hall , Port St Mary
Time: 6.00 pm

Brian Goldie is organising a photographic display in Mount Tabor Hall on the them of “ A Day in the Life of Port St Mary “ the Southern Photographic Club were commissioned in millennium year, 1979 to picture the village through a typical day – from the bread going in the oven at Faragher’s Bakery to the last man swaying out of the Albert!

The display will highlight the many changes to Port St Mary and also show important fishing was to the community. The display will remain open at Mount Tabor until the evening of Wednesday 31 July to allow the public time to view it at their leisure.

Our fisheries minister Mr Phil Gawne has very kindly organised some traditional music and dance and there will also be stalls selling food and refreshments plus some demonstrations of the skills used in the fishing industry in bygone years.

During the evening there will be a walking re enactment reflecting on the changing aspects of Manx fishing through the years, showing the importance of the Mackerel and Herring industry and the emergence of the Manx Queenie fishery following the closure of the Irish sea Herring grounds.

If anyone is interested in getting involved and helping out please contact dawn.maddrell@gov.im

Anyone wishing to take part in the walk should register on arrival and they will then be given a start time, the walk will take approximately 1 hour and the cost will be £1 for adults and free for children. Please be early to register for the walk as places will be limited.

The Albert pub will also be hosting a Manx language evening courtesy of Adrian Cain – no doubt accompanied by the odd local brew!

All in all this should be a great opener to the Isle of Man Queenie Festival and a way in which the village can play their part.

Marine Nature Reserve Meeting

There is a presentation and community meeting taking place on Wednesday 25 February 2009 at 8pm at the Mount Tabor Methodist Hall, Port St Mary.

This is a great opportunity to get involved in something that will be beneficial to the Isle of Man and all the local community.

Please come down and tell us your views and join in the debate.

Admission is free and refreshments will be provided!

For more details contact Fiona Gell on 843109 or email fiona.gell@gov.im

Marine Day ‘Schedule of Events’ announced

The Schedule of events for Marine Day “A festival of the sea” on 9th August 2008 has now gone up on the Marine Day page of this site. We are absolutely delighted with the list of guests appearing and are sure that the program of events will make for an absolutely fantastic day out.