THE Isle of Man often appears off the County Down coast, yet many people here know little about our nearest neighbour and its culture.
However, as part of effort to build a “cultural bridge” to the island two Manx activists are to give a workshop on the reviving their language in Newcastle.
Teaching and learning Manx Gaelic: What’s the difference?’ will see language development officer Adrian Cain, and Kirry Clague, a teacher at the Manx medium primary school share their experiences.
The free event is part of Building bridges with the Isle of Man, a program put together by Conradh na Gaeilge radh na Gaeilge Boirche Íochtar, the Lower Mourne Irish language group based in Annalong.
Manx is a very close relative of Irish and speakers in both County Down and Man say they hope to learn from each other.
Like Irish, Manx suffered a near fatal decline in the 19th and 20th centuries but like Irish in county Down the language is seeing a revival of fortunes and some of the island’s children are being educated in Manx.
Manx has the disadvantage of having lost its last native speaker in the early 1970s, although some children are being brought up with it once more.
The event is open to all and will be held in theBurrendale Hotel in Newcastle on Monday the 2nd of March.
Food will be provided and booking is advised: boircheiochtar@gmail.com or FACEBOOK PAGE Boirche Íochtar Cnag.
Another talk, by Adrian Cain entitled Manx, yesterday, today and tomorrow will be held in Kilkeel Library on Tuesday the 3rdMarch at 6:30pm.
Following this, there will be a presentation from Annalong based historian, Allan Kilgore Early commercial links between Mourne fisheries and the Isle of Man.
The events are funded by Colmcille in association with Culture Vannin, Iontabhas Ultach, Libraries NI and it is hoped to become a part of a larger scale project including a school exchange programme.
