We attended an exhibition of model ships in Ramsey Courthouse yesterday.  It was raising funds for the RNLI, which was founded on the Isle of Man two hundred years ago this year.  Model lifeboats weren't the only ones present though.  There were brigs and barques, tugs and tramp steamers, ferries and fishing boats.  It was a really good display.

Model boat building is very popular on the Isle of Man, and what was on display was only a fraction of the models available.  The Model Boat Club put on a couple of shows per year, with different exhibits appearing each time.  And it's free!  (Although donations are encouraged and welcome.)

Talking about donations, the organisers could teach governments a thing or two about raising revenue.  There were different collection points around, so putting a pound coin in one box got the lifeboat to launch,  in another a coin caused a lifeboat to toss about on the sea, in yet another the lifeboat crew waved at the donor.  Customs and excise should try giving tax payers something back for their money.

Incidentally, the gentleman in the foreground is carrying our book The Wreck of the Racehorse; the book's author, also a model builder, is visible in the background.  He's the gentleman with the blue sleeves.  Photographs from another of our books, Strandings & Sinkings, graced the walls.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
Tholt y Will Glen (above) is the closest photograph we have of a rainforest, and much too beautiful to represent Amazon. Those of you who like Amazon should stop reading now because I fear that this is going to be a rant. We have been selling books through Amazon for nearly twenty years, since before we set up Loaghtan Books in fact.  We didn't like dealing with Amazon because we thought they were greedy; it's completely reasonable to charge commission but they take too much.  For example, our A Brief History of the Isle of Man retails at £12.95.  Amazon charges the customer £15.75 explaining that the additional £2.80 is for postage.  Not that we get anything for postage, Amazon keeps that.  Amazon credits us with £10.75 out of which we still have to take the postage, currently £4.16.   Briefly, the customer pays £15.75, Amazon gets £5.00, the postage is £4.16, we get £6.59.  Nevertheless we put up with getting only pennies more than half of the price of the book because Amazon
Read more
Image
 Above is Dreemskerry Quarry in the snow.  It's just up the road from the office.  It's actually quite small but looks almost alpine here. No longer a working quarry it is occasionally used for motorbike trials and is also home to a colony of feral cockerels.  Their previous owner kept the hens, as they provide eggs, but the cockerels were non productive (no comments please, ladies) so were 'freed' (aka dumped) in the quarry.  The Isle of Man has no foxes so the birds seem to be doing quite well.  They do appear to have the occasional rowdy party, however, as we can sometimes hear crowing from the office.  Local residents are less than happy at the occasional wake-up call at five in the morning. The island gets very little snow as a rule, but, like most of the north of Britain, had its share today.  The office is sheltered from all but an east wind, but, as that's what it was, we came to work to find the windows plastered with stuck-on snow.  It was like working in
Read more
Image
It may not look earth shattering (sea shattering?), but we saw the island's new ship Manxman go past the office over the weekend.  Distances are deceptive, but from camera to boat is about three miles.  We're not sure what she was doing as she steamed (dieseled?) north quite quickly, turned round in Ramsey Bay and then headed south at a much more leisurely pace. She's not in service yet - in fact she only arrived from Korea where she was built about a week ago - and is still undergoing sea trials.  The crew have to know that they can get her in and out of the various harbours efficiently and at all states of the tide.  She'll enter service later this month and replace Ben-my-Chree as the island's main ferry later this year. While she is undoubtedly a good-looking, modern boat, the name is rubbish.  It manages to be linguistically non Manx, sexist and boring all at the same time.  It's not even traditional, as the only other Manxman to serve in the Steam Packe
Read more