The Archive Room

In The Archive Room this week -  a young Dot Tilbury showcases her natural talent as a topical and hilariously funny entertainer - sharing all the behind-the-scenes adventures when Manx Radio first began live broadcasting of the TT Races: We make a first visit to the Baldwin Valley in the company of Manx Radio's Charles Webster talking with Tom Cowell about the area Tom knows so well. &nb...

As part of Manx Radio's special series of programmes to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, in The Archive Room this week we explore the life of Sir William Hillary, a Yorkshireman who came to live in the Isle of Man, and having seen at first hand the significant and regular loss of life through shipwrecks, was determined to establish a s...

In The Archive Room this week, I'm selecting some gems from the shelf marked TRAVEL - David Callister talks with Wilson Gibb who, for the last 20 years of his working life, was Manager of the Douglas Horse Tram Service - but that wasn't how he started - the full and fascinating story is here! Celia Joughin and Edith Cutsforth joined the staff of Peel Engineering straight after leaving scho...

In The Archive Room this week, Eva Kane remembers a wartime royal engagement at the Howstrake Hotel in Onchan, Irene Shimmin recalls teaching in the 1950's, and her connection with the Douglas Carnival, and The Majorettes; we have our first meeting with Alfie Duggan - caddying at the Fort Anne Golf Links at the tender age of 8 - and Wilson Gibb shares just a few of the secrets of managing the...

In The Archive Room this week ....  Irene Shimmin recalls a fascinating family history, shares some memories of her own childhood, and describes the start of her teaching career. Laurie Davies tells how wonderful childhood holidays in Ramsey filled him with a love for the Island which later shaped his life as a teacher and Jean Skinner (nee Corkish) explains how she was truly 'blessed&#39...

Victor Kneale was born in 1918 and grew up in central Douglas - he recalls a happy childhood, and a time when the Island was over-run with holidaymakers - and every home welcomed them in.   Mrs Nancy Mills takes John Kennaugh by surprise with her story of the Doctor and the monkey - and listen out for the mention of the donkey who liked to stop for a pint when passing the pub! Arthur Underhil...

Legendary entertainer Dot Tilbury reflects on her childhood and shares some precious Christmas memories - there's also stories from Dot's working life in London in the Swinging 60's, and stories from her homecoming to the Island - and discovering the joy of working with the very talented and amusing Ian Qualtrough.   There's a couple of stories from Ian Qualtrough, as he recal...

The Three Wise Men of Manx Radio - Bernie Quayle, David Callister and Terry Cringle sit down round the table to share Christmas memories from their respective childhoods.   Mother and Daughter Mary Radcliffe and Claire Quayle reflect on life on a poultry farm - for Mary, raising geese and turkeys, and preparing them for the table at Christmas,  was very hard work - but for daughter Clair...

This is the last in the present series of The Archive Room Hollantide Day survives largely in name only nowadays, but once the 12th of November was a hugely important date in farming life - we explore the centuries-old traditions in conversation with two great countrymen -  John Kennaugh and Harvey Briggs - with a little Manx history from Dr Fenella Bazin. And chimney pots link stories from E...

In this week's episode, David Callister talks to Walter Clarke about his work in the late 1940's recording the last native Manx speakers.  Walter explains the challenges of working with an American tape recorder and an unreliable electricity supply - but nevertheless managing to  collect some wonderful stories of Island life - including various different explanations of encounter...

From the Manx Radio archives this week- David Callister talks with Mrs Daphne Corlett about her well-equipped Manx cottage kitchen,  full of vintage items from the Edwardian and Victorian era. Euan Kelly of Kelly's Souvenirs explains how a passing interest became a very successful business, and Louise Quirk visits the Manx Museum to talk with technician Walter Clarke about recreating a tr...

In this episode we go to Peel - to hear memories of fishing for herrings and producing kippers, as David Callister talks with Eddie Leece - famous as the founder of a museum devoted to Peel history, which became known as The Leece Museum. John Kennaugh chats with Callin Hudson to find out how herrings came to Dalby, and Peter Canipa, who ran Deveraux's kipper curing business, shares some fasci...

In this episode, it's Harvest time in The Archive Room, as the late John Kennaugh takes us on a nostalgic trip to farms on the Island, in an era when bringing in the harvest was done with very little machinery and a lot of manual labour; when there was no harvest thanksgiving until the harvest was completely in, and when Mill Days and Tea Fights were highlights of the autumn calendar. Everythi...

Welcome to the first episode of our autumn amble around  the Manx Radio archive - eavesdropping on conversations with more wonderful characters.   On this programme, we meet  Mrs Mabel Bean,  the very first female resident to move into Cummal Mooar on Ramsey Promenade, when it opened its doors in 1981.  Despite being over a hundred years old when this conversation was reco...

We're all aboard the steam railway in this episode - with stories from people who devoted their working life to the smooth running of the trains that were such an important part of Island life in years gone by. Cyril Mylchreest recalls his days as Station Master in  Port Soderick and then at Union Mills, in conversation with Charles Guard. And when David Callister visited Ballasalla Halt,...

David Callister talks to Mike Ventre about a lifetime working in the  Isle of Man Fire Service - from the days when recruitment depended upon your shoe size, and a small number of dedicated firefighters worked very long hours  -  to the lighter side of the work - involving a disappearing fireman, and a bottle of rum that wasn't quite what it seemed to be! Another fireman tells a...

Master storyteller (and natural comedian) Ian Qualtrough introduces us to a host of characters in this edition of The Archive Room - family members, neighbours, staff in the family business and great characters he came to know through a lifetime spent in the south of the Island. There's Willie Sayle, Aunt May, Albert 'Alfonso' Craine, Dick the Bumbee, Dickie Cooill, "Gumper"...

The 1935 comedy film No Limit tells the story of a Wigan chimney sweep determined to ride in the famous TT Race. Starring George Formby and Florence Desmond, it was a massive international success, and screening it in all the Island's cinemas became an essential part of the TT festival each year.   In The Archive Room this week we hear from locals involved in both making and screening the...

It's an entertainment special this week - with stories from Manx Radio's Archive Room from the days when the Island's cinemas were 'packed to suffocation'. Charles Kelly recalls his childhood visits to the cinema during the First World War years - Charles Draper and Laurie Kissack discuss their years as cinema managers, Eddie Leece remembers a Peel cinema, and Fred Moore has a...

Another trip down memory lane, using material from the Manx Radio archives.   As well as being a prominent figure in Island life, Donald Gelling is also a great storyteller, and in conversation with David Callister he looks back over his childhood - he was born in 1938 - his schooldays and getting his first job.   And transport expert Robert Hendry joins in, with useful information about...

In The Archive Room this week, we've been finding stories of policing on the Island in the 1930's and 1940's as told to David Callister by Arthur Underhill and Hector Duff - who both spent the majority of their working life serving the community as members of the Island's police force.  Next week's programme will include a selection of stories on a variety of topics, told...

In this nostalgic meander down Manx Memory Lane,  FRANK DOWNWORTH recalls leaving school at the age of 14 in 1946 and spending the first five years of his working life on the railway at Ramsey Station.  He has fond memories of the staff - and a fund of stories -  some frightening, and some funny - from his time there.   Harry Kelly's thatched cottage is probably the most ea...

In past times on the Island, the Christmas period was known as The Foolish Fortnight and ran from Black Thomas' Eve - 21st December - and ended on Old Christmas Day -  6th January.  Much like today, it was a time for socialising, eating, music and dancing!  It was also a time for traditional Manx customs, and who better to talk about them than MONA DOUGLAS ...... myrrh flowering...

It's a festive special from the Manx Radio archives today - this collection of Christmas stories, woven into other memories of Manx life, features the voices of John Kennaugh, Noel Cringle, Mrs Pat Corrin, Keith Teare, Mrs Nancy Mills, Hubert and Doreen Kermeen of Ballacraine, Howard Hampton, and the Aeg Threshlyn Children's Choir

In this programme, we're taking a collection of stories, thoughts and reflections from the shelf marked CHRISTMAS in the Archive Room. Three Wise Men of Media - Terry Cringle, Bernie Quayle and David Callister - share childhood Christmas memories; Mary Radcliffe admits that  turkey farming is hard work for adults - but for her daughter Claire it was sign that Christmas wasn't far away...