Women Today

On Saturday 26th June 2017, the Centenary Centre was taken over by mini musicians learning to be future rock stars, taught by some of the Island's best musical talent, as The Rock Project celebrated with an end of year gig for pupils and tutors alike. Christy went to meet with some of those involved during their soundcheck, and also caught up with Rock Project leader David Rowles.

The Rock Project is putting on a 3 day summer school between 23rd and 25th August for ages 7-13. Complete beginners are welcome, and they even provide instruments. Tuition on Vocals, Guitar, Bass, and Drums; there are also songwriting classes and you perform in an end of school showcase like this one. Go to manninmusic.com for more information

Shaun Wilde is a remarkable man; he is one of only 15 people in the world (that are known about) that have 'broken out' of Locked In Syndrome. He came to see us at the end of May 2017 along with Gillian Horsey, Lead Nurse for Stroke at Nobles Hospital, so that they could tell us his incredible story and so that Gill could talk to us about stroke awareness.

We were recently joined on the show by Anne Hodgson, who is the Community Fundraiser for the Walton Centre Charity. Anne was on the Island especially to support a number of people who were raising funds for the centre by taking part in the Parish Walk.

She was invited by the family of one young woman, Katie Holmes, who has spent almost a year as an inpatient at Walton following a serious car accident. Christy was able to spend a short time in the company of 21 year old Katie and her mum, Yvonne, to find out a little more about their story and how the Centre has helped them. After the Parish Walk weekend, we received this wonderful message from Yvonne: “The walkers did very well in difficult conditions! Jeff finished at Peel, Rob stopped at Jurby and the joint total raised by the two of them for the Walton Centre is around £1500 - with thanks as well to the customers of Motor Mall, whose customers also contributed and who provided the support car for Yvonne to drive.

You can donate yourself at https://www.justgiving.com/waltonfund

Hazel Teare is the woman behind the Island's open mic poetry nights, a founder member of Poetry Unlimited, member of the Manx Bard Committee – the list goes on – but she is also a performance poet herself – and a published, prize winning poet at that. We ran out of time to hear a 2nd poem from her, so invited her to stay after the show so we could chat a bit more and hear another of her fab creations

Sunday June 18th is Father's Day. We've been asking you to send in your thoughts about what it means to be a Dad in 2017 and you've sent some wonderful comments. So, as Christy's Dad, Steve DeHaven, found himself up at Manx Radio earlier this week (on an entirely different mission), she invited him in to the studio and bravely (foolishly?!) asked him to give his thoughts on modern day fatherhood, and reveal what she was like as a child...

Some of you may remember former guest Jimmy Whittle. Jimmy became something of a celebrity on the Island – and further afield - when he appeared on Channel 4 programme Restoration Man and his unique personality won over viewers and programme makers alike. Jimmy has also battled with depression and alcoholism, both of which were amplified when he lost his partner Lorna under tragic circumstances in her 20s.

Well, Jimmy is making the headlines again - for very positive reason. If you were down at the beer tent on the prom over TT2017, you might have spotted him – you could hardly miss him in fact – building a boat out of beer cans...Christy went down to the tent to catch up with him and find out what exactly he was playing at...

If you want to support Jimmy's expedition or find out more about he's doing, and to see clips of the documentary being made by DAM Productions, visit www.jimmycan.co.im

On 8th June, we were joined in the studio by former Island resident Dani Rose, who is now one of the highest qualified 'drone pilots' in Britain. He now works for Flying Pictures, who specialise in aerial work on some of the biggest film and tv productions around (Harry Potter, Bond, Sherlock Holmes, Star Wars...) We barely scratched the surface with Dani while he was on the show, so he agreed to stay behind and chat to us some more; in this podcast, he reveals some of the specialist bits of kit he's created for work on everything from Martin Garrix pop videos (with a cool 190million views) to Midsommer Murders, he talks about safety, about major work challenges and the pressure he and his fellow pilots are under - and whether that popular online shop really will ever use drones to deliver our packages...

NB: This is the pop video Dani talks about, so you can see the bit of kit they created: https://youtu.be/e2vBLd5Egnk

At the end of May 2017, Christy visited Karen Griffiths, new head gardener at Cregneash, who took over this year from horticulturalist Cilla Platt following her retirement. The birds were singing, the bees were buzzing and the flowers were bursting with colour

On 5th June 2017 we were joined by Tanya Anderson from Lovely Greens and John Faragher from Food For Free Isle of Man. They stayed behind after the show to chat to us in greater detail; in this podcast we learn about the many varieties of mint and it's many benefits for both body and mind; about making your own teas; about Salmon berries and what to do with them; how to bring the wild back to your own garden; what hedgerow plants you can use to dye materials and what to be careful of – did you know parsnip juice can be dangerous?!

You can find out more by following John at www.facebook.com/manxfoodforfree and Tanya at www.lovelygreens.com

We were delighted to be joined on 6th June 2017 by a woman who grew up surrounded by bees and Borstal Boys; who ran her own Market Garden, looks after Loughtans, enjoys a spot of boating, REALLY loves fast trains - and whose careful planning, all-weather work and very green fingers have left their colourful mark on the glorious gardens at one of the Island’s most loved heritage sites.

Horticulturalist Cilla Platt recently retired as head gardener at Cregneash after nearly two decades. Her dedication to heritage vegetables and replanting traditional Manx varieties has made a lasting legacy to the gardens of the much loved village.

If you missed the programme, you can listen again to it in full here.