Musicians who studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester are gathering at the Erin Arts Centre on Thursday 9^th September to celebrate 10 years of directorship of the Mananan Opera by Stefan Janski, Head of Opera Studies at the RNCM as well as College’s connections with the Island and its young musicians.

The evening has been organised by Gareth Moore, who has just been appointed Island Ambassador for the RNCM.  Gareth is a former RNCM organ student himself, graduating in 2007.  He now teaches music at King William’s College.  He has been supported by John Bethell, MBE, Director of the Erin Arts Centre and Christine Henstock, Development Manager at the RNCM, who is keen to meet Manx Alumni. Continued

Marsh has appointed Ann Collins to the newly created role of Client Service Director of its insurance broking operations on the Isle of Man. Based in Marsh’s Douglas office, Mrs Collins assumes responsibility for client development and customer servicing among the firm’s client base, which includes leading businesses from the hospitality and leisure, financial services, charities and manufacturing sectors.

Mrs Collins joins Marsh from Aon in Douglas, where she worked for six years. At Aon, Mrs Collins was Managing Director with responsibility for developing and leading its broking team on the Isle of Man and growing the firm’s local business base. Continued

Alan Crone, site manager at Heritage Homes’ prestigious Quay West apartments overlooking Douglas Marina, has every reason to stand high after winning a Pride in the Job Quality Award from the National House-Building Council (NHBC).

Employed by Dandara/Heritage Homes for the past six years, 33-year-old Alan has also worked on the iconic Court House development in Athol Street, Douglas and the new Isle of Man Hospice.

“Winning this award is great recognition, not only for me and Heritage Homes, but for all the team behind what is an outstanding new development on the Isle of Man,” he said. Continued

The recent Show Racism the Red Card event, held in conjunction with local primary schools, three ex-professional football players and Barclays Wealth, proved to be a huge success with local school children.

The seminar, held at the Manx Museum, was attended by close to 200 primary school children from Murrays Road, St Mary’s, Arbory, Anagh Coar and Rushen Primary Schools.  During this event, children were asked to put forward questions on the subject of racism to ex-professional football players Leroy Rosenior, Olivier Bernard and Christian Roberts. They were then tasked with awarding a prize for the best question and Caitlyn Boyle was chosen as the winner. Continued

Four Manx competitors, from King William’s College and the Buchan, have brought home trophies from the RS Tera 2010 World Championships in sailing, including the Junior World Champion title.

The four pupils were part of the British team at the Championships, which were entered by seventy of the best under-16 sailors from across the world.  The competition consisted of 10 races over 5 days in the challenging Atlantic waters of Carnac in Southern Brittany. Continued

The Island’s online shopping directory, shopiom.com recently celebrated its first birthday this bank holiday weekend.  Launched in September 2009, shopiom.com has helped to set up over 40 local businesses online in a scheme by the Department of Economic Development to encourage increased sales for independent retailers.  Last Saturday, teams of three took to the streets of Douglas and Ramsey to celebrate the success of the directory over the past year and to encourage shopping local.  The street celebrations included a ‘pop the balloon, win a prize’ game, handing out balloons and cakes to passers-by and giving away prizes generously donated by local shops such as Pomegranate, Ramsey Art Gallery, The Bridal House, Indulgence, Model Tech, AJ Jewellery, Jules Ladies Fashion, The Haven and Eurocycles.  Pictured are the street teams in action in Douglas.

Royal London 360° has added two new benefits to its whole of life international protection product, LifePlan, to mark its first birthday.

Term benefits are now available until the age of 80, an increase from the previous limit of 65, which will allow the policyholder greater flexibility. Long-term care is now a standard feature of LifePlan and will be added to all existing policies – this will increase the level of cover given at no added cost. For example, if a client’s health deteriorates and they become in need of assistance in day to day care on a long-term basis, they will be able to claim the Critical Illness portion of their life cover and receive a lump sum to help cover any associated costs or loss of income. Continued

Equiom, an Isle of Man based corporate service provider, is exhibiting at the Monaco Yacht Show to promote its yacht registration and management services.

The show, which runs over four days in September, is the highlight of the yachting industry’s calendar and will feature 500 exhibitors from 36 countries and a projected 30,000 visitors.  This incredible show will also feature 100 yachts from 25m to 90m long, including 40 new yachts on show for the first time ever. Continued

Girl Guides from the UK taking part in a trek around the Island were able to phone home to get their exam results thanks to gifts from Manx Telecom. One hundred Girl Guides aged 16 to 26 are walking 100 miles around the Island’s coastline to celebrate 100 years of Girlguiding.

The event is called the ‘Ultimate Isle of Man Challenge’ and while they were away from home some of the girls were worrying about their GCSE results as they took part in the trek. Thanks to gifts of SIM packs from Manx Telecom the girls were able to phone home to the UK to get their results without incurring roaming charges on their own mobile phone networks. Continued

Staff at local legal services provider, Appleby, and their families enjoyed a fun day out last weekend at Cronkbourne Cricket Club.  The event, which is organised annually by the firm’s Social Committee, was packed with old-fashioned fun and activities such as a bucking bronco, face painting, coconut shy and circus performances.  Around sixty people, including children of all ages from toddlers to teenagers, enjoyed bouncy castles, ice cream and plenty of tasty food.  Marketing Manager at Appleby, Sarah Jarvis, commented: “The Family Fun Day was a great success and much enjoyed by all who came.  Continued