40 PEOPLE from the Isle of Man received a special invitation in January – the opportunity to take part in the traditional Maundy Thursday service at Westminster Abbey.

 
Buckingham Palace asked the Isle of Man's Bishop Robert Patterson to invite 40 residents to the service on April 21 - the day before Good Friday and also the Queen's 85th birthday.

At the service the Queen presents specially minted money to those people who have been recognised for their long and valuable service to their community and their church.

A spokesman for the panel which selected the group of 40 said: "This is a great honour for the Isle of Man as it's the Queen's 85th birthday and for the first time in many years it will be televised live.

"We're not absolutely certain but we believe it's the first time a large group from the Isle of Man has been invited to the ceremony."

The Island's church community selected the "unsung heroes" of the Manx community to attend the special service in London.

Each person who was invited to the service was offered a small grant towards travel costs to attend the ceremony and it was left to the individuals to decide whether to make their invitations public.

It is understood that the Queen personally chose to ask groups of individuals to be nominated from the offshore jurisdictions and smaller islands in the British Isles.

The number of recipients is related to the Sovereign's age so this year there were 85 male and 85 female recipients.

Update: A BBC TV crew visited the Island in April to film some of the recipients who took part in the Royal Maundy Service. For more on this click here.

This story is part of isleofman.com's Review of the Year 2011.