THE 119th Manx Music Festival starts at the Villa Marina in Douglas this weekend.

Known locally as The Guild, the competitive music, speech and dance festival has attracted 1,400 entries.

The week-long event starts on Saturday (April 2) and will be held in the Royal Hall, Promenade Suite and Broadway Cinema.

There are numerous classes taking place throughout the week ranging from Manx Folk Dancing to Bible readings to songs from the musicals and brass band music.

The climax of the extravaganza is the Cleveland Medal Test, on Saturday, April 9, which sees the winners of the special solo classes compete for the Cleveland, Ohio, Manx Society's Gold Medal.

Last year it was won by Andrew Williamson (bass).

The Manx Music Festival has its origins in The Isle of Man Fine Art and Industrial Guild.

It was during the fifth annual exhibition of this organisation, held in December 1892, that choir competitions were held for the first time.

These were organised by Miss M L Wood who became known as "the mother of music in the Isle of Man".