The Isle of Man's oldest schools are being urged to dig out portraits of Manx poet T.E. Brown that would have been gifted to them almost exactly a century ago.

In May 1914, the now-defunct Manx Society gifted a portrait of Brown to every island school to encourage pupils to read his works. Now, schools are being asked to dig their portrait out, dust it off and hang it in pride of place to mark Island of Culture 2014.

Advisory teacher for the Manx curriculum, Jo Callister said: 'T.E. Brown is one of our greatest ever cultural figures. It will be fascinating to see how many of these portraits still exist, whether still on walls or stored away in attics or archives, and to raise the awareness of today's pupils to Brown's work in this culturally significant year.'

Pictured with their school's original portrait are Michael primary pupils Katie Roberts and Samuel Hills-Field.

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