Douglas Mayor John Skinner has welcomed local singer songwriter Christine Collister and her husband Robert Miller, accompanied by Jan and Steve Toms and Margaret Sharpe from New South Wales and their host Alastair Kneale, to the mayor’s parlour.
In April Christine Collister was in New South Wales to perform at the Glen Innes Celtic festival, which this year celebrated the Isle of Man. The festival attracts clans, cultural groups, dancers and performers from around the world. Visitors experience Celtic music and dance at four stages at the festival’s main venue, the Australian Standing Stones, a collection of granite monoliths. The four-day festival features entertainment that includes a street parade, massed pipe bands, strong-man events, yard dog trials, children’s activities, a fun run, dancing, flag-raising ceremonies, poet breakfasts, market stalls and Celtic foods.
Jan Toms is chairman of the Australian Standing Stones Guardians and Steve Toms is a former mayor of Glen Innes. Margaret Sharpe is convenor of the Celtic Council of Australia and vice-president of the New South Wales Manx Society.
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Image: Douglas Mayor and Mayoress John and Gill Skinner with, left to right, Robert Miller, Judith Toms, Margaret Sharpe, Steve Toms, Christine Collister and Alastair Kneale. Picture Andrew Barton
