Any comments, errors or omissions gratefully received
The Editor
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© F.Coakley , 2026
[from A.M Harrision's Descriptive List of Insular Societies]
This society aimed at providing educational activities and entertainment in a sociable Methodist context, The soiree held on Wednesday 2 January 1895, at the Centenary Hall, Peel, was a celebration of the New Year, prefaced by 'games of chess, draughts, dominoes etc. and musical selections' after which supper was handed round 'by a host of willing young ladies and gentlemen'. The rest of the evening was taken up by Christmas and New Year tableaux and the presentation of prizes from 'A New Year's Surprise Tree' followed by 'the old original Punch And Judy show......... accompanied as it was by drum and comb and trumpet band'.
The last item before games and 'Auld Lang Syne' to close the evening, the performance of the 'White Boys', acting the old mummers Christmas play, St. George and the Dragon', was a remarkable appearance of an old Manx folk-life tradition in, unusually, a church setting; a reminder of Peel's particular and abiding attachment to Manx folk traditions, unlike the more anglicised Douglas.
Isle of Man newspapers, ut supra et passim;
I.M.Killip, 'The White Boys and the Mollag band' J. M.M. vol. vii. no.88 (1976) pp.201-205
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Any comments, errors or omissions gratefully received
The Editor |
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