Walkers can now register to take part in this year’s Firefighters’ Memorial Walk in April.

Online registration is open for the 50-kilometre road walk in memory of the island’s firefighters, which will take place on Sunday, April 24.

The annual walk, organised by the Isle of Man Fire and Rescue Service, will begin at 8.30am at Peel Fire Station and will follow the Parish Walk route from Peel to Ramsey, passing through Kirk Michael, Ballaugh, Jurby, Andreas and Sulby, finishing at Ramsey Fire Station – offering participants the chance to train for the Parish which takes place on June 18.

Chief Fire Officer Kevin Groom said: ‘I am delighted to confirm that the walk will take place again this year – it is always pleasing to see the many walkers taking part.

‘I look forward to a great day out and encourage local communities to support the event as it passes through their towns and villages.’

This year’s annual walk is the 10th to take place since it began in 2007.

It was first known as the Seven Stations Challenge, where participants would visit all of the stations in the island but was then renamed the Sara Killey Walk in 2009 in memory of a colleague who died.

The event has now been renamed The Firefighters’ Memorial Walk in memory of Sara and other colleagues, firefighters and friends with a close association to the Isle of Man Fire and Rescue Service.

All proceeds from the walk will go to The Firefighters’ Charity, which provides various services and types of assistance for serving and retired fire service staff and their families.

Entry costs £25 and each finisher of the 50-kilometre walk will receive a medal. The cut off time for reaching Bride is at around five hours.

To register online or for more information visit www.firefightersmemorialwalk.com

Details can also be found on ‘The Fire Fighters Memorial Walk’ Facebook page.

Mark Hay, from Douglas, ran the Santa Dash in December and raised £126.50 for the hospice.

Mary Doyle of Hospice Isle of Man thanked Mark for all his efforts with this run.

Mark came 10th in the dash and explained he wanted to raise funds for the charity as he felt it was a great cause and helped a lot of people.

The last of our ‘open’ print competitions in the current programme was judged by John Keelan, chairman of the Southern Photographic Club.

John has judged for us previously, is known to be an experienced amateur photographer with both prints and projected digital images, and so needed little introduction.

John was quickly down to business, commenting on each of the 53 prints entered across the different classes of experience in the society.

As expected, his professional background guaranteed a highly methodical, painstaking approach to his assessments, though any slight criticisms, where justified, were offered in a kindly fashion.

He to offered helpful tips about how the entries could have been improved. A different angle of view was suggested by him in a few cases and the need to exercise care when using computer software not to over sharpen the subject matter were just two of the points he made. He had enjoyed examining the images and thought about how the various technical elements had been combined with artistic flair to produce the end result. He offered advice on cropping in some cases and also touched on the possible use of filters and different metering options. He talked about composition but was bold enough to admit that, sometimes, the broadly accepted ‘rules’ of photography were there to be broken! Though there was a wide range of subject matter before John, as is usually the case with ‘Open’ competitions, he narrowed down his final ‘orders of merit’.

Sue Blythe continued her winning ways in the standard class, gaining first place in both the mono and colour sections. Her image of her two dogs racing each other along the beach drew particularly favourable comment and was also awarded the prize for the best overall image on the night. Titled ‘The Race’, this now qualifies for the season long competition for the ‘Best of the Best’ and the award of the Brian Kershaw Memorial Trophy.

Nessie Gillen led the field once more in the intermediate class with ‘Low Flying Owl’ winning the colour section and ‘Under the Pier’ first in the mono section, the former being a beautifully graceful and yet intense image of an owl hunting its prey. Honours were shared in the Advanced Class with Ron Shimmin winning the best mono print with ‘Face to Face’, two figures in silhouette beautifully seen and captured, and Sue Jones being placed first in the colour section with ‘Vintage Lamp’, an image with vibrant colours and a real sense of a bygone era.

The full results of the competition can be viewed on the society’s website www.iomps.com.

The society will next be meeting at 7.30 pm on March 2 at 7.30pm at Thie Ellyn, off Withington Road, Douglas.

The question of the week: when are you going to write about the horse trams?

Well writing about them is easy. Saying something new is the difficult bit.

The Douglas promenade horse drawn tramway has been around all my life. It is just something that we have always taken for granted.

It was as invisible as the Laxey Wheel, Tower of Refuge, or Castle Rushen. Invisible because they were just there.

But there is one huge difference. The Laxey Wheel and Tower of Refuge don’t get in the way when you are trying to go about your everyday business.

These days, does it really make sense to have horse trams packed full of fare paying passengers up and down the middle of one of the main routes in and out of Douglas?

If someone applied to the planning committee to run a tramway down the middle of Peel or Castletown, I don’t think he would get very far.

Modern life has overtaken the trams. Or I suppose what I really mean is that all too often, modern life is unable to overtake the trams. The tramway was created in the days before the internal combustion engine became king.

We all know the promenade roadway is in such a state of dis­repair it would make a ploughed field feel embarrassed.

The long overdue rebuilding of what is often the first thing the visitor to our capital sees is edging slowly nearer. And the closer the re­building work comes, the nearer the problem of what to do with the horse trams comes.

The roadway rebuilding has been on the drawing board for years. Everybody and their dog agrees the job must be done but the problem of what to do with horse trams is the chock that is stopping the wheels from moving.

There has been island-wide debate about the trams. Select committees, public consultations, expert opinions, and Manx Radio phone in programmes have so far failed to solve the problem.

Even Pullyman has offered a few ‘tongue in cheek’ solutions. My first idea was to re­lay the rails from the top of Bray Hill to Governors Bridge. This would combine two sacred cows and probably only cost about five million quid.

Another solution would be to move everything to Jurby.

There could be guided tours round the perimeter of the new prison and the guides could point out landmarks such as where one company was going to build airships.

Another interesting site is the hangar where this American company was planning to buy obsolete Russian space capsules, re­furbish them and use them to send wealthy tourists into space.

There must be hundreds of disappointed millionaires who were queuing up to buy their tickets.

But back to Douglas prom. In the old days, Douglas Corporation transport department was a sizeable operation. It ran a fleet of yellow single and double decker buses, a cable tramway and, of course, the horse trams.

All things change and the cable cars ran out of steam. The bus division was absorbed into Manx National Transport along with the Manx Electric Railway, Snaefell Mountain Railway and Steam Railway.

The odd man out is the horse trams. It makes no sense for the trams to be part of Douglas Corporation.

All of the other vintage transport is under the wing of the national government and the only logical solution would be to have the horse trams join the other loss makers.

The island’s vintage transport collection is unique and surely no one can object to the cost of preservation.

If we scrap the trams, why would we not do the same with the museums and all the other heritage sites?

I cannot see the trams will be lost forever and I think leading councillor Christian should put his name down for the next poker championship at the Villa Marina. He has just played a very shrewd card.

Noble’s Hospital has been ranked amongst the best for junior doctors’ core medical training.

Health Minister Howard Quayle MHK welcome the news, saying it enhanced the reputation of Noble’s and it would serve to boost the ability to recruit high quality staff.

In the annual National Training Survey of junior doctors, commissioned by the General Medical Council, Noble’s was ranked among the top 25 per cent of 159 hospitals in Britain for a key component of doctors’ medical education – Core Medical Training.

CMT follows the two year Foundation Programme that junior doctors commence after graduating from medical school. It marks the beginning of a doctor’s progression to their chosen speciality of medicine whether as a GP or a consultant.

Mr Quayle said: ‘This is excellent news. These results means that in the field of CMT training Noble’s Hospital is among some of the largest and most prestigious hospitals in the UK.’

Director of medical education, Dr Adrian Dashfield, said that as result, competition for the six annual CMT training places is likely to be more intense, so Noble’s can attract high quality junior doctors.

Highways bosses have explained more about why the Mountain Road is to be closed for 13 days.

Work will include the resurfacing and re-profiling of the carriageway at the Waterworks and along the Mountain Mile.

We {http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/isle-of-man-news/13-day-mountain-road-closure-to-allow-tt-preparation-works-1-7742723|revealed last week} that the work was going to take place.

Department of Infrastructure officials say it will not only ‘ensure the long-term integrity’ of route between Ramsey and Douglas, but also ‘improve ride quality and safety’ for motorists.

Its exposed location and altitude makes the Mountain Road particularly susceptible to weather damage. The road at the Waterworks and the Mountain Mile is badly rutted in places. If work is not carried out, there is a danger the highway will fail completely, the DoI says.

Doing the work now will also save taxpayers more money in the long term, the government believes.

The Mountain Road will be closed between 11 and 23 from the Creg-ny-Baa through to Ramsey Hairpin to enable the improvements to be completed quickly and efficiently. While this work is under way, the Department will take the opportunity to carry out its annual TT preparations to minimise any further impact on motorists.

This work includes:

· Erection of one-way TT signage

· Road lining

· Ditching

· Sign maintenance

Infrastructure Minister Phil Gawne MHK said: ‘The Mountain Road is a critical route for the people of Ramsey and the north of the island and the department is investing in its long-term viability. We are committed to maintaining approximately £1 billion of assets to provide the foundations on which the Isle of Man can build economic and social success.’

He added: ‘Work on the Mountain Road provides year-round improvements for Isle of Man motorists, as well as supporting the safe and successful running of the TT Races and Festival of Motorcycling.

‘Closing the road allows for extended working hours to maximise efficiency, minimise disruption and create a safer environment for our staff. I recognise that the work in April will cause short-term disruption and I would like to thank people in advance for their patience and cooperation.’

Isle of Man charities and sporting organisations can now apply to become beneficiaries of the Cycle 4 Life fundraising event.

One charity and one sporting association will be chosen as recipients of the money raised by Cycle 4 Life, which will take place on July 17.

The annual event, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, features a solo and team relay Mountain Course time trial challenge and a family fun cycle at Noble’s Park.

Last year’s chosen recipients were the Manx Diabetic Association and Discover Diving.

A total of £10,000 was raised from the event and £6,000 was donated to the Manx Diabetic Association and £4,000 was donated to Discover Diving’s youth programme.

Kim Makin, Cycle 4 Life co-ordinator at Shoprite who organise the annual event, said: ‘We had a hugely successful year last year with all of the events taking place at the Grandstand which created a great atmosphere.

‘This year is our 25th anniversary so we really want everyone to get behind us and support what is a great annual event.’

Last year’s Cycle 4 Life event took place in September and saw Manx cyclist Peter Kennaugh break the Mountain Course record. He broke Chris Boardman’s time set in 1992, clocking a new record of 1 hour 23.48 seconds. The Olympic gold medallist received a cheque for £3,000 from Shoprite for his achievement.

Over the past 25 years, £200,000 has been raised from Cycle 4 Life and donated to good causes in the island.

Any charities and sporting organisations interested in applying to become beneficiaries should email kim.makin@manxshoprite.com for more information.

Applications forms can also be downloaded by visiting www.manxshoprite.com

They should be sent back to Shoprite in Little Switzerland in Douglas or emailed to Kim Makin.

The deadline for applications is Tuesday, March 8.

Year 12 students from across the island are putting the finishing touches to their presentations for the grand final of One World Charity Challenge.

Six teams from the island’s high schools will present multi-media presentations they have created on a charity of their choice working overseas in international development at the Manx Museum on Wednesday.

The teams will be marked by a panel of judges on criteria including how well they have researched their charities and the development issues in the area of the charity’s work, the impact the charity has on the life of a young person and how well they engage with the audience.

Charity Challenge co-ordinator Helen Kneale said: ‘The finals night of the One World Charity Challenge is an exciting event for the students and audience alike.

‘For the students it is the culmination of their hard work over recent months and a chance to highlight the work of their chosen charity. For the audience it is an opportunity to enjoy the creativity of the presentations and to learn more about the wonderful charities working to have such a positive impact on the lives of others.’

Pupils first had to compete against other teams from their school in order to be chosen for the final.

A prize fund of £22,000 has been donated by the H&S Davidson Trust and the Isle of Man International Development Committee and nearly £8,000 has already been allocated to the charities represented by other teams who did not reach the finals. The rest of the £14,200 prize fund will be distributed between the finalists on the night.

This year teams were also asked to fundraise for their charities and awards will be presented for the team who have raised the most money and the team that had the most creative fundraising ideas. The audience of invited guests will also be able to vote for their favourite presentation of the evening.

A handful of tickets have been reserved for members of the public. If you would like to attend contact Helen Kneale at oneworldcharitychallenge@gmail.com or call 800464.

The Isle of Man’s ambulance service is being featured on BBC One for the next three weeks.

Starting this morning (Monday) Manx medics will appear in the fourth series of Countryside 999.

The series, which follows rural emergency services throughout the British Isles, is broadcast each weekday at 11am.

Filming took place on the island during August and September last year, following paramedics and ambulance technicians as they went about their daily work.

A press release from the Department of Health and Social Care points out that all those featured in the series have given their consent.

Minister for Health and Social Care, Howard Quayle MHK said: ‘This is a rare opportunity for residents to see just some of the incredible work our dedicated health service professionals do each and every day. It will help raise awareness of the Island across the UK and the unique challenges we face as an island community.’

Dates and venues for Manx actress and singer Samantha Barks’ solo tour have been announced.

In June, she will perform at 10 venues – but sadly for Manx fans, it doesn’t include a date in the island.

Venues will, however, include Liverpool’s St George’s Hall (June 19) and Lancaster Grand (June 29).

The tour (full list of dates and venues here) will follow the release of her album, details of which are yet to be issued.

>> Samantha Barks to join celebrities on Bear Grylls’ Mission Survive 2016 TV series

Changes to the island’s immigration legislation mean the British Irish Visa Scheme now extends to Manx shores in a move that could provide a boost to the economy.

Under the British Irish Visa Scheme, Chinese and Indian nationals can travel freely around the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and now the Isle of Man using a single visit visa.

The changes came into force this month following approval by the Council of Ministers.

Previously a Chinese or Indian visitor planning to travel first to Ireland and then on to the UK had to apply in advance for two visas, which required two separate application processes and fees. However, as part of the British Irish Visa Scheme the applicant now has to apply only once.

Annie Taylor, from the passport office, said: ‘This move makes it easier for Chinese and Indian tourists and short-stay business visitors to include the Isle of Man in their travel itinerary. For example, a Chinese or Indian national visiting Dublin will now be able to travel onwards to the Isle of Man without the need for a separate visa. It’s hoped this will provide a welcome boost to business and tourism in the Island.’

The British Irish Visa Scheme currently applies only to Chinese and Indian nationals travelling on certain short-stay and visitor visas. It does not permit them to work.

Children at Braddan School know the value of a good bedtime story, so they called upon the Family Library to help out.

Pupils and teachers dressed in their night attire specially for their Bedtime Stories Day and Family Library schools librarian Sarah Johnson took them a selection of books to choose from.

Head teacher Louise Oates said: ‘We had great fun pretending we were getting ready to go to sleep and choosing our favourite bedtime stories.

‘We may have looked ready for bed, but the children learned an awful lot from the experience, not least that reading can be fun.

‘The team at the Family Library often help us with special events and projects and Sarah has become a firm friend of the school, so it was nice to see her again.’

The Bedtime Stories Day raised about £200 for the Family Library, which is run as a charity and provides its Schools Service free to educational establishments.

Sarah said: ‘It was lovely to see the children at Braddan School again and to witness how keen they were to look at the books and talk about them.

‘We’re always happy to help out any school with any project or special event and to arrange visits from schools.

‘If teachers get in touch about a project, I can deliver books and props to them.’

Teachers can also take advantage of the library’s display materials, puppet sets, DVDs, CDs and artefacts to help with projects.

Teachers can borrow up to 10 books from the library, next to the children’s playground in Westmoreland Road, Douglas, or more, if they go via the Schools Service.

The library welcomes class visits and can arrange for readings and activities.

To use the Schools Service, contact Sarah at sarah.johnson@familylibrary.im

More information is on Facebook or www.familylibrary.im or on 640650.

Police are investigating a hit and run road traffic collision that occurred on Saturday on Nursery Avenue, Onchan, between 1pm and 1.30pm.

A car parked at the bottom of Nursery Avenue was hit by another vehicle causing damage to both of them.

If anyone has any information regarding this matter contact Constable Tony Lawer at Lord Street police station in Douglas on 631212.

A family who raised money with a Christmas lights display raised hundreds of pounds for charity.

The Livsey family of Eskdale Road, Onchan, {http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/isle-of-man-news/barbara-s-fantastic-festive-light-show-1-7612490|were featured in this story.}

Barbara Livsey said: ‘We would like to thank everyone who visited our house to see our display of Christmas lights over the festive period. Thanks for your kind donations a total of £456.55 was raised for Rebecca House.

‘It was lovely hearing all the great comments and the children’s excited voices when visiting. Plans and discussions have already began for this year’s display.’

Corporate service provider SMP Partners has presented £3,920 to its 2015 Charity of the Year, Finley’s Tracks, bringing the final total raised to more than £11,000.

The charity, which was chosen by SMP Partners staff, has received donations from a series of events held throughout the year, starting with the firm’s annual party in January 2015. Since then staff have continued to raise money with a range of events during the year, such as casual clothes days and sponsored activities.

The latest donation brought the final total for the year to £11,188.

Finley’s Tracks was set up by Donna Harrison to raise awareness of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), a life-limiting progressive neuromuscular disorder which results in muscle degeneration. It was inspired by Finley Hesketh, of Onchan, who had been diagnosed with the condition. In addition to raising awareness, the charity seeks to assist people living with DMD and their families, like Finley and his mum and dad Kirstie and Clive.

The charity was selected by a staff vote, and it was a fitting choice as Kirstie used to work at SMP Partners.

Mark Denton, managing director of SMP Partners, said: ‘We had an awareness of the aims of Finley’s Tracks before it was chosen as our Charity of the Year for 2015, but after being able to see what it is trying to achieve so closely over the past 12 months we all have a much stronger understanding of its work.

‘The charity is trying to raise awareness of a little-understood but devastating condition, and I can certainly say awareness of DMD among our staff is now much greater. It is also working to provide equipment for Finley and support for others, and I hope the funds we have raised will go a long way towards assisting families living with this condition.’

‘I would like to congratulate everyone at SMP Partners for the huge amount of support they have given the charity throughout 2015, as well as our friends in various businesses that donated prizes for fundraising purposes during the year. We will continue to take a keen interest in Finley’s Tracks and wish the charity all the best for the future.’

Charity trustee Serena Wood added: ‘We were delighted, as a small and new charity, to be told that we had been chosen as Charity of the Year by a company like SMP Partners. Having the backing of such an established firm, and all the people who work there, has meant we have been able to achieve our primary aim of raising awareness of DMD to many more people during 2015. We will be able to build on this into the future, and I can’t thank the staff of SMP Partners enough.

‘We are overwhelmed by the amount of money which has been donated. It will make a very real difference to our work, taking us closer to achieving our goal of providing support for people like Finley who are living with DMD.’

The Manx Dyslexia Association will be holding dyslexia workshops for parents and children.

The association will be running three 20-minute workshops about technology and mind-mapping from 10am to midday on Saturday, March 12.

Participants will also have the chance to talk to committee members and others who are dyslexic, as well as receive maths advice and read books.

Sessions are limited to six per workshop and will take place at St John’s Primary School at 10am, 10.40am and 11.20am.

Anyone who would like to receive advice can visit to talk to members.

To book call 616309 or 801525 or email manxdyslexia@gmail.com and specify which workshop you would like to attend and at what time.

Preparations have started for this year’s Isle of Man Flower Festival, the theme for which is Supporting Achievement.

Twenty venues have signed up for the event, running from July 3 to 9.

Judy Matthews, chairman of the organising committee, said: ‘We are very excited about this year’s festival, which sees an increase in the number of venues.

‘Our theme of Supporting Achievement will give everyone the chance to find something that suits them.

‘As it is an Olympic year, and we hope to see some Manx representation in Rio, some may choose to focus on sporting achievement, but displays can be based on a much wider spectrum of achievement if people wish.

The official launch is in May. For more details see www.flowerfest.im

The search is on to find the very best farmers in the island as the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture invites nominations for this year’s award.

Now in its eighth year, the Tomorrow’s Farmers Award recognises and rewards farmers who are committed to the future of food and farming in the Isle of Man.

In order to keep supplying the demand for premium food products, farmers must keep rearing, growing and producing and constantly refining their businesses to focus on quality and efficiency.

Encouraging succession in the farming industry is vital to ensuring that skills are retained and that enthusiasm and innovation in the industry are maintained.

The Tomorrow’s Farmer Award, again sponsored by Shoprite, provides recognition for those who have chosen, not only to carry on the farming tradition, but to go the extra mile with ambition and imagination.

Each farm nominated will be visited and assessed by the panel of judges against criteria for farming efficiently and profitably, their focus on customers, their efforts to promote local food production, their plans to diversify their business and the conservation activity.

The entries will be whittled down to four finalists and the winner will be announced at this year’s Royal Manx Agricultural Show in August.

One of last year’s finalists won the Judges’ Special Award for a Young Farmer, David Collister, has demonstrated the hard work, commitment and farming knowledge necessary to succeed in a tough industry.

David farms at Southampton Farm, Santon, and farms 340 acres on a range of tenancies and has a milking herd of 190 cows.

The judges were impressed with his grazing rotation and the management of outlying fields for forage.

Leaving wide uncut field margins to provide stock cover and good ground has also created fantastic game cover/wildlife habitat as well as working well for the cattle.

Tim and Maria Johnston from Ballavarry Farm in Andreas was also a finalist and won the Tomorrow’s Farmer Award.

They farm almost 400 acres across two farms in a long term tenancy and have 205 Holstein Friesian dairy cows. They demonstrated a clear vision of the future for the farm, with plans to upgrade many aspects of the operation to reduce costs, improve efficiency and increase production.

Both of these farms supply Isle of Man Creamery with quality milk.

To make a nomination, send their name and address plus a brief explanation of why you think they are worthy of the award to Audrey Fowler, Marketing Officer, DEFA, Thie Slieau Whallian, Foxdale, IM4 3AS or email audrey.fowler@gov.im before March 25.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron has been urged to intervene in an alleged £75m cashback scandal.

The island’s financial regulators have been accused of ‘massive failure’ as an all party group of Westminster MPs met to investigate claims of mis-selling by energy giant ScottishPower.

Those claims involve a cashback scheme offered by ScottishPower on extended warranties for electrical goods in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Some 625,000 customers, many of them pensioners or on low incomes, who had paid an average of £140 on their cashback warranty, never got their money back.

Companies registered in the Isle of Man were set up to administer the cashback scheme.

The island’s Financial Services Authority, formed last year from the merger of the Insurance and Pensions Authority (IPA) and the Financial Supervision Commission, declined to attend the all-party parliamentary group hearing earlier this month, claiming it is not empowered to release restricted information to such bodies.

Scottish Power deny all the allegations.

During Prime Minister’s questions in the House of Commons last week, SNP MP for Dumfries and Galloway, Richard Arkless, called on David Cameron to meet with him and members of the all-party parliamentary group

Mr Arkless told the Prime Minister that he had seen ‘new evidence’ at the recent hearing that had him ‘utterly convinced’ ScottishPower still owed customers.

He asked Mr Cameron: ‘ScottishPower refused to attend an evidence session with the cashback APPG where crucial new evidence was uncovered.

‘As a former consumer litigator I am utterly convinced that over 2,000 of my constituents and over half a million people in the UK are owed cashback from ScottishPower.

‘Given this is a scandal of potentially huge proportions, will the Prime Minister agree to meet with me and the cross-party APPG to discuss how we can ensure that these ordinary hard working people receive the cashback they were promised from ScottishPower?’

Mr Cameron replied: ‘I am glad the honourable gentleman has raised and I know the cross party group has done some very useful work.

‘My understanding is of course, look, any alleged wrong doing should be fully investigated.

‘Ofgem can impose fines if they find companies have breached their licence and I am very happy to arrange for a meeting between him and other members of the All-Party Group with the relevant minister in the Department of Energy and Climate Change so we can try and get this fixed.’

The £1.2million refurbishment of a Manx Electric Railway bridge has received another award.

Ballure Bridge near Ramsey has now won the Medium Project of the Year category at the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) North West annual awards.

Previously it was named the {http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/isle-of-man-news/1-2m-mer-project-wins-award-1-7503295|Project of the Year under 50m Euro winner in the Light Rail Awards 2015}.

Jeremy Reece, chief engineer at Isle of Man Railways, said: ‘This award demonstrates the excellent collaborative work in refurbishing the 115-year-old lattice railway bridge just outside Ramsey. It is recognition of the professionalism of the whole team comprising island-based consultants, the main contractor Auldyn Construction and their many subcontractors.

‘It was an honour to receive the award from Sir John Armitt, president of ICE and formerly head of the 2012 Olympic Delivery Authority responsible for the construction of all the London 2012 stadiums.’

Ballure Bridge was also shortlisted in the ICE North West Heritage category along with the island’s Stevenson lighthouses. That award went to Blackpool Tower.

The project team included:

DOI Public Transport Division

DOI Technical Services (level crossing control system design and construction)

Burroughs Stewart Associates (project manager and structural engineer)

Silva Consulting (quantity surveyor)

Primary Consulting (planning supervisor)

Auldyn Construction (principal contractor)

Facts and figures:

Height of bridge: 17 metres to bottom of glen below

Span of bridge: Fifty metres

Number of rivets in structure: 7,600

Number of rivets replaced: more than 700

Structural info:

Eight cross beams replaced, 9 cross beams reinforced

Ten diagonals replaced

Six diagonals braced

Area of bridge painted: 2,600 square metres

Paint used: 1,300 litres

Shot blasting material 85 tonnes

Construction period 32 weeks (November 4, 2014 to June 18, 2015)

Number of construction hours: 14,000

Phil Gawne MHK, Minister of Infrastructure, said: ‘This government-funded scheme was delivered on time and within budget. It’s rewarding for everyone involved in the bridge’s refurbishment to see its engineering excellence singled out against many multi-million pound schemes across the North West region. Well done to all those involved in project development, design, planning and the works on site over many months and through all weather conditions.’

{http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/isle-of-man-news/bridge-up-for-civil-engineering-award-1-7734435|A previous story about this}

{http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/isle-of-man-news/more-money-needed-for-the-mer-line-1-6894750|Getting the funding for the works}

{http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/isle-of-man-news/a-damning-mer-study-1-1791311|How a lack of capital investment blighted the MER}