A call has been issued for Manx music and dance performers who would like to represent the Isle of Man at the 2017 Festival Interceltique de Lorient.
Anyone who would like to be considered for the annual Celtic festival should send a promotional pack with biography, photos and recordings to Ealee Sheard at esheard88@hotmail.com
The deadline to apply is December 1.
The 2017 festival takes place in Brittany, France, from August 4 to 13 and will be the Year of Scotland.
Wannabe boxers are needed to take part in the ultimate grudge match against equally matched opponents from Liverpool.
A launch party was held for The Best of the Best Boxing, which is being promoted by Caldwell Promotions, last month.
Local fighters who wish to take part are invited to sign up and raise money for a charity of their choice at the same time.
Scott Caldwell said: ‘It’s a chance to get fighting fit and meet new friends, challenge yourself and do something amazing that is the experience of a lifetime.
‘No boxing or fighting experience is needed, just a game attitude and the want to learn something new.’
He added: ‘This is going to be an epic battle between two proud communities.’
The white collar boxing experience will see volunteers being trained up by a team of coaches and fighters from the island before going against competitors from Liverpool.
Next year, contests will start with a Manx vs Manx series of bouts.
The winners will face Liverpool opponents in a grand final to be held in the island.
Then in 2018, there will be a Manx vs Manx series of bouts, with the grand final being held in Liverpool.
After that, the stage will be set for fighters to take on opponents from another city. At the moment, it’s likely to be either Dublin, Belfast or Glasgow.
Fighters will have the opportunity to be profiled in martial arts and combat magazine, Martial Arts Guardian. And finalists will receive £500.
Among those attending the launch were their Liverpool partners from Masda gym representing IWA Boxing, island coaches who will be providing full training and some of the fighters who have already signed up.
They were invited to ask questions of Liverpool partner Kevin Atkinson and his associate Alan Pierce as well as local coaches Jonno Gartland and Chris Mayers.
Scott said: ‘We are hugely excited to launch the Best of the Best to the Manx public in front of our proud Liverpool partners the IWA and some of our fighters who could make it.’
Representatives from their chosen charity, Oskar’s Dreams/Remember Jade, were unable to make the launch but it’s hoped they will be able to raise a significant sum for the charity.
Scott and his wife Victoria also thanked Neil Pearson of Isle of Man Martial Arts and Ramsey Fitness for allowing the fighters to train at their gyms.
For more details, including sponsorship opportunities, email info@bestofthebestboxing.com or call Scott on 362666.
Keep up to date via ‘The Best of the Best’ Facebook page.
Dandara’s Slieau Whallian View homes development in Peel has earned the company a highly commended award at a prestigious ceremony in London.
The project, off Poortown Road, includes a collection homes of varying sizes.
The Dandara Group was handed a total of five ‘5 star’ ratings, the highest level possible, and four ‘highly commended citations for projects in the UK and the island.
The gala night celebrated the UK round of the prestigious International Property Awards.
Dandara managing director Seamus Nugent attended the awards at the Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square, with other members of the Dandara team.
He said: ‘The Property Awards, which are keenly contested and rigorously judged, assess a wide range of disciplines, including architecture, build quality, design and marketing, across many development types, and it is extremely pleasing to be represented in so many of the categories.’
He added: ‘Every development is subjected to detailed scrutiny by a panel of international industry experts, so each accolade has been thoroughly earned; to win even just one award is a major achievement, so to win nine, including five at 5 Star rating, is an outstanding accomplishment.
‘We are delighted to have once again received overwhelming recognition in such highly competitive awards, where our projects have been judged by strict criteria and standards against other leading developments from across the UK.
‘We can confidently say each award is well deserved and has been earned.’
In September it was announced Dandara had won nine awards for its developments in the UK and Isle of Man, however the company had to wait until last week’s awards ceremony at the Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square, to discover what level it had attained in each category.
The 5 Star ratings went to Dandara’s Aberdeen developments Stoneywood and Hazelwood, and its Knights Wood project in Tunbridge Wells. Forbes Place at Stoneywood was recognised for Best Residential High-rise development in the UK, Best Apartment in North East Scotland and Best Development Marketing in Scotland, while The Cherry at Beech Walk, Hazelwood, and The Golding at Knights Wood were named Best Residential Properties in North East Scotland and Kent respectively.
The highest-scoring 5 Star winners from each category will go forward to represent the UK in the International Property Awards, competing against developments in regions including Asia Pacific, Arabia, Africa, the Caribbean, Central and South America, Canada and the USA to be named “World’s Best”.
Dandara’s Hazelwood, Stoneywood and Knights Wood developments were highly commended in another three categories, alongside Peel’s Slieau Whallian View, in the Best Residential Development category for the Isle of Man.
The awards, presented by President of the International Property Awards Stuart Shield and judging panel chairman the Earl of Caithness, were assessed against strict criteria and examined by a 70-strong expert panel of respected professionals from throughout the industry, with judging focusing on design, quality, service, innovation, originality and commitment to sustainability.
Memories of the island in the 60s and 70s will come flooding back thanks to an archive of press photographs released on to the iMuseum.
This Is Summer comprises 1,000 selected images from Manx Press Pictures held in the Manx National Heritage archive, which have been digitised and together give a ‘snapshot’ of the island’s summer season in its holiday heyday.
The photographs capture many popular occasions and locations – Douglas Carnival, Villa Marina Gardens, the outdoor lidos, Peel Viking Festival, dance competitions, Tynwald Day, even The Rolling Stones at Fairy Bridge!
Manx Press Pictures and Peters Photography Ltd were owned and run by Bill Peters and based at Prospect Hill, Douglas. Bill joined the Isle of Man Examiner newspaper photographic department as an apprentice photographer in March 1938 and was contracted to supply press pictures for both the Examiner and the Isle of Man Times.
Bill and his staff photographed thousands of events and captured key moments in the island’s recent past, anything from Tynwald Day, sporting events, visiting celebrities and news, to social occasions and weddings.
The office closed in 1980. Bill Peters retired in 1986 and died two years later.
Digitisation and free online access to the images has been funded as part of the government’s capital programme. To search or scroll through all 1,000 images visit www.imuseum.im/thisissummer/
A green-fingered 81-year-old who worked for Douglas Corporation for 23 years has won a prestigious Wales in Bloom 2016 award.
Mervyn Wynne, is a past parks superintendent who worked for the Corporation here before retiring and moving back to North Wales where he originated from.
While he worked here the parks department won Britain in Bloom awards in 1980 and 1982 for Douglas Corporation gardens.
Mervyn’s interest in gardening began when he grew up on a farm in Wales.
He moved to the island in 1974 after successfully applying for the role of deputy parks superintendent.
Mervyn lived at Park Avenue in Douglas and became the deputy to Peter Dunn, before eventually taking over as parks superintendent from Mr Dunn when he retired.
During his time on the island he was a member of the Isle of Man Lions Club and also a groundsman for St George’s Football Club.
Mervyn retired from his Douglas Corporation role and returned to Wales in 1998.
He now runs a small caravan park in the Denbighshire Hills called Bryn Glas Caravan Park with his wife Beryl.
His daughter, Lana Marriot, remained in the island, living in Douglas before moving to Patrick where she still lives.
Mervyn now looks after the caravan park gardens and his efforts have won him first place in the Hotels, Guest Houses, Public Houses and Restaurants – Frontage and Grounds category.
He recently received his award from Clwyd West MP David Jones.
A Wales in Bloom judge’s report was full of praise for Mervyn’s gardens, saying: ‘My initial impression was very positive and I consider this park to be a hidden gem with a very relaxing atmosphere, beautiful environment and a location which offers peaceful tranquillity.
‘There were many unusual and special features which I thought added value and charm to this establishment.
‘Of particular note was the tourist information box, the dog walking area and community orchard.
‘There were features also in progress for further additional displays with the creation of a wild flower meadow.
‘A great deal of effort and thought has gone into making the site as environmentally friendly as possible.’
Mervyn’s work was awarded an overall mark of 87 out of 100 winning him first place.
Hundreds of teddy bears have been collected around the island to donate to Syrian refugee children.
An appeal was organised by Zoe Thompson via the ‘Manx Support Refugees’ group in response to a UK-wide appeal by charity MerseyAid.
Bears have been received from schools, nurseries and people around the island and Zoe has been overwhelmed by the response.
She said: ‘The generosity of the Manx public is fantastic.’
Over the last few days volunteers have been helping to pack the teddies, ready to send them to Liverpool.
Once in Liverpool, they will be added to two containers which MerseyAid are sending to Lebanon next week.
Each teddy has been packed with an individual handwritten note for the child receiving it, which introduces the bear and gives a little bit of information about the Isle of Man.
Zoe said: ‘MerseyAid are looking to send 5,000 bears. The children have nothing in the camps. There are around 1.8 million refugees in Lebanon and it is about the size of Cornwall. We are hoping to establish a link with MerseyAid so we can send more things.’
Edward Bryan Removals have been helping with the storage and transport of the teddies.
Zoe said that she and the ‘Manx Support Refugees’ group are planning more appeals but need more help with storage of items and volunteers to pack them.
Their next initiative will be a food bank in December.
Zoe has also been involved in visiting Calais and Dunkirk where she met other volunteers.
She has recently been sending pallets of items such as clothing and toiletries to the Yazidi tribe women and children.
Zoe said: ‘The Yazidi’s have suffered genocide at the hands of Isis. Children as young as nine are considered a woman and can be sold as sex slaves.’
If you can help with storage, volunteering or anything else contact Zoe on 203203 or via the ‘Manx Support Refugees’ Facebook page.
MerseyAid is a charity which has more than 2,000 volunteers and provides support to refugees crossing Europe displaced from their homes due to conflict and/or persecution. It also helps people in Merseyside who have arrived, often with nothing, to integrate into the community.
A teenage driver who took a relative’s car without permission in the middle of the night ended up smashing it into a stone wall, a court has heard.
Kyle John KcGeown, of Springfield Terrace, Foxdale, was also drunk and had no driving licence when he went on the 2.30am jaunt taking a 12-year-old passenger with him.
Barry Swain, representing the prosecution, said the 19-year-old, who was also uninsured, rammed into a wall on School Hill, Castletown. The car, a silver Alpha Romeo, was later found by police, damaged and abandoned.
On returning to the scene a little later, they found the defendant was also there, this time as a back seat passenger in a VW Golf. He was arrested and breathalysed, giving a reading of 92, compared to a legal drink drive limit of 35.
He told police he had spent the evening drinking and playing pool with a relative and had returned to his house. The relative had then telephoned him saying he was lost in a field somewhere.
‘In a moment of madness, he took the car keys and that’s how the offence occurred,’ Mr Swain said.
‘He knew he was drunk and that people were trying to find him so he attempted to return to Colby but lost control.
He said it was because of poor visibility and the car windows steaming up. I’m sure alcohol had something to do with that too. And there was a collision.’
McGeown admitted offences of taking a car for his own use without permission and drink driving. He also admitted further offences of driving without being covered by a valid insurance policy and of driving with no driving licence.
All the offences were committed on October 31.
McGeown was represented in court by duty advocate Roger Kane. Mr Kane asked the court for an adjourment of preceedings to allow time for a pre-sentence report to be compiled by the probation service.
The report is to consider all sentencing options. McGeown is to reappear before the court on January 5. He was bailed with a £250 recognisance.
The government is taking action after fears for the island’s king scallop fishery.
A temporary daily limit is being introduced with effect from tomorrow (Tuesday).
The measure follows talks between the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture and the fishing industry this week.
Vessels licensed to fish for king scallops in Manx waters may, from tomorrow, only catch 1,400kg per day.
The measure is the latest of several designed to ensure the long-term sustainability of the fishery.
In response to growing concerns over stocks, and following a public consultation, the DEFA this season substantially restricted the number of vessels licenced to fish for king scallops.
It also implemented the first stages of an inshore marine zoning plan, establishing five no-fish conservation areas close to the coastline, which will aid stock replenishment.
Geoffrey Boot MHK, Minister for Environment, Food and Agriculture, said: ‘Just as we do with the queen scallop fishery, where we review the catch and take steps to ensure stocks are fished sustainably, we have introduced this measure in light of the large amount of catch taken when the king scallop fishery opened on November 1st.
‘In the first six days of the 2016/17 season, almost 800 tonnes of king scallops were landed. This equates to almost a quarter of the catch recorded last season. Some vessels were landing in excess of 8,000kgs a day.
‘The limit will also reduce the risk of damage to juvenile king scallops, protect vulnerable queen scallop stocks and prevent damage to other marine habitats caused by the concentrated effort.
‘There is support from many local and visiting vessels for the limit as they share my concerns about the sustainability of the situation,’ the Minister said.
He added: ‘The limit will be in force for six weeks. We will keep the fishery under review and will take further measures, or relax them, according to our understanding of the impact on stocks.’
The trial of a roofer accused of breaching health and safety regulations, which led to a fire at the Mount Murray Hotel, began today.
Roy Michael Cross used a blowtorch to try to dry out plywood. But that ignited roof tiles. The prosecution says that decision was ‘catastrophic’.
But his defence counsel says that health and safety procedures at the Santon hotel were ‘woeful’.
He also described the hotel’s owner, Albert Gubay, who died in January, as a tyrant whose instructions had to be followed.
Cross was unaware that the roof tiles were man-made and made from combustible material.
There will be a longer report on this in tomorrow’s Isle of Man Examiner.
The Manx Dyslexia Association is holding its AGM on Tuesday, November 22.
It will be at Costa at the Sea Terminal in Douglas and begin with a drop-in session between 6pm and 7.30pm.
It is also an opportunity for parents who have questions or concerns to go along and professionals to see how the association might help.
The formal part of the AGM will be at 7.30pm.
Steve Burrows delves into the world of Artificial Intelligence for his latest IT Matters column.
When I were a lad AI stood for artificial insemination; when I was 11 years old we were taught about the AI of cattle in graphic detail.
There were many juvenile blushes. As I recall we were taught about AI before we learned about human reproduction.
Today however AI has, for most of us, a very different meaning.
Artificial Intelligence (AI): according to some it will be our saviour, and to others it is the greatest threat mankind has faced.
make choices
We’ll come back to that, but first off - what is it? There are many definitions of AI, which is not surprising because there are many perspectives on intelligence, but the common theme is that AI is a man-made mechanism that can perceive its environment, make choices and learn to improve for a specific purpose.
For example a simple AI mechanism might see the shapes of letters (perception), decide which letter a shape represents (choice), and learn from its errors to improve its character recognition accuracy.
Pretty benign stuff. Combine our character recognition AI with a language AI and a translation AI and we can build a mechanism which can read handwriting in one language on a sheet of paper and translate it to another language - a common task which is beyond the education of many humans.
Every aspect of this process is based upon decisions - taking multiple inputs such as the shapes which make up a letter in the alphabet to decide which letter it is, or the possible meanings of individual words in a sentence in order to determine the context of the sentence and therefore the specific meaning of a specific word.
In many modern AI mechanisms the decision-making engine is based upon our very limited understanding of how a brain works, which is to say it is constructed as a neural network.
decisions
Basically a neural network is a mechanism whereby multiple decision inputs or factors are received by multiple nodes (neurons).
Each neuron makes a decision about the simple input factor it has received, and these decisions are then passed as input to another neuron which takes these inputs and combines them to produce a logical output.
The layers and combination of neurons form a decision-making network which is able to reduce many simple decision factors into fewer and fewer more complex factors until there is only one output - the decision.
Each input at each stage of reduction has a weighting according to its importance - so for example when making a domestic decision, pleasing one’s spouse might be weighted as more important than pleasing one’s dog.
The neural network is, crudely, a sophisticated filter.
Join several such filters together, each processing the outputs of its predecessors, and we can create decision-making mechanisms capable of handling very complex problems which have many inputs of differing significance.
Neural networks are not the only tool used in Artificial Intelligence, but they are one of the most common and powerful mechanisms for reducing complex problems with many input considerations down to a simple decision.
A big multi-layered (deep learning) neural network can rapidly process decisions which people would find difficult or slow because of the complexity of input factors, but most importantly it can learn to improve itself by recursively adjusting the weightings of its inputs to produce more reliable decisions.
This is the really important bit: because the neural network can learn to improve its problem solving, it can produce solutions which have not been invented by its programmers.
Artificial intelligence then can make complex decisions faster than people, and can ‘invent’ new, more reliable, solutions to problems.
A couple of very recent examples:
Researchers at the Google Brain project set out to see if they could create a pair of neural networks which would develop encryption of the communications between them which another neural network could not decrypt.
It took the networks some 15,000 iterations to get there, but eventually the co-operating pair of networks developed encryption between them which the adversarial network could not break.
The researchers do not understand the cryptography being used between the networks, it was invented by the networks.
nightmare machine
Researchers at the world-renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have recently produced an artificial intelligence system with two neural network layers. One network generates faces: it assembles the common components of faces: shape, eyes, mouth, nose etc. to form new ‘human’ faces which may have never been created by nature.
In essence it is an artist, creating new original images. The other network applies scariness to images by filtering out the stylistic elements which seem to characterise horror and applying them to otherwise ordinary images, again creating new original artworks.
You can pop over to http://nightmare.mit.edu to view the outputs of MIT’s ‘Nightmare Machine’ and help it to learn by telling it which of the images you find to be scary or not.
original work
These two examples demonstrate that artificial intelligence is capable of creating original work, which is creating a new conundrum for lawyers - who is the creator of an invention or work created by an artificial intelligence? It could be the author of the AI system, or the company that has bought the software and trained it for a particular application, or potentially even the computer program itself - the law may yet have to recognise artificial intelligence systems as entities in their own right.
All very sci-fi, but the reality is here - if the MIT’s face creating AI creates a new Mona Lisa who will own the rights to the image? Similarly if an Artificial Intelligence makes a decision which affects someone, such as a medical diagnosis, who will be liable for that decision and its consequences?
Artificial Intelligence is not new, the first concept for the design of an AI computer system was developed in 1956, but with the low cost and high power of modern computers AI systems are now finding real-world applications in many activities, including translating languages, predicting court judgements (they’re apparently pretty good at it), and driving cars.
It will not be long before they become common in business; deciding which services to offer to a customer, making investment choices, designing improvements to products, and myriad other complex tasks which currently employ intelligent people.
relevant
Aside from the legal issues emerging with the practical application of AI, we business people will have to start deciding how we employ it in our enterprises. AI will bring competitive advantage, we can expect to see AI systems becoming relevant to our businesses within the next five years, and from then on they will be yet another element in the technological arms race for competitiveness.
As I said early on, some people claim that AI may be the greatest threat mankind has ever faced.
These doom-mongers are not luddite cranks, they include global leaders such as physicist Stephen Hawking, entrepreneur Elon Musk, and numerous other luminaries.
AI is a threat in two ways - one is that it can make human intelligence redundant, which will be a major social disruptor, and the other is that we may not be able to control the decisions that AI chooses to make - ultimately AI may evolve to make decisions which do not suit humanity.
Both of these threats are a good few years away, but the potential for wholesale job displacement is likely within the lifetimes of those of us who have not yet retired and a certainty for those in the early stages of their careers.
develop
AI systems will continue to develop; writing original texts, creating original images, creating original solutions to problems and becoming better at driving cars. More immediately,
I suspect that one of the first mass-market applications of real artificial intelligence will be cyber-war, with the development of AI systems both to penetrate computer systems and to defend against cyber-attacks.
Earlier this year the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) ran its first Cyber Grand Challenge competition for autonomous cyber attack systems to detect weaknesses in software, and autonomous cyber defence systems to automatically fix vulnerabilities.
Also this year the brains at MIT, which gave us the Nightmare Machine referenced earlier, developed a new artificial intelligence system, named AI2, to detect cyber attacks in progress.
First results showed that AI2 is three times more effective than the automated cyber attack detection systems on sale today.
An event will be held to remember Jacques and Torin Lakeman on Friday, December 2.
It will take place at Breagle Glen in Port Erin to commemorate the lives of the brothers who died two years ago.
The boys’ father, Ray Lakeman, said on Facebook that he and wife Sarah ‘would appreciate your support at this difficult time of year’.
Funds raised will be donated to the Parkinson’s Society.
Tickets are available at Trend, Falcon’s Nest, Haven and Breagle Glen in Port Erin and the Albert, Calvert’s Newsagents and Di’s Hairdressing in Port St Mary.
The Manx Dialect Group will be meeting tomorrow evening (Wednesday) at the Manx Legion Club in Douglas.
The topic of the meeting is memories of Douglas and will welcome three speakers: former taxi driver and Onchan Commissioner Brian Stowell, popular entertainer and member of Regal Singers Allan Wilcox, and Mary Gerrard, daughter of former Douglas cobbler Teddy Hudson and a regular contributor to the group.
Everyone is welcome to the event, which opens at 7.30pm for an 8pm start.
For further information, call Ned Kennaugh on 823088 or 436142.
A Programme for Government, funding for nursing and residential care, the storage of dredged silt and the reform of the jury system dominate the order paper at this week’s Tynwald sitting.
Chief Minister Howard Quayle will set out the guiding principles and objectives of the new Council of Ministers - with a pledge to returns to Tynwald in January with a full Programme for Government, which will be updated and debated every October.
A report looking at the funding of care home costs will also be debated. The select committee report recommends the setting up of a separate fund and controversially it suggests ‘exploiting’ capital assets to fund the costs of care. People have been forced to sell their homes to cover weekly fees for residential care ranging from £250-700, and £850-925.11 a week for nursing care.
Committee chairman Chris Robertshaw also chaired a committee inquiry into the jury system. The report recommends that the option of a judge-only trial on information be allowed to defendants as a right and where it is not practicable to empanel a jury, and that the number of those serving on juries should be increased to 12 for all cases involving a maximum sentence of over 10 years, a majority of 10 members allowed.
But the report accepts that many in the criminal justice system feel that no cases up to now would have warranted a trial by judge only. There appeared, too, to be luke warm support for increasing the size of juries or allowing majority verdicts.
Tynwald will also debate a report into the dredging of potentially contaminated silt from Peel marina. The environment and infrastructure policy review committee praises the Department of Infrastructure and Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture for the way they responded to a critical situation.
But it notes that the DoI said with hindsight the original design of the marina was flawed and silt should have been removed as part of a regular maintenance regime.
The report recommends that DoI report to Tynwald by January 2017 with costed plans for the replacement of the temporary storage facility off the Poortown Road and a detailed planned maintenance programme for Peel Marina for the next three years.
Turning to the question paper, there are 21 questions for oral answer and seven for written reply.
LibVan MHK for Ramsey, Lawrie Hooper will ask Treasury Minister Alfred Cannan what plans he has to freeze water rates, sewerage charges and electricity tariffs and to review the work of the Manx Utilities Authority.
Mr Hooper will also ask Infrastructure Minister Ray Harmer for a figure for the total cost to date of all expenditure incurred on the Douglas
Promenade scheme.
Tim Crookall MLC will ask new DEFA Minister Geoffrey Boot to make a statement on the king scallop industry; and what he is doing to maximise the best return for the Isle of Man and those in the industry.
His question follows concerns at the large numbers of visiting vessels that converged on Manx waters for the start of the scallop season.
Douglas North MHK David Ashford has questions about the tax cap, asking the Treasury Minister how many tax cappers were already resident in the island before the introduction of the policy; and how many of their companies were already in existence.
Plans are under way to build a concrete skateramp in Poulsom Park, Castletown.
Leading the initiative is commissioner Jimmy Cubbon, who said last week they needed a skatepark that’s ‘designed by riders, not by architects.’
He said the ramp currently in the park was not being used, adding: ‘A concrete ramp would have a 30-year life. I propose I try and raise the money to replace the current structure.’
Colin Leather suggested planning permission was secured first, and warned: ‘There will be objections.’
He also said the ramp must in line with more general plans to improve the park.
Mr Cubbon said organisers had wanted a permanent structure, but were ‘fobbed off’ when a temporary ramp was installed because planning permission was not required.
Responding to the comment there would be objections, Mr Cubbon said: ‘A lot of people are out of touch with what eight to 18 year olds want.
‘Kids are held back - people are not giving them a voice. Comments [to the proposal] on social media are not negative. It was in my manifesto, I got the highest number of votes. If we listen to the kids, we get the right thing.’
He added that not maintaining the current ramp makes it is dangerous and that Qualtrough’s timber yard had offered paint to make it less slippy.
Following the meeting, the ramp was inspected and commissioners’ clerk Hugo Mackenzie said it would ‘probably’ be removed.
Leela’s Kitchen is among the Great Taste winners of 2016.
Kumar Menon, the man behind the business, is delighted by the accolade.
Leela’s Kitchen, Isle of Man was awarded one-star each (simply delicious) Great Taste award for its vindaloo curry powder and mild curry powder.
Kumar, who lives in Douglas, said the prestigious Great Taste awards, recognised as a stamp of excellence among consumers and retailers alike, has definitely proven the quality and taste of the family recipes handed down by his mother and grandmother.
He said: ‘I’m over the moon and I’m happy that Leela’s Kitchen has added two more Great Taste awards for our island this year.
‘I would like to thank our Manx community for all the support and helping my small business grow.’
Great Taste judges said of the mild curry powder: ‘This is certainly mild with a good clean aroma and a good introductory spice also for children and others unused to curry. We found the balance pleasant and sound and feel this mixture does fulfil its purpose well.’
Of the vindaloo curry powder they said: ‘Good earthy colour with a beautiful spicy aroma. We enjoyed the blend of spices and the level of heat. There’s plenty of interest and length and when we marinated the meat, there was no doubt it helped to give the requisite depth of flavour. We feel the blend is award worthy.’
Kumar also cooks Indian cuisine in people’s homes and he is involved in cooking workshops and other projects.
He named Leela’s Kitchen after his late grandmother and his 11-year-old daughter, both called Leela.
He said: ‘I can now proudly say “Award winning spices - Isle of Man”.’
Deloitte Isle of Man partner in charge, Sarah Sanders, will retire from the firm on May 31, 2017 after 21 years of service.
Sarah, who was born and educated in the Isle of Man, is a well-known business leader within the local community.
She joined Deloitte in 1995 and was later promoted to director in 2004 and then partner in 2008. Sarah took on the role of partner in charge in 2009, as well as being an audit partner. Sarah has contributed to numerous industry committees, been a director of Junior Achievement Isle of Man, and served two terms as chairman of the Isle of Man Society of Chartered Accountants. Sarah is currently treasurer of the Isle of Man Chamber of Commerce.
Sarah said: ‘Making the decision to leave Deloitte and follow a different career path after 21 years has not been an easy one for me, and I will miss my team and the office.
‘However I have achieved my main objectives as partner in charge to grow our business on the island. With the Deloitte brand stronger than ever, it is a good time to move on to a new challenge.’
Greg Branch, Deloitte offshore lead partner, said: ‘I have worked with Sarah for more than 14 years and I and the firm will be sad to see her go. We would like to thank her for her hard work and significant contribution over many years, and especially for her efforts to develop the Deloitte Isle of Man office and brand. We wish Sarah the best of luck in the future.’
Asda has announced it is capping its petrol prices at 110.7p per litre, with diesel at 112.7p from Tuesday.
These cuts were swiftly followed by its ‘big four’ rivals - Tesco cutting petrol and diesel prices by up to 3p per litre on Monday afternoon, and Morrisons and Sainsbury's making similar announcements.
The cost of fuel had already fallen slightly last week, bringing to a halt the recent steep rises. Before the supermarket announcements, Office of National Statistics (ONS) figures showed that unleaded petrol stood at 116.5 pence per litre - 0.1 pence per litre more than the previous week - with the cost of diesel similarly having dropped - by 0.1 pence per litre to 118.9 pence per litre.
A positive cornucopia of careers opportunities was on display at the Villa Marina in Douglas last week at the government’s Emnployment and Skills convention 2016.
The event was jointly organised by the Department of Economic Development and the Department of Education and Children.
It was open to anyone interested in finding out more about careers and job opportunities in the Isle of Man and is the island’s largest careers event.
Economic Development Minister Laurence Skelly said; ‘The department continually works with more than 20 established and emerging sectors to grow the Isle of Man’s economy.
‘Our work promotes economic diversity which in turn provides new opportunities for residents.
‘Employment and Skills 2016 showcases the variety of jobs and careers offered by Isle of Man companies.’
Education and Children Minister Graham Cregeen said the event allowed secondary school pupils to speak to a diverse range of employers and learn about the qualifications skills and attibutes needed to join various professions.
‘Those conversations shape their exam and degree choices and ultimately their career paths as they contribute to the island’s successful economy,’ he said.
The event took over the entrance lobby, Promenade Suite and the Royal Hall with almost 60 stands to choose from.
Professions featured ranged from science and engineering to the media, education and health care, the Law Society, accountancy and architecture, not to mention information technology, satelite technology and banking.
The armed forces were also represented with stalls for the army, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy.
Other organisations which featured included the Manx Workshop for the Disabled, Chamber of Commerce and government departments such as Infrastructure and Evironment, Food and Agriculture.
In his introduction to the event, Professor Ronald Barr said it was designed to give an insight into the varied career opportunities in the island.
A 25-year-old man from Douglas has been disqualified from driving for eight weeks after having two collisions in five days.
Nicholas Kennaugh Convery, of First Avenue, pleaded guilty to two offences of driving without due care or attention.
The court heard how, on August 15 at 12.18pm, Convery was driving a Ford Transit van for his employer between Glen Helen and Ballacraine.
He lost control of the van, mounted the kerb and came to rest against a tree.
In a second incident, on August 20 at 7.47pm, police were called to an accident at Sea Cliff Road in Onchan.
Convery had reportedly caused significant damage to a wall and a Ford car which his car had shunted forward into the next parking space after impact.
Two other charges of having defective tyres were withdrawn by the prosecution.
Chair of the magistrates Caroline Convery said: ‘We have heard it was unfortunate you had two accidents in five days.
‘We would say what caused it was bad driving.’