Onchan’s primary schools had a VIP visitor recently in the shape of their local MHK who called in to present coin packs to pupils and staff.

Julie Edge MHK dropped into pupils at Onchan Primary School first where she spoke to the children and presented a commemorative coin pack to mark the 150th anniversary of the first popular election of the House of Keys, which had previously been a self-selected body.

The special packs presented to the children each contained a 50p coin produced by the Isle of Man Treasury and the new Isle of Man mint, Tower Mint, along with a stamp created by the Isle of Man Post Office.

The stamp selected for the packs is for first class postage and is one of four panoramic stamps released by the post office in 2017 to illustrate the journey to popular elections in the House of Keys in the 1800s.

Later the same morning, Ms Edge, who is chairman of the Isle of Man Post Office, called in at her constituency’s other primary school, Ashley Hill.

There she gave a presentation to all the children in the assembly hall and the coin packs were presented to a delegation from the student council.

It was announced recently that the Isle of Man will retain its old round pound coin rather than introduce the new 12-sided coin adopted in the UK as a measure against counterfeiters.

The Manx version of the £1 coin will remain legal tender in the island. Indeed, as the Examiner reported earlier this week it’s still being minted and has been given a new design. There will also be a £5 coin.

However, the UK change means vending machine operators in the island will have to invest a lot of money to make their equipment compatible with visitors’ coins, which will also be legal tender.

It is estimated as many as one in 30 UK £1 coins is counterfeit so the new coin was designed to confound would-be criminals trying to replicate it.

The new UK coin is slightly larger and thinner than the old coin.

Its new shape makes it harder to counterfeit, as do certain other features such as its tiny lettering and the fact that it is made from two different metals.

It also incorporates what has been described as a ’hidden high security feature’.