The line-up for this year’s Yn Chruinnaght has been revealed as tickets go on sale for the annual event.

The Yn Chruinnaght Celtic Gathering will be held from July 22 to 28 and will kick off with an opening night gig by trail-blazing Scottish/Manx band HEISK, featuring the island’s Isla Callister, and dazzling tunes from Elizabeth Davidson-Blythe and Daniel Quayle.

There will also be a lecture about St Bridget’s role in Brittany, a concert celebrating the Celtic seasons, a giant ceili in Cathedral Isle of Man, a musical folklore tour of Peel, the compositions of Katie Lawrence, and grand finale from Scottish fiddle legend Duncan Chisholm.

Audiences will also enjoy Irish music and dance from The Len Collective and Céilí le Chéile, plus poetry and film, an artisan craft fair, sessions, displays and workshops, and ceili dancing from the Celtic nations.

There will be plenty of free community events and family activities, as well as lunchtime sessions in Douglas.

Established in 1978, Yn Chruinnaght Celtic Gathering is known for its small and friendly atmosphere and the fishing town of Peel is the ideal hub for the festival. Language learners and enthusiasts can sign up for Culture Vannin’s Manx Gaelic summer school which runs alongside the festival, and boat owners can sail over to the Island for ‘Peel Sea Fest’ during the final weekend.

The annual July festival includes a number of events with music, dance, language, arts and crafts, lectures and more.

Yn Chruinnaght (meaning ‘the gathering’) is a celebration of Manx culture and the relationship between the Isle of Man and the other five Celtic countries - Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall and Brittany. It includes a number of events with music, dance, language, arts and crafts, and lectures.

The forerunner of Yn Chruinnaght was founded in 1924, and was known as Cruinnaght Vanninagh Ashoonagh (“Manx national gathering”).

The festival was a one-day, competitive event held at Hollantide and included singing (including in the Manx Gaelic language), music, arts, crafts and cookery. The festival came to an end with the outbreak of the Second World War.

It was the aim of one of the leading figures in Manx traditional cultural affairs, Mona Douglas, to revive Yn Chruinnaght as a Manx national festival. In 1977, she organised Feailley Vanninagh Rhumsaa (the ‘Ramsey Manx Festival’), a five-day Inter-Celtic Festival which was held in August 1978.

Events have been held throughout the island as part of Yn Chruinnaght, but the main focus from 1978 to 2006 was in Ramsey. However, with the usual plot in Ramsey for a marquee no longer available in 2007, Yn Chruinnaght had to reconsider where it could be held and the main focus moved to the Centenary Centre in Peel.

Yn Chruinnaght has maintained a link whenever possible with Ramsey, and also has held events in Douglas, Castletown, Port Erin and St John’s.

Both individual show tickets and festival passes are now available and you can visit https://www.tickettailor.com/events/ynchruinnaghtto buy them and you can go to https://ynchruinnaght.com for more information.