The lunchtime Wurlitzer concerts are set to return on Wednesdays lunchtimes throughout July and August.

Eastbourne-based organist Chris Mannion is set to get the concerts underway at 1pm on Wednesday, July 2. Chris is well-known to many in the Isle of Man for playing at Summerland in the 1970s.

He will be giving the first of eight summer concerts on the Wurlitzer organ at the Villa Arcade in Douglas, which will run until Wednesday, August 27.

These usually popular concerts have free entry thanks to the support of the Isle of Man Arts Council, and feature a different organist each week playing a wide variety of light music, old and new pop music, music from the shows, and theatre/cinema organ music from the 1930s onwards.

After Chris Mannion on July 2, attention will turn to Paul McCulloch from The Wirral in Merseyside on July 9 - his first time performing in the island.

July 16 will see Sarah Goldsmith from Colby take to the Wurlitzer, a well-known local organist plays her own Hammond organ at home.

The following week will see another visitor from the UK, with David Redfern from Belper in Derbyshire swapping the radio and TV for the Villa Arcade.

Next up on July 31 will be Richard Cole, who owns his own theatre organ installed in his art deco home theatre.

The following week on August 6, there will be no show due to the Villa Arcade being in use for another show.

However, August 13 will see Liz Harrison from Lancashire, one of the team of organists at Blackpool Tower, take on the Wurlitzer - also her first time performing in the island.

The penultimate session on August 20 will be taken on by the popular and experienced theatre organist Stephen Austin from Lancashire. before the grand finale on August 27.

The organiser of these concerts Keith Simpson will be joined by Jane Corkill, who will accompany Keith by singing a range of songs from Cole Porter.

The Wurlitzer concerts form part of the Isle of Man Arts Council’s 2025 ‘Summer Season of Music’.

More than 30 free concerts are set to run through June, July and August as part of the ‘Arts in the Arcade’ initiative in the Villa Marina Arcade.

A total of 2,210 people attended the concerts over the summer period in 2024, and this year the Arts Council are ‘hoping even more’ will visit the Arcade to enjoy the free music and entertainment.

The summer concerts originally took place in the Sea Terminal in 1995 and have taken place in the Villa Marina Arcade since 2009.

This 30th year of concerts will feature performances from some of the island’s most well-known brass bands alongside the Wurlitzer organists.

Chair of the Isle of Man Arts Council, Sarah Maltby MHK, said: ‘The continued development of our long-running Summer Music Series is a great opportunity for the whole community to freely enjoy the arts in an iconic venue situated in the very heart of the cultural area.’