The Friends of Jurby Church are running an exhibition featuring more than 100 Manx cat postcard prints in aid of St Patrick’s Church.

The exhibition is open daily from 10am to 4pm until June 18.

The collection celebrates the prominent role of Manx cats in the tourist industry of the island.

Historically, the Manx cat was used by the government to promote the Isle of Man and in some of the postcard collections it stood alongside the Three Legs of Man crest.

Manx Cats were highly prized and were given as gifts by the government as well as being taken home by the visitors.

Once artists such as Louis Wain gave them human characteristics they also became the perfect image for souvenirs, to help portray the racy Manx seaside holiday.

It was said that these cats were out for a good time, and ’they tell no tales as they have no tails to tell’.

The postcard prints on display in St Patrick’s Church - with supporting books, scrapbooks and photos- tell of island life in the golden years of Manx tourism at the beginning of the 20th Century, when 60,000 visitors could arrive in a 24-hour period for their holidays.

The Friends of Jurby Church are hoping the exhibition will help to raise further funds to start work on the major repairs to the building.

The charity was formed in 2014 when the church was in danger of closing completely, and they have raised more than £60,000 in the past seven years.

This money has been spent on re-wiring the church, installing central heating and a composting toilet, restoring the St Patrick window, the RAF porch panels and the lead lights in the cruciforms of the west and north porch doors.

The Friends also cover all the insurance, maintenance and running costs of the building, alongside ensuring that the church is open and welcoming every day of the year, apart from during extreme weather conditions.

A small group of people within the charity clean and decorate the building for events, bake hundreds of cakes, and welcome thousands of visitors to the church each year.

They have held 16 major exhibitions, including three Jurby Mice exhibitions, and have also organised three Isle of Man Flower Festival entries.

During National Week this year, they will be staging their own flower festival called ’Our Precious Island Heritage’.

Also for sale are handmade Jurby mice, which have become a symbol of fundraising for the church over the past decade and are lovingly crafted by Jean Tucker and Rosemary Richards.

The mice on sale at the current exhibition were made during Ms Richards’ ’Sir Tom 100 Challenge’ to knit 100 Jurby mice earlier this year.

The Manx Cat Collection will continue until June 18 and then will be back again from July 18 to August 13.

There will then be a ’More Manx cats collection dated from the 1930s onwards at the church from late August.