The Manx connections to the historic Mayflower sailing from Plymouth to the New World in 1620 will be explored in Lezayre this weekend.

Sunday marks 400 years since the ship set sail from Devon for what we now know as the United States with 102 pilgrims and 30 crew on board.

Their military captain was Myles Standish (pictured) whose connection to the Isle of Man has long since been open for debate.

It is argued that he may have been a direct descendant of the Standish family of Ellanbane, Lezayre or that while he was related to the Manx Standish family, he was himself a Standish from Ormskirk.

What is not up for debate is that the woman that he took with him as his wife, Rose, was born at and had lived at Ellanbane.

Unfortunately Rose did not survive the rigours of settling in a strange land and died shortly after their arrival.

Her sister Barbara followed and became Myles’s second wife. They had 30 years of marriage and Barbara bore him six children.

If you would like to learn more of this story a display ’The Mayflower and the Manx Connection’ is being held at the Lezayre Church and Northern Arts Centre on Saturday and Sunday. It will be between 1pm and 4.30pm each day.

There will also be a display of Ian Woods’s photographs of Kerrowmoar Mines.