Have you got a treasured toy story with an Isle of Man connection that you’d like to share?

Manx National Heritage is currently planning a fascinating exhibition to uncover the stories hidden within treasured toys held in the Manx national collections.

Its staff want to invite other people to take a trip down memory lane too, to re-discover their cherished toys and share the tales behind them.

From Victorian dolls to Viking games, visitors to the exhibition will have the opportunity to explore an array of toys and treasures that weave together stories of play and the people behind them, whilst re-kindling a love for their own forgotten toys and introducing the next generation to the wonders of playtimes past.

Items in the national collection span a wide range of dates, from a 6,000-year-old neolithic toy axe to more comparatively recent toys such as a pull along wooden horse and a sit in and ride metal toy car.

Even the Vikings played games. They favoured strategy games using a slate board similar to a merrel board with gaming counters made from shark vertebrae.

Anthea Young, Manx National Heritage education services officer and curator of the exhibition said: ’Many toys within the museum’s collection provide enticing insights into the lives of children and purpose of play on the Isle of Man through the ages.

’The exhibition will showcase a range of much loved toys, from wealthy children such as Janet and Alice Gibb of the Grove through to simple toys made from scrap materials by German "enemy aliens" who were interned on the island during the First and Second World Wars.

’It will not only provide an opportunity to look at the unique collections of toys under the care of Manx National Heritage, but will also be an occasion to seek and present toy stories with an island connection directly from the island’s community.’

Anthea is hoping that people will be inspired to search through their attics for toys which might be included in the exhibition, which starts in December. Toys don’t have to be all that old. Post-war items from the 1950s and later are also being sought.

Anthea added: ’They don’t need be the most beautiful objects: we’re really interested in the children who played with them. The toys we are asking people to loan should have a story to tell.’

The stories told by the toys made by internees on the island are some of the most fascinating.

The museum has a collection of toy animals, hand made from oilcloth by female civilian internees from Rushen Camp in Port Erin during the Second World War. They were sold in a shop in the Villa Marina Arcade used to sell internee craftwork.

Another toy animal, a hand-sewn Manx cat, was made in the Second World War by Hans-Christophe Rieger, who would have been just five when the war broke out. He and his brother, who donated the toy to the museum, were the children of Dr Julius Rieger, a pastor at a German church in London.

Dr Rieger had been instrumental in arranging for Jews and anti-Nazis to flee Germany prior to the Second World War but he and his children were nonetheless interned in 1940.

With studies showing that 25 per cent of adults still own at least one of their favourite childhood toys, it’s highly likely that people on the island will have lots more ’toy stories’ to contribute.

Anthea said: ’Please get in touch and share your memories, which may go on to feature in the exhibition which will be held at the House of Manannan.

’Any toys loaned to the exhibition by members of the public will be safely returned to their owner after the exhibition closes.’

For more information or to discuss the toys you have found contact Anthea Young 648034 or email: [email protected]