One of the most traditional of festive concerts took place in Kirk Michael last weekend.

The annual Oie’ll Verree concert, traditionally held on the date of old Christmas Eve, saw Manx folk music and dance share a stage with a variety of performers, including poetry from the Manx Bard, stand-up comedy, a display of magic and a range of songs performed by some of the guests acts.

Traditional music and dance was performed by the dancers from Perree Bane, backed by a band of musicians, who did a great job of managing to perform their dances on the small, cramped stage.

They were followed by a set of Manx folk tunes performed by flautist Peddyr Cubberly and guitarist Sue Ling.

Singer Brian Corlett gave renditions of two Manx songs, ’Ramsey Town’ and ’A Manx Wedding’ and two Cleveland Medal winners also appeared, performing two very different pieces.

Jayne Mayne gave a well-received rendition of several songs, before being followed by Graham Crowe, who reprised his stand-up comedy routine, which won him the inaugural comedy award at the 2019 Guild festival.

The current Manx Bard, Zoe Cannell read a poem, written especially for Oie’ll Verree, which was followed by another special composition, written by pianist Marilyn Cannell, about the Oie’ll Verree performers.

After the interval, the Michael Players performed their version of the dialect play ’Mr Quilliam Decides’, starring the cast members Simon Clarke, Rebecca Traynor, Chrissy Cannell, John Kaighin and Vicky Hargreaves and Deborah Taubman read out a dialectal poem, written by Edna Cooil, called ’Putting on a Play’.

Compere for the evening was Mike Clague, from Michael Heritage Trust, who also gave a display of magic tricks and illusions.