The April lunch was attended by 31 members, by one members' guest, and by our Speaker, Katie King, who we were very pleased to welcome back to provide further details of Manx social history. Katie's current role with Manx National Heritage is to engage local audiences with their heritage and culture. During our September last lunch, Katie delivered a fascinating talk on the Manx Tourist industry in the Victorian era. This time she moved on a few years to describe how people living on the island were affected by World War 1.

Aided by slides, Katie told the stories of Manx soldiers on the battlefields as well as accounts of maritime and civilian experiences and of the impact of the internment of enemy aliens upon Manx life. We learnt that 8,200 joined up from the island and that most survived the war with 1000 being killed and less than 1000 being injured. We heard about the contributions to the War effort made by the Steam Packet's ships; and the fate of some of them.

We also heard about the terrible financial impact on the island as a result of the collapse of Tourism as there was no Welfare State. Before the War there were 400,000 visitors a year but only 4000 visitors during 1915. Social History is fascinating and Katie is a very accomplished Speaker. What can we find for her to talk about next?

Next Month’s lunch takes place on Wednesday 13th May when Alistair Bigart will be giving a talk entitled “The Channel Tunnel in Retrospect”.

Meetings take place at Ramsey Golf Club on the second Wednesday of the month. Membership is open to professional and business men aged 50 or over who have fully or partially retired from their profession or business and are resident in the north of the Isle of Man. If you want to find out more please contact the Club Coordinator, Bernard Pile on 817349 or by email to sueber@manx.net.