Come and see us on the Isle of Man
Submitted on: Jul 23, 2008
The welcoming message shouted out by Manx primary school children in the National Sports Centre in Douglas as they prepared to find out more about the countries taking part in the Commonwealth Youth Games in three years. The 2011 Games will be held in September of that year in sporting venues across the Isle of Man. Now, in an initiative which is part of the Legacy programme being developed by the Organising Committee and is sponsored by Britannia International, children from schools right across this Irish Sea jurisdiction, set between England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland, will have a chance to get really involved in the build up. In a draw held in the Island’s National Sports Centre and attended by the Island’s Ministers for Education, Tourism and Health, each school has been given the name of a participating country. They will now study that country, the people and its traditions and look forward to welcoming them to the Island in three years time.
Organising Committee Chairman, Geoff Karran, told the children, “We want you to adopt a nation of the Commonwealth. You will have the opportunity in the next three years to learn about that country, communicate with people in that country and find out about them. You can help us to get the message over that we want them here in 2011”.
In the North of the Island, Ballaugh Primary school are already getting to know Gibraltar better. And that includes finding it on the map, says Head Teacher, Richard Clarke. “The atlases will come out when we get back to make doubly sure!”, he says.” We play tons of sport in this school: it is one of the main things that we do so it is nice to link in the geography and getting in touch with people. I think it will be very successful”.
