the MANX Society of New Zealand
TYNWALD DAY 2026
celebration
Manx Society of New Zealand
a Day at the Botanical Gardens
On March 2,2025, a Sunday with lovely sunny weather, the Manx Society of NZ held its annual Picnic/Luncheon in café MIKO of the Manurewa Botanical Gardens.
It seemed that we Manxies were not the only people to visit the Gardens, the parking spaces were all taken by mid morning, so some people decided yo give it a miss. Those who managed to find a park were or lucky or illegally parked. Reason for the overwhelming crowd was that at the Gardens an exhibition of large sculptures was on display. Walking tours and a short train ride were offered and of course the glorious weather attracted a lot of people.
But, as said before, some Manx members did manage to find there way into the MIKO café and enjoyed the company and the lunch. The train ride, taken by some, was interesting and the sculptures impressive. It gave a good sense of the actual size of the Gardens ground, which is huge.
Hopefully we can use the same Gardens next year, but may have the event on a week day.
Tynwald Day 2024
The Manx Society of New Zealand celebrated this day at the usual venue of the Remuera Club in Ohinerau Street, Remuera in Auckland.
The annual get together this time was opened by the Secretary
Suzann, due to absence of the vice-President/Treasurer Chris.
She read out a short message from Chris - who is recovering
from surgery - about the happenings of the past year and a
summary of the financial state of the Society. The results were approved and carried by the members attending the AGM.
After the closure of the AGM, the members were invited to sing the Manx National Anthem. Which was belted out with enthusiasm and a little help from the BeeGee Robin Gibb.
Then it was time to tuck in and enjoy the lunch prepared by the catering of the Remuera Club.
As the attendance of the celebration was not
great, those who did
were able to sit on one table, making the event a cosy and closeknit affair.
The latest news of the Isle of Man was passed on and many memories shared by the members.
After the table was cleared the
members, and some friends, said their good-byes and wished each other well. The Committee members packed the
decorations and expressed their thanks to everybody making this Tynwald Day a most enjoyable day.
April 14, 2024
It was a lovely sunny day, this April 14. Chris has reserved a “private” corner in the café MIKO of the Botanical Gardens in Manurewa. It was a busy morning at the Gardens, because there were several events going on, a children’s fancy fair amongst them. So, finding a parking space was a bit of an effort and a bit of having luck. But, as it turned out, the Miko corner was filling up with a good crowd of Manx Society members.
I
All tables and chairs were occupied, as you can see on the photos, although some were having lunch in the “quiet corner”. At times it became a wee bit noisy, which was a bit of a problem for some members, but tuning up the hearing aids no doubt solved that problem.
The food and drink were of good standard and everyone enjoyed the gathering. It was good that the WBoP members made the journey over the Bombay’s and shared their presence with the Auckland Branch. Also a few new members, avid 1ZB listeners, showed up and put some fresh vibes into the annual Luncheon. We had the tables reserved for a limited time, so by 2.30 pm. the WBoPsies packed up in order to beat the afternoon traffic. It was the signal to bring the gathering to a close and thus by 3 pm. the tables were cleared and became available for the general public.
The Committee wishes to thank the Members who attended and made the occasion a solid success.
Café MIKO is back to normal and hopefully it can host a luncheon again next year.
All tables and chairs were occupied, as you can see on the photos, although some were having lunch in the “quiet corner”. At times it became a wee bit noisy, which was a bit of a problem for some members, but tuning up the hearing aids no doubt solved that problem.
The food and drink were of good standard and everyone enjoyed the gathering. It was good that the WBoP members made the journey over the Bombay’s and shared their presence with the Auckland Branch. Also a few new members, avid 1ZB listeners, showed up and put some fresh vibes into the annual Luncheon. We had the tables reserved for a limited time, so by 2.30 pm. the WBoPsies packed up in order to beat the afternoon traffic. It was the signal to bring the gathering to a close and thus by 3 pm. the tables were cleared and became available for the general public.
The Committee wishes to thank the Members who attended and made the occasion a solid success.
Café MIKO is back to normal and hopefully it can host a luncheon again next year.
It was a lovely sunny day, this April 14. Chris has reserved a “private” corner in the café MIKO of the Botanical Gardens in Manurewa. It was a busy morning at the Gardens, because there were several events going on, a children’s fancy fair amongst them. So, finding a parking space was a bit of an effort and a bit of having luck. But, as it turned out, the Miko corner was filling up with a good crowd of Manx Society members.
All tables and chairs were occupied, as you can see on the photos, although some were having lunch in the “quiet corner”. At times it became a wee bit noisy, which was a bit of a problem for some members, but tuning up the hearing aids no doubt solved that problem.
The food and drink were of good standard and everyone enjoyed the gathering. It was good that the WBoP members made the journey over the Bombay’s and shared their presence with the Auckland Branch. Also a few new members, avid 1ZB listeners, showed up and put some fresh vibes into the annual Luncheon. We had the tables reserved for a limited time, so by 2.30 pm. the WBoPsies packed up in order to beat the afternoon traffic. It was the signal to bring the gathering to a close and thus by 3 pm. the tables were cleared and became available for the general public.
The Committee wishes to thank the Members who attended and made the occasion a solid success.
Café MIKO is back to normal and hopefully it can host a luncheon again next year.
George Huybens
TYNWALD DAY 2023
This year’s Tynwald Day was celebrated at the usual venue of the Remuera Club in Auckland. After a few years of cancellations, thanks to Covid-19 lock downs, the members of our Society could meet and mingle once more on the most historic day of our beloves Isle of Man, with enjoyment of well-prepared food and refreshing drink. The attendance, however, was below expectations and we could blame the weather being not very encouraging to come to the venue. Hopefully better next year. Those who did make the effort were invited to take part in the AGM and hear the statements read by the Treasurer Chris Costain, who took the role as acting President and informed the AGM about last year’s doings of the Manx Society of New Zealand.
Then, prior to lunch, Max Jackson gave an inspiring account of the southern coastline of IoM in which he highlighted the lighthouse on Chicken Rock. Very interesting in detail and historic accuracy. For those who wish to learn more about this, go to Chicken Rock - Northern Lighthouse Board (nlb.org.uk) (Cntr+click)
After Max’s presentation it was lunchtime and a slideshow of photos and videos taken during a visit to the IoM in 2018 by Suzann and George played in the background on a TV screen.
The members shared their latest endeavours with various importance and made a genuine effort to make the celebration a success. It was good to have a member from WBOP to be in attendance, so the link with this branch of Manx descendants was also renewed after a long period of being set apart. Thanks, Aylene, for driving all the way from Hamilton to be with us.
Such was the engagement that we had to be reminded by staff of the Remuera Club that “time was up”. So, we packed up all the Manx memorabilia, books and flags and other decorations and wished each other well and hopefully to see more of us the next event. Outside it was still raining.
July 2023
A contribution from Janice Figge, a member of our Society.
Janice visited the Isle of Man and picked up the following information about the background story and meaning of the Three Legged symbol in the Manx Museum in Douglas.
As popular belief goes, the three legs are there to kick the bottoms of the English, the Scots
and the Irish. But of course, there is more to its historical background and significance.
Read the tablet as Janice has sent it to us.
Thank you, Janice for this interesting information.