Isle of Man Guide

On Saturday 22nd December 2007, Manx National Heritage will launch two exciting new activities for children and families at the House of Manannan in Peel.

The first activity focuses on solving a riddle using the symbols or runes which make up the medieval Scandinavian alphabet used by the Vikings, known as the futhark (or futhork).

Howard Parkin, Public Services Manager for Manx National Heritage, explains:

“This activity has been named the ‘Riddle of the Runes’ and will further immerse children into the experience of visiting the House of Manannan. Families and children are invited to participate in solving the riddle, which involves searching the House of Manannan for clues in the form of ‘runes’.

Once all the clues have been found, the riddle can be solved using a special code book to decode the runes into today’s letters. All children who successfully solve the ‘Riddle of the Runes’ will be rewarded with an entry in a lucky dip which is filled with some really great prizes”.

At the completion of each visit to the House of Manannan there is also the opportunity to enter a new childrens’ colouring competition to win a fantastic 8GB iPod Nano, using a line drawing to colour in and return to the House of Manannan.

Howard Parkin continued:

“The prizes for both of these new activities have been acquired with the support of the Isle of Man Bank and local business Home Strategic, who Manx National Heritage would like to thank for their support of this exciting new initiative at the House of Manannan, which was recently voted the Isle of Man’s Best Visitor attraction in the Tourism Awards 2007”.

To celebrate the award, together with the launch of the new activities, a specially themed festive activity pack is currently being distributed to the Island’s Primary School children, giving every primary school child on the Island the opportunity to participate, even if they are unable to visit the House of Manannan themselves.

Further copies of the activity pack will be available from Saturday 22nd December 2007 at the Manx Museum and House of Manannan which are open daily from 10am to 5pm (Manx Museum closed on Sundays).

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