0:00:06 > 0:00:09HE PLAYS TRADITIONAL MUSIC
0:00:09 > 0:00:13I've stepped back in time - at least, that's what it feels like.
0:00:13 > 0:00:17I'm in the remote village of Cregneash on the Isle of Man,
0:00:17 > 0:00:19dedicated to preserving the traditional crafts
0:00:19 > 0:00:23and skills that once characterised the Manx way of life.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28Yet keen as people are to treasure their historic roots,
0:00:28 > 0:00:33there are also vibrant modern day expressions of island culture.
0:00:33 > 0:00:35And this year, across its length and breadth,
0:00:35 > 0:00:38the Isle of Man is showing off its arts, music and literature
0:00:38 > 0:00:43in a giant 2014 Island of Culture celebration.
0:00:45 > 0:00:49This week, we meet a farmer who's passionate about Manx poetry.
0:00:49 > 0:00:54A artist who expresses her faith through her paintings.
0:00:54 > 0:00:56And a student who's helping to save the environment
0:00:56 > 0:00:58by growing her own clothes.
0:01:11 > 0:01:13This is Peel, on the west coast.
0:01:13 > 0:01:16In Manx, Peel means "port of the islands"
0:01:16 > 0:01:20and the traditional industries here were shipbuilding and fishing.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23At one time, it was said you could cross Peel harbour
0:01:23 > 0:01:26on the decks of the fishing boats waiting to set out to sea.
0:01:30 > 0:01:33And it was here that the first Christian missionaries came
0:01:33 > 0:01:35led, legend has it, by St Patrick.
0:01:35 > 0:01:39Behind me is the small island named after him,
0:01:39 > 0:01:42where Peel's first cathedral was built.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45Its Victorian replacement is in the centre of town,
0:01:45 > 0:01:47the Cathedral Isle of Man.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50And that's where we that's where we begin, with our first hymn -
0:01:50 > 0:01:52Come To Us Creative Spirit.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12Now the beauty of the thing when childher plays is
0:04:12 > 0:04:15The terrible wonderful length the days is.
0:04:15 > 0:04:17Up you jumps, and out in the sun,
0:04:17 > 0:04:20And you fancy the day will never be done...
0:04:20 > 0:04:23John Kennaugh is a popular radio broadcaster on the Isle of Man with
0:04:23 > 0:04:28a particular passion for the work of its national poet, TE Brown.
0:04:28 > 0:04:30..or lookin' for eggs, Or peltin' the ducks...
0:04:30 > 0:04:32'In fact, John lives in the house where
0:04:32 > 0:04:37'Brown spent his childhood holidays in the early 1800s.'
0:04:37 > 0:04:39So here we are, then,
0:04:39 > 0:04:44a picture of TE Brown himself in the hallway that he trod as a child.
0:04:44 > 0:04:49It is. That portrait once hung in every school in the Isle of Man and
0:04:49 > 0:04:52when I look now, I can see the stairs that boy would have climbed
0:04:52 > 0:04:55when he was eight, nine or ten,
0:04:55 > 0:04:59and the feeling that it gives me is indescribable.
0:05:01 > 0:05:03He managed to capture what
0:05:03 > 0:05:07so many people have such great difficulty in describing.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11There is this spirituality about the island,
0:05:11 > 0:05:17this thing that we can't describe that Brown captured
0:05:17 > 0:05:21and set down in his poetry and I think that's why I love it.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24The island has a soul of its own, perhaps?
0:05:24 > 0:05:26The island definitely has a soul.
0:05:26 > 0:05:32And we're now into our year of culture -
0:05:32 > 0:05:35that will mean different things to different people.
0:05:35 > 0:05:37But to me, we are displaying now
0:05:37 > 0:05:42to anybody who will look at us, or watch us, or hear us,
0:05:42 > 0:05:44we are displaying our soul -
0:05:44 > 0:05:48how we live, what's important to us, what we value.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54We're seven generations here in this particular area.
0:05:54 > 0:05:56We've become part of the landscape.
0:05:57 > 0:06:01I could have chosen any career at school,
0:06:01 > 0:06:05but the call of the land was so strong, and it still is.
0:06:05 > 0:06:09It lends to a rounded life, a life with purpose and direction,
0:06:09 > 0:06:13in partnership with the God who created it all.
0:06:13 > 0:06:15So, you'd choose the same path again?
0:06:15 > 0:06:17Without a shadow of doubt.
0:06:17 > 0:06:21I could tell you of one particular day in the harvest,
0:06:21 > 0:06:27which I look back now and I realise it was a defining moment in my life.
0:06:29 > 0:06:33The day we were cutting corn in the mill field at Slieau Whallian
0:06:33 > 0:06:36with a tractor and a binder, waiting for the dew to lift
0:06:36 > 0:06:38and looking at the scene around us,
0:06:38 > 0:06:42and this field of golden corn in front of us,
0:06:42 > 0:06:46a stand of beech above that leading up to the farmyard,
0:06:46 > 0:06:49the green fields of the farm where the stock were all grazing
0:06:49 > 0:06:53and then the stone mountain wall along the mountain of Slieau Whallian
0:06:53 > 0:06:57and above that, the purple heather
0:06:57 > 0:07:01and the bluest September sky that you could imagine.
0:07:01 > 0:07:05And I knew that day, "This is where I will spend my life."
0:07:05 > 0:07:08And I thank God that I've been able to do that.
0:10:45 > 0:10:47Art can take many forms.
0:10:47 > 0:10:49We're about to meet Grace, who's a student here
0:10:49 > 0:10:51at the Queen Elizabeth II School in Peel,
0:10:51 > 0:10:53who, with some of her friends,
0:10:53 > 0:10:56is taking fashion to a whole new ethical level.
0:11:03 > 0:11:04In the school laboratories,
0:11:04 > 0:11:08these enterprising teenagers have grown their own clothes.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15I've made two waistcoats,
0:11:15 > 0:11:17skirts, hats, aprons.
0:11:17 > 0:11:21We've made quite a lot of different things with the material so far.
0:11:21 > 0:11:25- Are those really all natural? - Yeah, yeah, totally natural.
0:11:25 > 0:11:27Where did you get the idea from?
0:11:27 > 0:11:29There's a fashion designer called Suzanne Lee,
0:11:29 > 0:11:33- and she originally came up with the idea.- Brilliant.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41Right, tell me how it works.
0:11:41 > 0:11:46So, we have this bacteria and yeast mixture, which we call the mother.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49- Bacteria and yeast. Can I touch it? - Yes, you can.
0:11:49 > 0:11:52- Bit slimy, isn't it? - It's very slimy, yeah.
0:11:52 > 0:11:56And we place it in baths like this, with a tea and sugar mixture
0:11:56 > 0:11:59and with a bit of vinegar because that makes it acidic,
0:11:59 > 0:12:02to prevent any other unwanted bacteria growing.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05And over the space of maybe three or four weeks,
0:12:05 > 0:12:09depending on how warm it is, it grows sheets like this.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12And then these sheets here, you turn into clothing?
0:12:12 > 0:12:14Yes. We take them out, dry them,
0:12:14 > 0:12:16and they turn into a leather-type material,
0:12:16 > 0:12:19which we then sew to make items of clothing.
0:12:19 > 0:12:21- That's wonderful, isn't it?- Yeah.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24- So, you're changing the world a bit, aren't you?- Trying to.
0:12:24 > 0:12:27Trying to just get across that it's not right
0:12:27 > 0:12:30to be exploiting people in sweatshops
0:12:30 > 0:12:34and damaging the environment the way we're doing, just ignoring it.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38You started this really for ethical reasons then, as much as scientific?
0:12:38 > 0:12:41My faith plays a really big part in this project
0:12:41 > 0:12:44because this planet has been wonderfully created.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48People are just destroying it, not using the resources properly,
0:12:48 > 0:12:50and that is damaging to the planet.
0:12:52 > 0:12:56This is so efficient, this process of making clothing.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59It uses very little water, whereas things like cotton T-shirts,
0:12:59 > 0:13:03it takes maybe 260 gallons of water to just make one T-shirt,
0:13:03 > 0:13:05where people don't have water.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08People are struggling in droughts to drink
0:13:08 > 0:13:12and all this water's going on clothing, which isn't necessary.
0:13:12 > 0:13:13So as long as people don't mind clothes
0:13:13 > 0:13:15that smell a little bit of honey and vinegar!
0:13:15 > 0:13:17It does smell like honey, yeah.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19Yeah, it does. We're trying to develop it.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22It's in the very early stages at the moment. But, yeah.
0:13:22 > 0:13:25- You've done brilliantly. - Thank you.- Well done.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20Born in Douglas, Christine Collister first came to public attention
0:15:20 > 0:15:22as the singer of the theme song
0:15:22 > 0:15:26for the BBC adaptation of The Life And Loves Of A She-devil.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29# I've been thinking that love... #
0:15:29 > 0:15:31Her love of music began in Sunday school
0:15:31 > 0:15:34at the Salisbury Street Methodist Church,
0:15:34 > 0:15:39which a few years ago closed its doors after 100 years of worship.
0:15:39 > 0:15:41I used to live next door, right next door,
0:15:41 > 0:15:44so this is almost like my second home when I was a child
0:15:44 > 0:15:48and we all used to come here for Sunday school.
0:15:48 > 0:15:54For me, the hymns of this particular church resonate with me even now.
0:15:57 > 0:16:03And on a Monday night, they took the pews out and we had a judo club here.
0:16:03 > 0:16:07I love that juxtaposition of you come here to sing praises on a Sunday
0:16:07 > 0:16:10and you come to throw people around on the mat on a Monday night.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16I think the older I get,
0:16:16 > 0:16:22the more connected I feel to that which is other than myself.
0:16:22 > 0:16:28And I think, again, music really helps to encapsulate that.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31I don't think you know until time has passed
0:16:31 > 0:16:35the kind of impact something has on you, but I know now.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38I was very fortunate, very fortunate to be here,
0:16:38 > 0:16:42to come here, to be with this small but beautiful community
0:16:42 > 0:16:45that helped one another, singing together.
0:16:45 > 0:16:51It's a wonderful thing. I wish we did it more, you know, nowadays.
0:16:53 > 0:16:57# Amazing Grace
0:16:57 > 0:17:00# How sweet the sound
0:17:00 > 0:17:07# That saved a wretch like me
0:17:07 > 0:17:10# I once was lost
0:17:10 > 0:17:14# But now I'm found
0:17:14 > 0:17:21# Was blind But now I see
0:17:21 > 0:17:29# 'Twas Grace that taught my heart to fear
0:17:29 > 0:17:36# And Grace my fear relieved
0:17:36 > 0:17:44# How precious did that Grace appear
0:17:44 > 0:17:51# The hour I first believed
0:17:51 > 0:17:59# When we've been here 10,000 years
0:17:59 > 0:18:07# Bright shining as the sun
0:18:07 > 0:18:14# We've no less days to sing God's praise
0:18:14 > 0:18:21# Than when we first begun
0:18:22 > 0:18:26# Amazing Grace
0:18:26 > 0:18:30# How sweet the sound
0:18:30 > 0:18:38# That saved a wretch like me
0:18:38 > 0:18:42# I once was lost
0:18:42 > 0:18:46# But now I'm found
0:18:46 > 0:18:54# Was blind But now I see
0:18:54 > 0:19:01# Was blind But now I see. #
0:19:07 > 0:19:09With its rolling hills and dramatic coastline,
0:19:09 > 0:19:12the Isle of Man has inspired many artists.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15This year marks the 150th anniversary of the birth
0:19:15 > 0:19:19of the world-famous Manx craftsman, Archibald Knox,
0:19:19 > 0:19:22who made his name as a designer for Liberty.
0:19:24 > 0:19:28And here in the cathedral, they have some silverware designed by Knox.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34He had these pieces made as part of a scheme to restore
0:19:34 > 0:19:38the old cathedral on St Patrick's Isle to its former glory.
0:19:38 > 0:19:40It was a scheme that, sadly, never succeeded,
0:19:40 > 0:19:43but these pieces are a worthy legacy
0:19:43 > 0:19:46and they were the last that he designed.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50Knox was influenced by the Celtic crosses
0:19:50 > 0:19:52found all over the Isle of Man.
0:19:54 > 0:19:58Painter Petrina Kent takes her artistic inspiration
0:19:58 > 0:20:01from the island's ever-changing light.
0:20:02 > 0:20:06There is a painting that started off my journey of light.
0:20:06 > 0:20:11It was winter and all the trees were dead and black - no leaves, nothing.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14And suddenly, light just broke through
0:20:14 > 0:20:16and it broke through so strongly
0:20:16 > 0:20:19that you couldn't see some of the branches.
0:20:19 > 0:20:23And God gave me the word "comprehended",
0:20:23 > 0:20:26which is an odd word to have in your mind.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29So I looked it up, and it was a scripture that
0:20:29 > 0:20:34"the light shines in the darkness and the darkness comprehendeth it not."
0:20:34 > 0:20:36A newer version would say
0:20:36 > 0:20:40that the light cannot be overtaken by the darkness.
0:20:40 > 0:20:44- Would you describe yourself, then, as a Christian artist?- Yes.
0:20:44 > 0:20:48I don't paint Christian paintings as such, though,
0:20:48 > 0:20:54but God is a creator and he's made me to be a creative person,
0:20:54 > 0:20:59so it's a thing that flows through me, because I am Christian,
0:20:59 > 0:21:01so it's connected.
0:21:03 > 0:21:04Looking back,
0:21:04 > 0:21:07do you think you perhaps compromised with your art because of your faith?
0:21:07 > 0:21:11You might have painted very differently if you hadn't had faith.
0:21:11 > 0:21:14I know that I carried with me through life
0:21:14 > 0:21:18my tutor's comments to me at art school,
0:21:18 > 0:21:22and I was told by this tutor to go away and toughen up
0:21:22 > 0:21:25and that I would never go anywhere with my art
0:21:25 > 0:21:27if I didn't ditch my faith.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32And in a sense, I believed him, I bought into that
0:21:32 > 0:21:35and all through my life, until recently,
0:21:35 > 0:21:39I thought I was a second-rate artist because of my faith.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44And I've shaken it off now, because I think that that was a lie.
0:21:46 > 0:21:51Because, why would I be second-rate just because I'm a Christian?
0:21:51 > 0:21:54I mean, I just paint to the best of my ability.
0:21:54 > 0:21:56I don't pretend to be anything else
0:21:56 > 0:22:00than a woman who paints because she loves to paint.
0:24:23 > 0:24:27TRADITIONAL MUSIC PLAYS
0:24:29 > 0:24:33Manx dancing is a bit like a cross between Irish social dancing
0:24:33 > 0:24:38and English country dancing. It has very ancient traditions.
0:24:38 > 0:24:42It's not a museum piece. We don't just do old dances.
0:24:42 > 0:24:47We preserve the old steps. We create new dances based on the old steps.
0:24:48 > 0:24:52There are a couple of steps in Manx dancing which are unusual and unique,
0:24:52 > 0:24:55but the main one is the Manx reel step.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58The Manx reel step is a four-beat step
0:24:58 > 0:25:00where you have three running steps
0:25:00 > 0:25:06and one where you kick the front of the opposite ankle.
0:25:06 > 0:25:10If you do it properly, you end up with bruises by the end of the night.
0:25:10 > 0:25:14I'm not a great dancer. I would never make claims to be a great dancer.
0:25:14 > 0:25:18That's not what it's about. It's just fun.
0:25:18 > 0:25:20Whenever I'm dancing I always think of Psalm 150,
0:25:20 > 0:25:23where it tells of praising God in the dance.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26It doesn't really matter to me what that dance is.
0:25:26 > 0:25:32We do a number of dances which have, say, pagan themes within,
0:25:32 > 0:25:34but that's irrelevant to me because as far as I'm concerned,
0:25:34 > 0:25:38I'm just praising God in whatever I'm dancing anyway.
0:25:38 > 0:25:42It's a team thing. You have to work together.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45You have to rely on one another and trust that
0:25:45 > 0:25:49they're going to go the right way when you're doing the dance.
0:25:49 > 0:25:53And that, too, reflects the way that the church should be -
0:25:53 > 0:25:56that we trust one another, we work together.
0:25:59 > 0:26:03Hunt The Wren is one of our more traditional dances.
0:26:03 > 0:26:07In the olden days, if you were suspected of being a witch,
0:26:07 > 0:26:12they'd take you up to the top of a hill in a barrel
0:26:12 > 0:26:15and roll the barrel down the knobbliest part of Slieau Whallian.
0:26:15 > 0:26:21One particularly vicious and nasty witch managed to escape her captors
0:26:21 > 0:26:24by turning herself into a wren and each Laa'l Steaoin,
0:26:24 > 0:26:27which is St Stephen's Day on the Isle of Man,
0:26:27 > 0:26:31we have to go around dancing Hunt The Wren
0:26:31 > 0:26:34to keep the spell from reversing.
0:26:35 > 0:26:36And to my knowledge,
0:26:36 > 0:26:39the wren has never turned itself back into a witch!
0:26:42 > 0:26:45I like to think I dance with a smile on my face,
0:26:45 > 0:26:51grateful for every moment I get on this earth that God grants me.
0:29:31 > 0:29:34Dear countrymen, whate'er is left to us
0:29:34 > 0:29:36Of ancient heritage -
0:29:36 > 0:29:40Of manners, speech, of humour, polities,
0:29:40 > 0:29:42The limited horizon of our stage
0:29:42 > 0:29:45Old love, hopes and fears,
0:29:45 > 0:29:48All this I fain would fix upon the page
0:29:48 > 0:29:50So that the coming age,
0:29:50 > 0:29:52Lost in the Empire's mass,
0:29:52 > 0:29:56Yet haply longing for their fathers, here
0:29:56 > 0:29:58May see, as in a glass
0:29:58 > 0:30:00What they held dear -
0:30:00 > 0:30:03May say, "'Twas thus and thus
0:30:03 > 0:30:08"They lived", and, as the time-flood onward rolls,
0:30:08 > 0:30:11Secure an anchor for their Celtic souls.
0:30:13 > 0:30:15I immerse you.
0:30:15 > 0:30:20HE SPEAKS MANX
0:30:25 > 0:30:27ALL: Amen.
0:30:35 > 0:30:39Our final hymn is The Day Thou Gavest, Lord, Is Ended,
0:30:39 > 0:30:42traditionally sung, of course, at the end of evening worship.
0:30:42 > 0:30:44The words were written by the Reverend John Ellerton,
0:30:44 > 0:30:47who spent his schooldays here on the island
0:30:47 > 0:30:48in the middle of the 19th century.
0:30:48 > 0:30:52Those words remind us that even as the sun sets on worship here,
0:30:52 > 0:30:56it's rising on congregations in other parts of the world.
0:33:19 > 0:33:22Next week, in a special Songs Of Praise for Mothering Sunday,
0:33:22 > 0:33:25Aled talks to the legendary singer Candi Staton
0:33:25 > 0:33:29about the painful true story behind Young Hearts Run Free.
0:33:29 > 0:33:30As we join her on tour,
0:33:30 > 0:33:34Candi leads the congregation in some classic hymns
0:33:34 > 0:33:37and performs a song she wrote especially for her mother.