Thirty-six members and guests of the London Manx Society assembled for their annual lunch at the traditional venue in Southampton Row on Saturday.
Having toasted the Lord of Mann, sung the Manx National Anthem and toasted the guests and the land of our birth, the guest of honour, Edmund Southworth, director of Manx National Heritage brought them up to date with the organisation’s work answered a number of topical questions.
Other guests present were Suzanne Richardson, David Nash and Rev Justin White.
Members who attended were Anne and Nick Alexander, Voirry and Robin Carr, Bryan and Sheila Corrin, Pam and Mike Fiddik, Colin and Sheila Gill, Sally and Peter Miller, Melodie and Harry Waddingham, Sam and Mary Weller, Jim and Sue Wood, Douglas Barr-Hamilton, Margaret Brady, Stewart Christian, Derek Costain, Rose Fowler, Maron Honeyborne, Alastair Kneale, Carol Radcliffe, Margaret Robertson, Maisie Sell, Elizabeth Watson, and Mary West.
The outgoing president, Alastair Kneale, after three years in the post, handed over to his successor Bryan Corrin from Beckenham.
Bryan is Emeritus Professor of Respiratory Medicine at Imperial College London and a long-time member of the society.
He is a descendant of Richard Corrin of Castletown and Catherine Creer of St Anne’s (presumably Santon) who were married at Braddan in 1839, immediately prior to leaving the island to settle in Liverpool.
To escape the worst of the Liverpool blitz Bryan was evacuated to Teenie Faragher in Douglas, a stranger but one who looked after him with true Manx kindness. He returned to the island in 1946 as a boarder at King William’s College where he made many Manx friends. This was followed by medical school in London where he progressed through the academic ranks to a chair in lung pathology.