Phil Gawne | |
|---|---|
 Gawne in 2014 | |
| Born | Philip Anderson Gawne 19 February 1965 (age 58) |
| Nationality | Manx |
| Education | Arbory Primary School Castle Rushen High School |
| Alma mater | University of Liverpool |
| Occupation | Former Politician |
| Years active | 2001–2016 |
| Employer | Isle of Man Government |
| Spouse | Catherine Kissack (m. 1991) |
| Children | 2 |
Philip Anderson Gawne (born 19 February 1965), [1] better known as Phil Gawne, is a former Member of the House of Keys for Rushen, a constituency in the Isle of Man. [2]
Gawne was born in Douglas to C. R. Gawne CP and E. Gawne (née Anderson). He attended his local primary school in Arbory, before joining Castle Rushen High School for his secondary education. As a young adult, Gawne moved to Liverpool to study Biochemistry in the University of Liverpool. On his return to the Isle of Man, he retrained as a chartered accountant. [3]
Gawne has been married to Catherine (née Kissack) since 1991; they have two children and live in the hamlet of Surby, near Port Erin in the south of the island. [1]
Gawne has been involved with nationalist politics for much of his political career. In the 1980s he was a member of Mec Vannin, a small political party aimed at gaining full independence and establishing the Isle of Man as an independent sovereign state. [1] [3]
During the 1980s he was involved with a nationalist campaign that ended with an arson attack on an uncompleted luxury home in Tromode, Douglas. In 1988 he was sent to prison for 16 months, serving 8 months, for his part in this arson attack. [4]
Gawne first became a Member of the House of Keys in 2003. He served as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry from 2005 until 2010, then as Minister for Infrastructure 2010–11 and 2014–16, and also as Minister for the Environment, Food and Agriculture 2011–14. [1]
Following constituency boundary changes to the Isle of Man's political map, Gawne contested the newly formed Arbory, Castletown & Malew constituency at the 2016 Manx General Election. [2] The seat was contested by a total of seven candidates with Gawne polling the third highest number of votes, thus losing his parliamentary seat. The contest was close, with Gawne losing by a total of 19 votes after two recounts. [2]
Gawne is a fluent speaker of the Manx language and has been involved with the Manx language for decades. [3] He served as the Manx Language Development Officer (Yn Greinneyder), and was the chairman of Culture Vannin (Manx Heritage Foundation) from 2004 to 2016. [1] In 1996, Gawne also helped to found Feailley Ghaelgagh (Manx Language Festival), following a research trip to Scottish Gaelic development agencies in Inverness and the Isle of Skye. [5] [6] Feailley Ghaelgagh was later renamed The Cooish. [5]
Gawne was instrumental in passing the 2001 Education Act that allowed for the Manx language to be taught on the island's schools:
I believe this is one of the things that I’ve been pretty strong on, if not the main person, it was getting Manx history, language and culture into the 2001 Education Act. Everybody from Mona Douglas right back to A. W. Moore had been trying to get culture and language and history taught in the schools. And everyone had failed. But the 2001 Act we actually finally got in a clause that required, as part of our curriculum, for these things to be taught. [3]
Gawne is a director of Mooinjer Veggey, the Manx language pre-school organisation that aims to provide pre-school education with and through the Manx language. [7] Mooinjer Veggey also contributes to the running of the Manx language primary school, Yn Bunscoill Ghaelgagh in St John's on the Isle of Man. [8]
Castletown is a town in the Isle of Man, geographically within the historical parish of Malew but administered separately. Lying at the south of the island, it was the Manx capital until 1869. The centre of town is dominated by Castle Rushen, a well-preserved medieval castle, originally built for a Viking king.
Ballasalla is a village in the parish of Malew in the south-east of the Isle of Man. The village is situated close to the Isle of Man Airport and 2 miles (3 km) north-east of the town of Castletown.
Ballabeg is a village on the Isle of Man. It is in the parish of Arbory in the sheading of Rushen, in the south of the island near Castletown. There are several small villages and hamlets with the name, although Ballabeg in Arbory is the most well-known and populous.
The Manx are a minority ethnic group originating on the Isle of Man, in the Irish Sea in Northern Europe. They belong to the diaspora of the Gaelic ethnolinguistic group, which now populate the parts of the British Isles and Ireland which once were the Kingdom of the Isles and Dál Riata. A recent genetical analysis of traditional Manx surnames, identified that the majority of the native manx population belong to the Haplogroup R-DF13 group. The native culture of the Isle of Man is described as Celtic with significant Gaelic, Norse, Norse-Gaelic, and minor northern English influences. The Manx are governed by themselves through Tynwald, the legislature of the island. Which was introduced by Viking settlers over a thousand years ago. The native mythology and folklores of the Manx, belong to the overall Celtic Mythology group, with Manannán mac Lir, the Mooinjer veggey, Buggane, Lhiannan-Shee, Ben-Varrey and the Moddey Dhoo being prominent mythological figures on the island. Their language, Manx Gaelic is derived from Middle Irish, which was introduced by settlers that colonised the island from Gaelic Ireland. However, Manx gaelic later developed in isolation and belongs as a separate Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic languages.
Rushen, formally Kirk Christ Rushen, is one of the seventeen historic parishes of the Isle of Man.
Arbory is one of the seventeen historic parishes of the Isle of Man.
Malew is one of the seventeen parishes of the Isle of Man.
The Cooish is the name of a festival that promotes Manx language and culture that takes place on the Isle of Man each November. The word 'Cooish' is a Manx word that has many meanings. It can translate to mean a chat, a meeting, a cause, an issue, or a get-together.
Mooinjer veggey is the Manx for little people, a term used for fairies in Gaelic lore. The equivalent Irish and Scottish Gaelic are Muintir Bheaga and Muinntir Bheaga.
Bunscoill Ghaelgagh is a government-run Manx-language primary school in St John's, Isle of Man that has enabled 170 children to learn fluent Manx. As of 2011 it is the only school in the world where children are taught their lessons solely in Manx and which allows children to learn the language fluently. Pupils may then go on to Queen Elizabeth II High School in Peel where they can study a GCSE equivalent qualification in Manx as well as up to two subjects in the language to maintain their fluency, or to the high school in their catchment area.
Rushen is a House of Keys constituency in the south of the Isle of Man which incorporates most of the parish of Rushen together with the village districts of Port Erin and Port St Mary.
Fairy Bridge, Isle of Man is a small bridge over the Santon Burn in the Isle of Man, located on the primary A5 Port Erin to Douglas road, at grid reference 305720, on the parish boundary between Santon and Malew. A superstition associated with the Fairy Bridge is that passers-by must greet the fairies as they cross it; it is considered bad luck not to greet them.
Graham Cregeen is a Manx politician who served as Member of the House of Keys for Arbory, Castletown & Malew in the Isle of Man until 2021. He was Minister for Justice and Home Affairs from 2020 to 2021.
Doug Fargher also known as Doolish y Karagher or Yn Breagagh, was a Manx language activist, author, and radio personality who was involved with the revival of the Manx language on the Isle of Man in the 20th century. He is best known for his English-Manx Dictionary (1979), the first modern dictionary for the Manx language. Fargher was involved in the promotion of Manx language, culture and nationalist politics throughout his life.
Pobble is a Manx language advocacy group and charity that works to promote the Manx language as "a community asset" on the Isle of Man. Pobble has also awarded the Aundyr Brian Stowell since 2019.
General elections were held in the Isle of Man on 23 September 2021. A record ten women were elected, twice as many as the five elected at the previous election. For the first time, in two constituencies, both elected MHKs were women. Four government ministers failed to be re-elected.
Arbory and Rushen is a local authority area in the south-west of the Isle of Man, designated as a parish district, and with its own parish commissioners. It was created in 2020 by the merger of the former parishes of Arbory and Rushen; each of those two are now electoral wards within the combined parish which elect three commissioners.
