Romance of a River : The History and Beauty of the Colby River
As well as having the opportunity to enjoy a showing of the 42-minute film commissioned by Arbory and Rushen Commissioners, with some financial support from Culture Vannin, we had the benefit of the film’s narrator, Phil Gawne, telling us about how the film came to be made as well as some of the stories that didn’t make the edit!

Former Rushen MHK, Cecil McFee, contributed an article to Manx Life in 1981, following the Colby River upstream and giving some of the history associated with places on and around it. His grand-daughter, Jane Glover, was involved in developing that into a walking trail with a printed guide. Phil used Cecil McFee’s work as the basis for writing his script, but one of the great joys of the film is the oral and social history that Phil has been involved in, encouraging some of the parishioners of long-standing to talk of life in the area in their younger days.
With Phil’s informative script and interviews, the film is beautifully shot and edited by Neil Corlett, including footage using a drone, as we journeyed from the shingle at Kentraugh to the slopes of Cronk ny Arrey Laa.
Gura mie mooar ec Phil son cur dooin y caa dy ghoaill soylley jeh’n obbyr yindyssagh oc!