My Biosphere: James Franklin

In our regular feature, authors from different walks of Manx life offer a personal perspective on My Biosphere. This month, James Franklin, Culture Vannin’s Online & Educational Resources Officer, writes:

I consider myself very lucky to call this Island my home, even if it took half my life to realise it. 
 
I grew up in Maughold where beautiful places like the North Barrule or Port Cornaa formed the backdrop of my youth. I travelled to and from school on the tram, knew well the stories of St Maughold, and enjoyed the annual excitements of Parish Day, Tynwald Day, Hop tu Naa and carol singing. This seemed normal to me at the time. This was what everyone grows up with, don’t they?! 
 
As I got older, I fell in love with the cultures of other countries and, when the time for university came, I left at a run. I travelled far and wide, gained a couple of degrees, married an American and started a family in London. We enjoyed museums, theatre, concerts, travel, and lived in a brilliant and diverse community we were proud of. But something was missing. It was culture – my own culture. 
 
Like many, it took leaving the Island to realise what riches it held, and how deeply my roots were sunk in Manx soil. Longing to make a connection and to discover what it meant to be Manx, whilst still in London I started to learn Manx Gaelic and play Manx music, whilst taking up reading the works of T. E. Brown, Hall Caine and others. After being given the opportunity to do some projects remotely – on Manx literature, dialect theatre and oral history – I was lucky enough to return to the Isle of Man for a job at Culture Vannin. There is not a day that I do not feel thankful. 
 
Culture Vannin promotes, supports and celebrates the culture of the Isle of Man - the intangible things that make this place special and unique. I tend to think of Manx culture or identity as like a rope. Its strength isn’t dependent on any single strand – rather, what makes the rope strong is all of its strands entwined together. 
 
So it is with the Isle of Man – what makes it so special is not any one element, but the bringing together of all of those things that inspire people each day in this amazing Island of ours. This manifests in the sort of work I do as Culture Vannin’s Online & Educational Resources Officer. Every day is different – one day I might be capturing someone’s unique life-story for an oral history recording, or I will be out filming a fur & feather show, and the next day I could be working on creating history resources for schools, or helping someone shape their ideas for a Manx folklore book. 
 
Through this process I feel my roots digging even deeper into Manx soil, enriching my life and giving me a sense of belonging which could not be found, for me, anywhere else in the world. 
Having the Isle of Man as our home offers a wonderful opportunity, and I’m thankful that I get to explore it every day, in so many ways. 

You can follow the work that James does through Culture Vannin’s website, social media pages and Youtube Channel.