Ellan Vannin

It was a sad day today in our neighboring town of Thame at Robin Gibbs funeral. He had lived for 30 years in the Old Rectory across from St. Mary’s Church and was well known and liked in the town. His casket was draped in the flag of Ellan Vannin, the name in Manx Gaelic of The Isle of Man, where he and his brothers were born. The Bee Gees adapted a poem of the same name as a song which ends with the words which seem so appropriate today;

“And in all my times of sorrow

And on some lonely shore

I'll go back to Ellan Vannin

To my childhood days once more”

The Isle of Man in the middle of the Irish Sea is a truly unique and beautiful place inhabited since 6,500 BC and never incorporated into either the Roman Empire (Julius Caesar referred to it as Mona in 54 BC) nor is it part of The United Kingdom, the Commonwealth or the European Union (EU). ). Its parliament, the Tynwald is of Celtic / Norse origin and over 1,000 years old, and is the oldest parliament in the world with an unbroken existence.

It had a unique Gaelic-Norse culture and the motto on its three legged (Trie Cassyn) flag is; “Quocunque jeceris stabit” – loosely translated as “wherever I’m thrown, I will stand” – probably a fair summation of Robin Gibbs life and achievements.