Turnip Thinners Welcome at Cregeash

Manx National Heritage is pleased to be supporting Manx Food and Farming Week on the Isle of Man by staging a Turnip Thinning Competition at Cregneash Folk Village on Saturday 25th June.

The Turnip Thinning competition is an annual event at Cregneash and is a hotly contested competition amongst the farming fraternity with classes for men, women, children and newcomers.

There will also be the added attractions of displays by the Heavy Horse Society and the Southern vintage engine and tractor club.

Peter Kelly, Farm Manager at Cregneash Folk Village, explains the reason behind the competition:

“At this time of the year, the main task being done on many traditional Manx farms was turnip thinning. The countryside would be full of people on their hands and knees crawling along ridges of turnips, pulling out the weeds that were competing with the turnips and removing the unwanted turnip seedlings, leaving healthy plants. The turnips will be harvested in the autumn and used to feed the animals at Cregneash during the winter, and for making turnip lanterns during Hop Tu Naa”.

The Turnip Thinning competition will take place at Cregneash on Saturday 25th June 2005. Registration is at 2pm when all competitors will be issued with a row of turnips to thin and traditional sacking for their knees to protect them from the many stones that appear in the fields.

The competition will commence at 3pm. Entrance to the Turnip Thinning competition and Manx Farming and Food Week attractions is free of charge, although normal admission charges apply to the Cregneash Folk Village.

Cregneash is part of the award-winning Story of Mann and is open throughout the summer until October 2005.