Isle of Man Earlybird Extended

The Leo Phillips Isle of Man Go Festival is taking place from 30 July - 4 August 2017. Early bird discounted entries are available until 14 May so please enter soon to take advantage of the reduced price.

This popular event has been held 12 times since 1991 and gives you a chance to mix playing Go with sightseeing on the island. The timetable of tournaments allows you to choose how much time to spend playing Go and how much to spend on other things. And there is a range of side events including a continuous lightning tournament, rengo, 13x13 Go and a quiz. Port Erin, where the festival is held, is a delightful small seaside town in the south west of the island.

There are a lot of interesting things to see on the Isle of Man. There are two castles, a lot of great museums and many good beaches and places to walk and see the wildlife. You can travel on the steam railway and even a horse-drawn tram in Douglas. The electric railway can take you up Snaefell mountain where on a clear day you can see England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Or you can take a boat trip to the Calf of Man where there are many seals. And in Laxey you can see the famous large waterwheel.

There is full information about the Go Festival on the Festival website, or by following the link from the BGA Calendar. This includes some information about accommodation. We would advise people to book accommodation early because, although we have moved the dates of the event to avoid any clash with motorcycle racing, Port Erin is not a large place and the places to stay will get booked up. At the moment there are still places available, for example several rooms in the Falcon's Nest hotel and a couple of apartments at the Cherry Orchard.

This year the festival has been re-named in honour of Leo Phillips, who was the inspiration behind the Isle of Man Go Congress/Festival. For a while Leo and her husband David ran the event almost single-handedly although in recent years there was a larger team of organisers. Sadly Leo died in 2015 not long before the previous Isle of Man Go Festival.

The entry form gives information about how to enter. Please let us know if you need any more information. Our e-mail address is andreapaulsmith@gmail.com