T y n w a l d H o n o u r s C o m m it t e e Second Report 2004/2005 SECOND REPORT OF THE TYNWALD HONOURS COMMITTEE 2004/2005 At the sitting of Tynwald Court on 16* December 1998 it was resolved that - (1) Nominations for inclusion in the Manx Patriots' Roll of Honour be vetted by a Committee of seven Members appointed by Tynwald (to be called the Tynwald Honours Committee) and that the Members of that Committee should be - (a) The President of Tynwald ex officio; (b) The Speaker of the House of Keys ex officio; and (c) Five other Members of Tynwald, elected by Tynwald. (2) The Tynwald Honours Committee should be required to report to Tynwald at least once during the life of each House of Keys but not necessarily to make a recommendation; (3) Any recommendation made by the Tynwald Honours Committee should be subject to the approval of a majority of the whole of Tynwald sitting in public and voting as one body. (4) (a) The Manx Patriots' Roll of Honour be maintained in a prominent position in the public part of the Precincts of Tynwald; (b) A plaque should be placed in a prominent position at a site in the Island appropriate to the person concerned; (c) The Committee should be responsible for the erection and ongoing maintenance of the Manx Patriots' Roll of Honour and plaques; and (d) Where appropriate the Tynwald Honours Committee should consider presenting a suitable memento to the family of the person concerned. At the December 2002 sitting of Tynwald Court the remit of the Committee was extended and amended as follows - The Committee should be empowered to recommend to Tynwald to award honours to living Manx persons; Tynwald should be empowered to confer honours in its own right, and The composition of the committee should be reduced to five, three being elected by Tynwald Court with Mr President and Mr Speaker being ex officio members. The Hon N Q Cringle MLC President of Tynwald ex officio (Chairman) The Hon A J Brown SHK ex officio (Castletown) Mr Q B Gill MHK (Rushen) Mr E G Lowey MLC Mr G H Waft MLC The powers, privileges and immunities relating to the work of a committee of Tynwald are those conferred by sections 3 and 4 of the Tynwald Proceedings Act 1876, sections 1 to 4 of the Privileges of Tynwald (Publications) Act 1973 and sections 2 to 4 of the Tynwald Proceedings Act 1984. Copies of this Report may be obtained from, the Tynwald Library, Legislative Buildings, Bucks Road, Douglas IM1 3PW (Tel 01624 685516, Fax 01624 685522) or may be consulted at www.tynwald.orp.im All correspondence with regard to this Report should be addressed to the Clerk of Tynwald, Legislative Buildings, Bucks Road, Douglas IM1 3PW. The Hon Noel Q Cringle MLC, President of Tynwald, and the Hon Council and Keys in Tynwald assembled SECOND REPORT OF THE TYNWALD HONOURS COMMITTEE 2004/2005 Background: The Tynwald Honours Committee was originally established in December 1998 to propose names to Tynwald Court for inclusion in a Manx Patriots' Roll of Honour for deceased persons. In December 2002 the Committee remit was extended to recommend to Tynwald the awarding of honours to living Manx persons, and associated with this, Tynwald was empowered to confer honours in its own right. A Report, together with recommendations, concerning the award of a Tynwald Honour was placed before Tynwald Court in October 2004. Your Committee has also been giving active consideration to further names to place before Tynwald for possible inclusion on the Manx Patriots' Roll of Honour for deceased persons. In this Report your Committee will address both matters. PART 2 THE AWARDING OF A TYNWALD HONOUR 2.1 At the October 2004 sitting of Tynwald Court, your Committee proposed the creation of an honour to be called the Tynwald Medal of Honour and submitted a proposed design. It was the wish of the Court that the matter be referred back to your Committee for further consideration before approval was given. Your Committee was charged by Tynwald Court to: "give further consideration to the criteria for the award, the presentation and the title and the design of the award." 2.2 Since October 2004 your Committee has met on four occasions. We are grateful for the research complied by our Clerk, P. Lo Bao, to enable us to complete our consideration in line with the wishes of Tynwald. 2.3 Initially, your Committee wrote to all Members of Tynwald asking for suggestions concerning the awarding, presentation, title and design of the medal. No replies were received from any Members. A copy of the letter sent to all Members is attached to this Report as Appendix 1. 2.4 Title and Design of the Tynwald Honour: 2.4.1 Your Committee contacted the designer of the original medal, Mrs C Corlett, and asked her to produce several alternative designs. Her brief reflected the comments made in the Tynwald debate of 20th October 2004. She was asked to produce a selection of designs which: (a) Should not include the ship logo; 2 (b) Should not include a ribbon but would be attached directly to the lapel; (c) Should not have anything on its reverse side to permit the name of the recipient to be engraved there; (d) Should be a larger sized medal than the original proposal; (e) Should retain the Tynwald logo including the Crown; (f) Should use a star as its background; and (g) Should include suitable Manx wording. 2.4.2 Your Committee also sought the assistance of Mr P Gawne MHK, Mr A Pilgrim and Professor R L Thompson regarding Manx translations of potential titles for the Honour. 2.4.3 Mrs Corlett submitted to your Committee six possible designs based upon the brief received. Your Committee then circulated these to all Members of Tynwald for their comments. In addition. Members were also asked to express a preference for the name of the award. Three possible titles for the award were circulated to Members for comment, these being Tynwald Medal of Honour (Cooiney Onnor Tinvaal), Tynwald Cross of Honour (Crash Onnor Tinvaal) and Tynwald Star of Honour (Rollage Onnor Tinvaal). 2.4.4 Written replies were received from Mr D Cannan MHK, Mrs P M Crowe MLC, Mr P Gawne MHK, Mrs H Hannan MHK, Hon R W Henderson MHK, Mr M Quayle MHK, Mr E Teare MHK and the Lord Bishop. Ora] replies were received from Hon D Anderson MHK, Mr A Earnshaw MHK and Mr L 1 Singer MLC. From these replies, six Members indicated their preference for design number 6, three for design number 1, one for design number 1 or design number 6 and one for design number 5. Seven Members expressed a preference for a particular title for the award. Five Members preferred the title 'Cross of Honour' and two 'Medal of Honour'. 2.4.5 Having taken serious account of Members views, your Committee asked Mrs Corlett to produce a design combining the key features of the two designs favoured by Members, namely designs number 1 and 6. Your Committee favours this design for a number of reasons: (a) It reflects the views and comments made by many Members both during the Tywnald debate on our initial Report in October 2004 and during consultation undertaken since then; (b) It is a distinctly Celtic design, incorporates the title of the Honour in Manx; (c) It is clearly an award made by Tynwald; and (d) It is not similar to any other award made in the Island that your Committee is aware of. 2.4.6 Your Committee then circulated this design to all Members of Tynwald for further comment. Four Members responded, two orally (the Lord Bishop and Mrs A V Craine MHK) and two in writing (Mr A Earnshaw M.HK and Mr M Quayle MHK). Three of the four responses were favourable, with one expressing some reservations about the design and size of the proposed award. 2.4.7 With respect to the title of the Honour, again having taken note of the comments provided by Members of Tynwald, your Committee believes that the title should be the Tynwald Honour (Onnor Tinvaal). This is because: (a) The title avoids reference to the word "medal" which some Members felt to be inappropriate; 4 (b) The title does not include the word "cross'" which may suggest a religious dimension; (c) The title is simple and clear, indicates that it is an award made by Tynwald. Those who receive the Tynwald Honour would be entitled to use the abbreviation 'TH' after their name and the title, in Manx, will be inscribed upon the award. 2.4.8 At the same time that your Committee circulated all Members of' Tynwald with a copy of the final design, Members were also asked to comment upon the proposed title for the award. Not all those Members who replied did so, but of those who did the title for the award was seen as acceptable. 2.4.9 With regard to the manufacture of the Tynwald Honour, it remains the view of your Committee that it should be cast in sterling silver and that a vellum certificate should be presented to each recipient together with the Tynwald Honour. On the medal itself, the word Tinvaal' should be in blue and the Three Legs of Man in polished silver. 2.4.10 A copy of the letter inviting Members to submit their views concerning the various design options and alternative names together with copies of written replies received from Members are attached to this Report as Appendix 2.