The Isle of Man Post Office is delighted to present this set of stamps celebrating the diverse lifestyles and cultural heritage of our unique Island. The images selected are ‘slice of life’ photographs of real people who live and work on the Island

Subjects range from relaxing hobbies like sea fishing to extremely adventurous activities such as rock climbing.
The sheer beauty of our natural landscape is captured in the image of children on horseback while our history and heritage is typified by that of the traditional plough and horses at work in Cregneash. 

No collection would be complete without a motorbike and rider enjoying the Island’s roads and lanes.

 What all the subjects have in common is a love of the great outdoors and a sense of freedom that living on the Isle of Man inspires.

In these stamps we have endeavoured to capture what we call ‘The Spirit of Mann’

 • The IOM and UK ‘Non Value Indicators’ are also available as self-adhesive booklets and as a set

 • The Sheet Set of this issue consists of the following: 1 x sheet of 40 IOM ‘NVI’ (non value indicators) stamps (comprising 4 designs); 1 x sheet of 40 UK ‘NVI’ stamps (comprising 4 designs); 1 x sheet of 40 56p stamps and 1 x sheet of 40 90p stamps. Subjects range from relaxing hobbies like sea fishing to extremely adventurous activities such as rock climbing.

The first day cover features the full set of stamps cancelled with the first day of issue special postmark.
The story of the issue is inside, told on an illustrated information card.

Source: IOM Philatelic Bureau

published January 23rd, 2010