Ylpeänä ja tippa silmässä Manchesterin Suomi-koulu onnittelee koulun perustajajäsentä ja pitkäaikaista opettajaa Iris McLintockia, jolle on myönnetty Suomen Leijonan ritarimerkki. Onnea Iris!  The Finnish School is proud and happy to congratulate our founding member and long-term teacher Mrs Iris McLintock who has been made the Knight of the Order of the Lion of Finland!

We had a party! This was the scene at the Victory Hall in Mobberley  on Saturday as we waited for remaining guests; we had around 100 in the end. Anyone wandering in by mistake would have looked on and probably thought it was a pretty typical social event, but maybe noticed the Finnish flags and the not very local accents. Would they have known it was Finnish? If they had, would they have been able to point to Finland on a map? Perhaps not; the UK has so many diverse communities these days, and the Finnish one isn't the most numerous by any means. But here was a nice cross section of the many Finns who have come to settle in the North West of England, Manchester in particular. By July the School itself has long since finished for the year, and many of its members have gone away, some to enjoy Finland's here-one-moment-gone-the-next summer. I'm exaggerating - Finns may tell you it's like that, but summer is often a blessed time in Finland and I can well remember b...

That's right, our big 40 Year Anniversary party is only a few days away, this coming Saturday! And we do have a few tickets left, so if this little reminder makes you realise you can come after all, don't hesitate, leave us a message on our Facebook page, and we'll sell or reserve a ticket for you, no problem. Where is it? "I've never heard of Mobberley!" No, I hadn't either, but Kari found it for us and it's very easy to find, close to the airport, M6 and M56, near Knutsford. It's called Victory Hall ; it looks like a nice place, with everything we need. What do we get? Well, there will be a few words to start with, some awards, along with some artwork by school members on display. Then, we're in for a fabulous treat, a buffet featuring some top quality traditional Finnish food, followed by music, a raffle and more. It'll be nice to see people. Some old friends are coming, as well as current members, not to mention visitors from ...

Here it is, coming very soon! The time is near, for the Manchester Finnish School's big celebration of 40 years in existence . It's a helluva thing, when you think about it. Not so much the sheer length of time, because many clubs and societies and voluntary groups carry on for decades or even the odd century. But it's an impressive status because it represents a very special continuity, of Finnish people in the North West and in Manchester in particular. The first generation came here and set up the School in the Sixties, and many are still around - in fact, one is still teaching, brilliantly, and inspiring us all! Many more have come to Manchester since; some have eventually gone back to Finland, but many have stayed for good (the craziest of all crazy Finns??). So, we're having a party. It will kick off with a few worthy words, some special awards and such, but the main aim is to celebrate with fun and good food. We certainly haven't forgotten the ki...

Nyt - right now - it is 100 days until Finland's Centenary Year kicks off. I've just found that out on the Suomi 100 website, and I recommend that you bookmark it and visit there to keep in touch with what's being planned for the nation's celebrations. But we in Manchester have even more to celebrate, because next year marks a full forty - 40 - years since our suomikoulu was established in the city, the oldest in the North West and one of the oldest in the UK. One or two of our founders are still here, actively involved in the life of our school. So we have a lot to think about! We're definitely going to have a bit of an event later in the year, hopefully staging some special happenings. Here are a couple of them, fun competitions for you to sink your artistic teeth into, which you may already know about if you've visited the school recently, or read about on our Facebook page. First - how about designing an anniversary celebration mug ?! We need y...