£1million Colby estate left to Manx National Heritage

A public consultation is now under way to seek ideas about what to do with the property left to the Manx nation by the late John Donald Collister.

Mr Collister died in 2007 aged 93; he was a fiercely proud Manxman and was a master painter by trade who served in the Second World War and with the Manx Regiment in Crete and North Africa.

Director of Manx National Heritage, Edmund Southworth, said the gift had the potential to make an enormous difference to the heritage of the Isle of Man, and is the single largest gift ever left to the country.

Copies of the consultation document can be found on the government’s website and must be completed by the end of June.

We’ll have more reaction to Mr Collister’s donation on tomorrow’s news updates.