Instead of celebrating John's 70th per se, the family decided to have a combined celebration of the various milestones which were occurring around that time; Sheila had turned 70, Peter had turned 40, John was approaching 70 and Karen had 40 on the horizon.  
There was therefore a family holiday based in a Port Erin motel in which Sheila and John had stayed for a night on their previous visit to the island some years earlier.  

It was conveniently situated very close to the terminus of the IoM Steam Railway and not much further from the bus station.  We all had island rover tickets for the week allowing us to take any mixture of public transport; sometimes we all did the same thing, but frequently groups or individuals did their separate things for part or all of the day.  Of course Ben and Oli were young at the time, so were always accompanied by an adult!

There was also a wider family celebration at Stondon Massey.