2025 activities some of our members have enjoyed, why not come and join us?
November 2025 Highlights
☕ Coffee Morning – The Glass House
We enjoyed a lovely coffee morning at The Glass House on Wednesday 19th November. It was a warm, relaxed catch-up with great conversation, drinks, and snacks.
🚴 Winter Spin Class – Lisburn Leisureplex
Our winter spin sessions continued every Monday at 6:15 PM, with members taking part in energetic, good-fun classes for just £2. A great way to stay active during the colder months!
🚴♂️ Saturday Tandem Cycling
Our Saturday tandem rides ran throughout November, weather permitting. We welcomed both stokers and front riders, and several new people expressed interest in joining the group.
October Activities
Tandems Take on October!
The tandems were out in full force this October — brilliant craic, perfect weather, and top-notch coffee stops along the way. Nothing beats sharing the road and a good laugh with great people!
☕ Cosy Coffee Morning at T2 Café ☀️
We had a lovely, cosy coffee morning at T2 Café — the perfect way to catch up with friends, share stories, and enjoy a warm cuppa. Great company, great chats, and plenty of smiles all round!
🚆 A Day Out in Bangor 🌊
We headed to Bangor on the train and enjoyed a beautiful coastal walk with stunning views. A delicious lunch and a great catch-up with our friends from the Bangor group made it the perfect day out! #BangorAdventures #CoastalWalk #GoodCompany
🚴 Spinning Success! 💪
Our spinning sessions have been growing in success throughout the month — fantastic energy, great attendance, and plenty of motivation in every class. Well done to everyone keeping those pedals turning! Come and join us and be part of the fun! #SpinningSuccess #StayActive #CyclingCommunity
AGM
We held our AGM at the Bridge Community Centre, with the Mayor of Lisburn & Castlereagh City, Alderman Amanda Grehan, as our special guest. It was a great morning of updates, discussion, and agreed actions for the year ahead. Afterwards, many of us went out to enjoy a delicious lunch together — a lovely way to round off the day.
What We Got Up To in September
September was full of energy and laughter for Lisburn Outlook. We kept the wheels turning with our tandem cycling, and when the weather started to cool, we kicked off our new winter spinning class — a brilliant way to keep fit indoors.
Our Walking Group was also out and about, enjoying local walks together — a great mix of fresh air, exercise, and plenty of conversation along the way.
Of course, no month would be complete without a coffee morning, where we caught up with friends old and new over a cuppa.
One of the real highlights was our day trip to Newcastle. The fresh sea air, the walk, and a fabulous lunch together made it a day to remember.
We also gathered for a very special Celebration Lunch, where we recognised the achievements of our cyclists who clocked up the miles and applauded our very own Ironman, Mark Gillispie. The fundraising connected to these efforts was an amazing success, and we’d like to thank everyone who contributed and supported the cause. To top it all off, we shared a beautiful cake baked by one of our members — a perfect way to end the day.
It was a month of good company, great craic, fresh air, and lots of laughter — just the way we like it.
Spotlight: Celebration September Lunch
The Celebration Lunch deserved a moment of its own. It was more than just a meal — it was a chance to reflect on the dedication of our members, from tandem cyclists to those taking on the toughest challenges like Ironman.
👏 To our cyclists who kept the wheels turning and to Mark Gillispie for his outstanding Ironman success — we are so proud of you.
💷 And to everyone who donated, supported, and fundraised — your generosity made a real difference.
The afternoon ended on a sweet note with a homemade cake crafted by one of our members, a true symbol of the warmth and spirit of Lisburn Outlook.
August: Holiday outing -Enniskillen Killyhevlin. 21 of our members had a fantastic time together in Enniskillen. Walk walk-away group explored CS Lewis Square, a walk-up part of the greenway, and rounded off the day with a lovely lunch. Cycling fundraising challenge of 1000 miles, we are delighted to say we smashed it and we are all a lot fitter, a special mention to our own Mark Gillespie, who did an Iron Man challenge as part of our fundraising campaign, thank you and a massive well done. The health and exercise walking group continued to meet on alternate Mondays at 10.30.
In July, we had one lovely walk around the rose Gardens at Lady Dixon Park, and our second walk was a coffee get-together as it was too wet to walk. Our coffee morning was held at Sonos, and it was delicious as always. We had our annual picnic in the park at Lady Dixon Park, a beautiful, dry day, and delicious food. Our Tandems were out on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
June was a busy month; we had two Rambles, Hillsborough Forest Park and Castle Gardens, we had our coffee morning in the Haslem Hotel, a few of our members had a pottery class, this is hopefully going to be repeated for members in the Autumn and of course the Tandems were out on Wednesdays and Saturdays throughout the month.
May Quite a few members came to the Lisburn Outlook IT self-help sessions in Lisburn Library on 20th May. A volunteer from Ability Net was there to help out. Another similar session is to be arranged in September. Our Ramblers were out in Wallace Park and a stroll on the Tow path, both followed by coffee in Ground. Our tandems were out every Wednesday and Saturday’s
April, we went to the Laganview Golf driving range. We rambled around Lurgan Park and Wallace Park, and we had our coffee morning at Ground Coffee. Our tandems were out every Wednesday and Saturday’s
March we had a fundraising table quiz on Friday 28th March in Lisburn Racquests Club it was a fantastic night we raised £650 our Raffle prizes were donated by: Sonas, Smyth Patterson, The Glasshouse, Castle 12 Crema, Ground,B&Q Sprucefield, The Boulvard Banbridge, Langtry Lane Moria, members kind donations – a massive thank-you to everyone how showed up to take part and all the raffle prizes. Our Coffee Morning was held in Glasshouse Coffee. Ramblers were out Rambling in Castle Gardens and the Towpath. The Tandems started up again and 4 teams took part in the Lisburn Tri Club Duathlon.
February , we have had our biweekly Ramblers walking club in Wallace Park and Lady Dickson Park we have played Ten Pin Bowling at Airtastic Entertainment center.Our Chairman, David Mann and Margaret attended #Braille200 at Lisburn City Library. Margaret, our Local brailliest, spent time with the P6 students from Brownlee Primary School in a lively learning session. Thank you to all the volunteers who spent time on our stand at the technology fair in Lagan Valley Island Center. The February coffee morning was in Sonas cafe, thank you to Sonas for donating a prize for our table quiz.
January we have had our coffee Morning at Sonas Cafe
What we did in 2024
We took part in Lisburn Tri club duathlon.
We had our usual monthly coffee mornings , our walkers went rambling
We went to Newcastle for out 2nd annual weekend away , some of us cycled , we swam in the sea, played mini golf, ate ice cream and had a bit of craic.
We had another Picnic in the Park; this is becoming a tradition.
And a Christmas lunch!
What we did in 2022 and 2023
2023
For the first time in our history we organised a short break for cyclists, walkers and anyone else who wanted to come along. Fourteen of us spent three nights in the Roe Park Resort near Limavady. Cyclists enjoyed coastal rides while others enjoyed shopping and taking the sea air.
Another first was a training course in life-saving and CPR, where six of us learned these essential skills from a qualified instructor.
We went to the theatre to see “Vote DLA” in May.
In July we had another Picnic in the Park; this is becoming a tradition.
In August we visited the multi-cultural Belfast Mela in Botanic Gardens.
We went bowling in November. Add to this our usual monthly coffee mornings and a Christmas lunch!
2022
In 2022 we marked our tenth anniversary with a tandem festival in August. Around fifteen tandems, including guests from other areas, set out from Lisburn’s Island Centre and covered various distances over local roads, up to 30 miles. We returned to the Island Centre for a buffet lunch and celebratory speeches.
Our tandem riders continued to go out on Saturday mornings and Thursday evenings.
We went to the cinema for an audio described showing of The Railway Children Returned, and to the theatre for an audio described version of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night time. We also brushed up our knowledge of local history with a performance of local author Tony Macaulay’s Bread Boy.
In April our team came second in the Mayor of Lisburn’s Charity quiz.
We basked in summer sun in July with our first Picnic in the Park in Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park.
Then in September we retreated indoors for a bowling evening.
Our book group continued to meet monthly.
Last but by no means least, we gathered every month for Café & Co., that is to say a morning drop-in session in a variety of city centre cafés, offering peer support,information exchange, scones and friendship.And, of course, our Christmas dinner.
What we did in 2020 and 2021
The pandemic greatly restricted our activities , especially for most of 2020 and the first half of 2021.
Here’s what we still managed to do:
Trip to Lyric Theatre for audio-described play: January 2020.
Book club launched in October 2020, which has continued to meet monthly via Zoom throughout 2021 and beyond.
Monthly Zoom quizzes from mid-2020 to mid-2021.
Face to face coffee mornings resumed in June 2021.
Meal and social get-together at Pizzarelly’s Restaurant, 26th June 2021
Visit to Balmoral Show: 22nd September 2021.
Bowling evening and meal: 2nd October 2021.
Christmas dinner at Crowne Plaza Hotel 16th December 2021.
Our tandems got out for a few months in 2020 and again in 2021.
Tandem riders’ barbecue, Groomsport: 21st August 2021.
Participation in walking and cycling day, Castlewellan 25th August 2021.
Here’s what we did in 2019
In 2019 we undertook our biggest venture yet, taking 12 blind and partially sighted people to the annual sight Village technology exhibition in Solihull, England.
Other activities included:-
Visit to audio described comedy at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast.
Victorious participation in the Mayor of Lisburn and Castlereagh’s charity Quiz.
Visit to Belfast Botanic Garden Tropical Ravine.
Two pizza evenings.
Visit to Hilden Beer Festival.
Castlewellan cycling and walking day.
Bowling evening.
Christmas dinner
Monthly “Café & Co.” morning coffee gatherings.
Weekly Tandem cycling.
Fortnightly walks.
Here’s what we did in 2018
Visit to Civic Centre and Mayor’s Parlour.
Participation in Mayor’s charity cycle ride
Angling Experience.
Participation in Mayor’s charity quiz.
Visit to Viking Centre, Dublin.
Visit to audio described play at the Lyric theatre, Belfast.
Rally driving Experience.
Day trip to Bangor.
Cycling and walking day, Castlewellan.
Tour of Parliament Buildings, Stormont.
6-week Pilates course.
Ladies’ Make -up evening.
Christmas dinner.
Monthly “Café & Co.” morning coffee gatherings, plus some ”sip and sup” pub evenings”.
Weekly Tandem cycling.
Fortnightly walks.
Here’s what we did in 2017
Car driving experience at Altrak, near Craigavon.
Two visits to audio described plays, one at Grand Opera House and one at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast.
Participation in Gran Fondo cycle ride.
Barbecue.
Cycling and Walking Day at Castlewellan.
Visit to Ulster American Folk Park, near Omagh, during Blue Grass Festival.
Fund-raising static tandem outside Tesco’s.
Fund-raising quiz.
Monthly “Café & Co.” morning coffee gatherings, plus some ”sip and sup” pub evenings”.
Weekly Tandem cycling.
Fortnightly walks.
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