Regular Events
Almost all our regular events are lunches, at which members get together at a regular venue for lunch and a relaxing afternoon. These lunches are generally on a Saturday, and those in each region of the country tend to be held on the same Saturday each month (say, the first Saturday, of the month, or the third, and so on). Events in some places are more varied than others. We outline the general pattern for each region below on this page.
However please, for individual events, always check our forthcoming events page which has links to individual dates with full details of each occasion. Any regular event mentioned on this page can sometimes have a variation from the usual for a particular month, either of venue or of date, starting time, or other details.
London
The London lunches are held on the second Saturday of every month at 1.30pm till whenever. They attract people from all over the UK and abroad. The lunches are run by a team of volunteers who take it in turns to host the event.
The regular Second Saturday Lunch is currently at our indoor venue, The Paternoster, near St Paul’s. This is a traditional English pub with great traditional as well as exotic food.
The venue is only minutes from the Underground (Central Line) station St Paul’s and is well served by buses, including the 8, 56, and 272 that stop right outside. For car drivers, there is one disabled parking space and plenty of free parking in the streets nearby.
Midlands
The regular, local date is the first Saturday in the month, which happens every month unless they go to Cheltenham to join the West Country group (who have theirs on the third Saturday — see below). Other mostly fixed points:
In 2011, lunches in Birmingham are going to be at All Bar One, Brindleyplace. Full details on individual event pages.
Time: 1pm
Contact: Steve on 07092 386 789 / 07919 437 097
Steve and Josh, who organize midlands events, say they are planning outings to music festivals, evening concerts, narrow boat rides, and picnics, to name a few ideas for the future.
West Country
West Country Events are held monthly, usually on the third Saturday in the month, and are run by Sarah Batten.
The programme is dynamic and exciting, so that everybody in the West Country gets the chance to choose what they would like. The place they always return to a couple of times a year is the Taverners Inn at Bristol Parkway. The Cheltenham venue is the Redgrove Harvester in Hatherly Lane, GL51 6TA.
Sarah sends out regular reminders by email and text and can be reached by text on 07505 60 64 08 or by email on westcountry@outsiders.org.uk
East Anglia
East Anglia has events every other (every even-numbered) month on the 3rd Saturday of the month, attracting people from London and all over the Midlands and East. These long-standing events are run by the effervescent Maz. They take place from 1pm to 5pm at the Royal George, Colchester Road (A1214) at Sidegate Lane beside the Fire Station in Ipswich. The Number 11 Bus runs from Ipswich Town Centre; and there is ample parking.
Merseyside
We are launching this new region with some lunch gatherings this Spring 2011 with two new volunteers, Luke and Sarah. Watch this space!
North of England: Yorkshire
We are delighted that there are wonderful Outsiders events taking place up north. The North of England lunch events are organized by Lilian McCarthy and Chris Green. Lilian travels all the way from Middlesbrough down to Sheffield to run the Yorkshire events with Chris, as Sheffield seems to be a convenient centre. A lively group gather at the Varsity on the last Saturday of each month from 13:30 (1:30 p.m.) to 16:30 (4:30 p.m.) The Varsity (bar and restaurant) is west of the city centre, a block to the south of the university. Full details are given on event pages. Lilian, who is blind, is trying to organize other activities in the North. Contact Lilian on 07423 051835.
The Highlands
Outsiders founder, Dr Tuppy Owens started some events in the Highlands near her home. The group decided that they enjoyed uplifting experiences such as taking the railway up Cairn Gorm and boat trips searching for dolphins in the firth. Tuppy brought in local experts Shirley Murchison and Douglas Hardie to run Body Language classes followed by T’ai Chi every two weeks. The members also went to shows and concerts together and the group were mutually very supportive.
These gatherings have been suspended for a while because Tuppy was unable to find anyone to help or suport her with this venture locally and she is already enormousy busy running Outsiders on a national level. However Douglas is now running the T’ai chi for people who are less able in Dingwall every Monday afternoon in the British Legion and, once new, proactive members join Outsiders locally, we hope to start again, full steam ahead.