This year’s summer outing to Bangor Castle Museum was held in clear weather and proved an enjoyable day down in County Down. Over thirty retired members along with the Branch Officers made the trip.

The majority travelled by train from Belfast and first port of call was a walk up from the station to the Castle Museum for morning tea/coffee. Then it was on to the tour with our guide, Leanne, who proved knowledgeable on all aspects of the Castle’s history and previous occupants.

Later there was an opportunity for those interested, to visit the Walled Garden before returning downhill to the Ava Bar & Bistro for lunch. The meal, of which there were multiple choices, was excellently presented, and the members were also able to order suitable refreshments of their choice.

Our thanks are extended to the excellent staff at the Bangor Museum and to the Ava Bistro staff and management, for explementary service throughout the day.

A light-hearted table quiz was next on the agenda and was very well received by all attending. With eight teams competing, keeping a watchful eye on proceedings was a headache for the scrutineers, and ultimately, the winner(s) had to be decided by a tiebreaker. Mind you some of the answers were best kept confidential!

All in all, an enjoyable day out and although we didn’t make it to the seaside, it did provide an opportunity to meet with former work colleagues, share some stories, and yarns, most of them far-fetched to say the least!

On behalf of the Retired Members Section our thanks are once again extended to the Branch for funding our retired members outing. Organising an event of this nature is difficult and we are acutely aware of the need to continually look for new locations, and venues, this to enable more of our retirees to benefit from the occasion.

On a footnote, I was personally disappointed that none of our female retirees were able to join us. This is something we need to address in future.

Once again, thanking all our retired members for their support.

Please check out our website for some pictures and videos from the date:

Lawrence C. Huston                                

Retired Members Section Committee.

Mob: 07802 787733