Our Men’s group is designed to enable men to keep learning and experience new things. It’s a group full of stories and laughter. The members of the group work with us to decide what activities they want to do as part of their programme and during one of these brainstorms, John mentioned his love of cycling.

The Men’s Group making bat boxes at Castle Semple 13/01/2017. John on the hammer.
John, who is 91, lost his sight 20 years ago but hasn’t let that stop him. Through the club, he has participated in everything from making bat boxes to photography. So last Friday, he was able to cycle once again as a stoker for Colin Calder – a tandem biker who blogs about his travels.
Calder’s blog, called Matilda’s Musings after his 60 year old tandem bike, documents his travels on his tandem around Scotland and elsewhere. His blog made it to the finals of the UK Blog Awards 2016.
Calder was invited to come speak about his love for tandem cycling and let our members ask questions as well as get up close and personal with the bike. He showed videos of his travels and shared funny stories of his trips. The Tandem bike was the main focus for the members and of course, no one got as close as John who jumped at the chance to cycle again.
The Paisley Daily Express came down to photograph our group and got some lovely shots of John and Colin.
Our Men’s group is full of opportunities and new experiences. For more information about our men’s group and its activities, just click here.
- They both enjoyed going a quick ride around the Community Centre
- Nicola Hanssen and John sharing a laugh
- John reflecting on ticking another thing off his bucket list
- John chatting with Colin about cycling