Gary Lightbody to music and football. He is on the board of directors of the Oh Yeah Music Centre in Northern Ireland, a project set up to give young artists a place where they can share ideas and kick-start their music careers, as often is the trend of talent leaving the country from lack of appraisal. He supported young bands from Northern Ireland and involved them as support bands to shows of Snow Patrol's UK & Ireland Arena Tour of February–March 2009. Lightbody is one of the supporting voices for the growing music-scene in Belfast in Northern Ireland and once stated in
Robert Lightbody the few members listed as present when meetings were cancelled or postponed due to insufficient numbers. Lightbody was elected to the Woolhope Club in 1855, and served as its president in 1861. He was also a member of the Severn Valley Naturalists' Field Club and of the Caradoc Field Club (which merged). In 1863 he read a paper at the Ludlow meeting of the Severn Valley Naturalists' Field club titled "The Geology of Ludlow", which was later published in the Club Transactions. J.W. Salter records that Lightbody was responsible for discovering the earliest known Pteraspid in the Welsh Borders, "Archaegonaspis