End of summer brings new opportunities to socialize in South Dartmouth

With summer ending, a new school year starts. As the kids in our lives forge new connections with each other, South Dartmouth also offers all kinds of opportunities for adults to join a new club or league — to get active or to make new friends, too.

Our local North Woodside Community Centre is offering a very wide range of groups and activities to join this fall, a seemingly endless choice from pickleball to yoga to guitar basics and cooking classes (even hip hop for kids). New this year is line dancing, meditation, and carpet bowling, but most of the regular favourite programs the centre offers remain. The centre is also home to other dance groups, such as Scottish and English country dancers. Information on all of these can be found through the community centre office at 230 Pleasant Street.

Down the road, at the South Woodside Community Centre, there are volleyball, square dancing, pickleball and dodgeball groups meeting regularly, as well as historical fencers practicing their swordsmanship.

Always a lively venue and open to players at all levels, fall bowling leagues are starting up at the Bowlarama on Atlantic Street.

The calmer, more meditative movement of Tai Chi is offered by the Fung Loy Kok Institute of Taoism, who will be using the basement of St. Clement Church on Gaston Road for their weekly practices.

Regular storytelling and music nights will also be starting up at Evergreen House on Newcastle Street, such as Trad Night (balladry and songs of old, with open mic) on every third Friday of the month (next Sept. 18) and Folk Club (folk performances and open mic) on every first Thursday of the month (next Oct. 1). Storytelling night will be resuming on the last Monday of every month. All these events are organized by the Helen Creighton Folklore Society.