New year, new hobby: Evening classes to try in Cork, from pickleball to swordfighting

Spring 2024 night courses and evening are enroling now if you want to boost your dressmaking, cake-decorating or genealogy skills

Evening courses on offer in Cork include fencing, pickleball, dressmaking, and genealogy

Wed, 10 Jan, 2024 - 12:30

Caroline Delaney

A new year and a new, fitter or more skilled you... from Pickleball for Beginners to DIY for Women there's got to be an evening course that suits.

The brochures for Adult Education Programmes and evening classes are popping in letterboxes all over and enrolment evenings are underway or coming soon.

🤩🤺 New Adult Beginners Fencing Programme

🎉 Try something new this year

➡️ No experience required
➡️ Equipment provided
➡️ Have fun learning a new sport, make new friends & get fit

📆 Wed 17th Jan
📍 James Kenneally Sports Hall
⏰ 6-8pm
🎟️ 8 Weeks

ℹ️ https://t.co/zOm4489wGI pic.twitter.com/wiVEeVYxjn
— Cork Sports Partnership (@CorkSports) January 9, 2024

Some new classes on offer include an Adult Beginners Fencing Programme. So if you've been inspired by James Bond or Game of Thrones action scenes then jump off the couch and get en garde.

An 8-week foil fencing course starts soon at in Hollyhill, Cork. Picture: Rebel Fencing Club

This one is a joint venture from Cork Sports Partnership and Rebel Fencing Club. It's an 8-week course and costs €80 per person — it starts on Wednesday, January 17 at James Kenneally Sports Hall on Hollyhill.

Programmes such as Who Do You Think You Are? have really tapped into a growing love for genealogy and ancestry research. There's a Family History: An Introduction course on at Ashton in Cork and it's taught by Fiona Forde of irishfamilydetective.ie

And Richard Forrest teaches a Tracing Your Family History course at Douglas Community School with a focus on building up a family tree using Census returns and other local history tools.

The weather might be cold and yucky right now but there's no harm in planning to explore the outdoors safely. A Hill Walking and Navigation course takes place at Cork College of Commerce. This five-week course starts on Monday, February 19 and will cover map reading, compass use, mountain hazards and personal equipment and route planning.

📣🤩 New @CorkSports Beginners Pickleball Programmes & Social Groups

If you have ever wanted to try pickleball now is the perfect time

📍 Bandon
📍 Bishopstown
📍 Blackrock
📍 Blarney
📍 Cobh
📍 Kinsale
📍 Midleton
📍 Mitchelstown
📍 More Coming Soon

ℹ️ https://t.co/abIBPPxxID pic.twitter.com/hKPTOsvouN
— Cork Sports Partnership (@CorkSports) January 8, 2024

Pickleball might be a new one for some but it's growing in popularity for sure. It's a paddle or racquet sport played indoors or outdoors by two players or doubles. It has been described as being similar to tennis, ping-pong, and badminton.

Interested? Well, there are beginners and improvers Pickleball lessons at Ashton on Blackrock Road, as well as at Bandon Grammar School, in Cobh, Mitchelstown, Bishopstown, Midleton, Blarney and Kinsale. These lessons are also run in association with Cork Sports Partnership.

The more 'traditional' evening classes such as dressmaking, cake-decorating, yoga and photography all continue to be very popular.

There's a Dressmaking: Sewing & Patterns course at Ashton — with sewing machines available. And there's also one at Douglas Community School.

Some of these courses fill up quite quickly so check out the links here for enrolment info