The start of the school year seems to bring out the self-development gene in a lot of people. It's like a mini-New Year, as resolutions are made not to fritter away winter evenings and, at colleges, queues of the conscientious sign up for courses in everything from astronomy to parenting. A quick way to get an overview of what courses are on offer in the greater Dublin area is to pick up either the Wolfhound or Oisin guides to evening classes in Dublin. Both cost £2.99 and contain essentially the same information in different layouts. The Collins Press produces a similar guide for Cork city and county, also at £2.99.
Community and comprehensive schools throughout the State run excellent classes and listings of courses are normally available from schools. If you are unsure about which school is closest to your home, contact the Association of Community and Comprehensive Schools, 2 Herbert Avenue, Merrion Road, Dublin 4 (tel: (01) 269 5375) for help.
The People's College, based in Parnell Square, Dublin, has been providing courses to adults for the past 50 years. It prides itself on keeping its course fees reasonable: most of cost £30 or less a term. The college offers a mix of leisure and academic-type courses including painting, yoga, language classes, computers, legal studies and counselling. There is also an introductory course to broadcasting. For a prospectus send an SAE (with a 40p stamp) to 30 Parnell Square, Dublin (tel: (01) 873 5879).
The Coolmine Community Education programme is one of the largest in Dublin. Based at Coolmine Community School in Clonsilla, it runs a busy programme of courses during the week; this year it will experiment with a series of Saturday workshops designed to reach those who might be unable to take part in weekday courses. The first of the Saturday programmes takes place on the 17th of October from 10 a.m. to 4.30 p.m.
Three topics are on offer: preparing a business plan, the Internet and the healing power of "bodymind". The healing and business-plan workshops costs £50 and the Internet course is £100 (tel: (01) 821 4583; email: coolmine@indigo.ie). If the prospect of having to dress up in lycra puts you off taking up aerobic exercise, what about some vigorous ceili dancing (in clothes of your choice) to get you fit? Dublin Northsiders hankering after their youth in the Gaelteacht can relive these experiences at the Old Courthouse in Howth, the venue for ongoing ceili dancing classes on Thursday evenings from 8.30 to 10.30 p.m. All are welcome.
