- Women only
- Friendship, not dating
- Free to join
- Local guide
- October 21, 2026
Make Friends After 40 in Exeter While Your CV Gets a Rewrite
Exeter’s forty-something population has climbed about 7% since 2021, twice the South West rate, so a career change here often comes with new company.
15,800+
Exeter residents between 40 and 49, from the city’s mid-2025 ONS estimate
7%
increase in the number of Exeter forty-somethings since mid-2021, against about 3% for the whole region (ONS, mid-2025)
7,900+
Exeter women in their forties, latest mid-year count (ONS, 2025)
Exeter, a new direction and classmates to match
Switching career in Exeter in your 40s, fellow career-changers are easiest to meet on an evening course rather than in a new office. The University of Exeter runs ten-week evening language classes from January, Exeter Phoenix has art courses on weeknights, and Exeter College holds an open evening on 18 November. Gofrendly also helps you meet Exeter women making a change.
Exeter questions about retraining and new friends
Are there evening language classes in Exeter?
The University of Exeter’s Language Centre runs an Evening Language Programme of ten-week courses open to the public. The next term in Exeter starts in the week of 11 January 2027, and fees for members of the public run from £100 to £195 depending on course length.
When is the next college open evening in Exeter?
Exeter College holds an open evening on Wednesday 18 November 2026 from 4pm to 8pm, where adults can ask about part-time, evening and career-change courses. It is a useful first step in Exeter if you want a qualification that puts you in a regular class with other adults.
What creative evening courses run in Exeter?
Exeter Phoenix runs short weeknight courses in Exeter, including Botanical Drawing on Mondays from 7pm to 9.30pm through November 2026 and Textile Memory Books on Tuesdays from 6.30pm. A small group meeting every week for a month gives you the chance to swap numbers before the end.
Changing careers in your 40s: who will your Exeter friends be?
Sign on for something with a weekly rhythm, like an evening course or choir, and you will share a room with the same faces all term. Gofrendly, a women-only friendship app, also helps you contact other Exeter women going through a career switch of their own.
Exeter friendships for a mid-career switch
Leaving a job you have done for twenty years can be exciting and oddly isolating at the same time. The colleagues who filled your lunches and leaving drinks drop away, retraining eats your evenings, and old friends may not quite get why you jumped. A class is the most natural place to rebuild, because everyone in the room has also chosen to start something new and has every reason to return. A choir or an evening rehearsal works the same way when you need a night away from coursework. Even the open evening queue is full of people asking the same questions, and that shared nervousness is a decent icebreaker.
Exeter’s population in their forties is growing faster than the region’s, and the city counts close to 8,000 women in that age group. Retraining can be lonely for a while; shared homework helps. Places to make friends after 40 when you change direction:
1
The University of Exeter’s Evening Language Programme, ten weeks per term with a new term from January 2027.
2
Exeter Phoenix, whose weeknight courses include botanical drawing and textile memory books.
3
Exeter College’s open evening on Wednesday 18 November, from 4pm to 8pm.
4
Sing Space’s Exeter Musical Theatre Choir, Wednesdays at Monkerton Community Primary School with no audition.
5
RAMM on Queen Street, a free museum for an easy weekend meet-up.
LOCAL TIP
Treat the coffee after class as part of the course.
How to
Steps towards new Exeter friendships during a career change
1
Go to the Exeter College open evening and ask about part-time adult courses.
2
Book the January term of the university’s evening languages.
3
Message fellow retrainers in Exeter on Gofrendly and swap notes over coffee.
4
Join a Wednesday rehearsal of the musical theatre choir for a night off from coursework.
For the leap to something new
Exeter career-change page: about the writers
Gofrendly’s editors, with founders Claudia Gård and Ulrika Lilja, wrote this page for Exeter women retraining or switching jobs, focusing on courses and groups where classmates meet weekly.
Friendship looks different at every stage
More guides for women in this area – each with its own local advice.
Friendship looks different at every stage
More guides for women in this area – each with its own local advice.
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