Eight people who moved to the Bangor area met recently and formed a Newcomers Group.

At present, the group includes new residents of Bangor, Orono and Kenduskeag.

“We’d like to make new friends and contacts,” wrote Mary Kunstman. While she and her husband, Earl Kunstman, are doing that through their church and work, “it still takes time” to make new friends, she wrote.

“Often, other newcomers, especially those from out of state, are also looking for new friends,” she added.

“I talked with someone the other day, who had moved to Bangor from Nova Scotia a few months ago, and she hasn’t really found a pal yet.”

To improve that situation for themselves and others, the group is planning its next meeting for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 27, at a private home in Bangor.

“If we have a good number respond,” Kunstman wrote, “we might move to a public place.” For now, the Newcomers will meet in members’ homes.

If you are interested in joining the Newcomers Group or learning more about it, you are welcome to call the Kunstmans at 947-3187, or Kathy Macedo at 945-3952.

Welcome to Bangor, all you newcomers! I hope you learn to love this city, and this area, as much as I do.

On behalf of Penobscot Chapter 374 AARP, Elaine Randall of Hampden invites “all AARP members to attend our monthly meeting” at noon Tuesday, Sept. 27, at the Elks Club on Odlin Road in Bangor.

The featured speaker, from Eastern Agency on Aging, will discuss the Medicare Prescription Drug Program.

The chapter meets at noon the last Tuesday of the month, September through June, at the Elks Club, Randall added.

“Our members bring a brown bag lunch. Coffee, tea and desserts are provided.”

Speakers address the audience at 12:30 p.m., and “chapter membership is $2 a year,” she added.

For more information about AARP, call Randall at 947-3145.

Wayne Melanson is director of volunteer services for Hospice of Eastern Maine, which is a program of Bangor Area Visiting Nurses.

Melanson has announced that a 24-hour volunteer training course will be conducted from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. Tuesdays, Oct. 11-Nov 15, at Suite 220 of Eastern Maine Healthcare Mall, 885 Union St. in Bangor.

HOEM provides services to patients and families living with a terminal illness in communities located within a 25-mile radius of Bangor.

HOEM volunteers focus on the physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs of those individuals and their families, he wrote, but do not provide personal care such as bathing and toilet needs.

For more information, call Melanson at 973-8269 or (800) 350-8269.

To become a HOEM volunteer, you must complete an application form and undergo an interview prior to Friday, Oct. 7.

Johanna Lacey of the Bangor Symphony Office suggests BSO enthusiasts who are tired of driving Maine winter roads and who are concerned about the high price of gasoline consider riding “in the lap of luxury” for the BSO 2005-2006 season.

The Concert Coach provides transportation for all BSO Classical Concerts, the first of which is 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 2, at Maine Center for the Arts on the University of Maine campus in Orono.

Pickup times for the Houlton Concert Coach are 12:30 p.m., Irving Big Stop, Houlton: 12:45 p.m., Porter’s Filling Station, Island Falls; 1 p.m., Irving Station, Sherman Mills; and 1:30 p.m., Irving Station, Route 147, Medway.

The cost for this season pass is $84. Individual rides are $18.

Pickup times for the Ellsworth Concert Coach are 12:45 p.m., Parker Ridge, and 1 p.m., George Stevens Academy, both in Blue Hill; 1:15 p.m., Surry Post Office; and 1:30 p.m., Ellsworth Mill Mall.

The coast for this pass is $78 or $18 for individual rides.

Pickup times for the Camden Concert Coach are 12:45 p.m., Mechanic Street parking lot, Camden; 1:15 p.m., Penobscot Shores and 1:30 p.m., Co-op parking lot, both in Belfast; 1:45 p.m., Bangor Savings Bank, Searsport; 1:55 p.m., Stockton Springs Town Office; and 2:10 p.m. at Rosie’s Diner in Winterport.

The cost for this season pass is also $78 and $18 for individual rides.

For more information, or to make a reservation, call the BSO box office at 942-5555 or (800) 639-3221. More information is also available at bangorsymphony.com.

Joni Averill, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402; 990-8288