A short post this week, with a few reminders.

• We have Crunch on Thursday at 12.30pm. $15 for a delicious lunch and a creative activity.

• Come along on Friday at 10.30am for morning tea and have a chat with Clare about our multi-use garden. It should be interesting. This Garden Tour is part of Urban Agriculture month.

• Next week we have Preserves Group at 1pm on Tuesday and Movie Club on in the evening. We’ll let you know the movie and the time later this week.

• We’ll be getting ready for the Makers Market on Saturday 23 November from 11am-2pm which also coincides with the start of the Alphington Open Studios weekends. We are once again really looking forward to hosting local artists here at ACC and the market is always a great local community event. We hope you can make it.

Also, next week we’ll be participating in the 4 yearly Community Survey that is run by our peak body Neighbourhood Houses Victoria (NHVic). We’ll have QR codes around our site and will ask everyone who comes along to take two minutes to participate and complete the survey. The survey really helps us build a picture of the value of our house in terms of community need for our services and why and how people engage with us … and it is fundamental to securing our ongoing funding as a sector - so we’d be really grateful if you participated. Keep an eye out for the QR codes if you are here!

Lots on (still) as we roll into the end of the year … see you soon.

Leanne

A short message this week as I have been flat out getting the paperwork ready for our AGM. It’s on tonight (Monday) at 6.30pm. All welcome. It’s always nice to have a few people along to share the highlights of the year.

We’ll have some food and drinks, and review the year that has been. Kalimna has taken some beautiful photos to remind us of all of the fun things we’ve done.

If you are coming please email or call so we cater for you!

Other than that … join us for Playgroup Wednesday from 10am-12pm, Crunch on Thursday 12.30pm … or check out our program below for everything else that is on.

Also, I think Kalimna has been in contact with Book Clubs about paying for next year. So a reminder to rejoin if you are planning to keep coming in 2025. Thanks!

Good luck to everyone with VCE kids (for those without, the English exam kicks things off on Tuesday and the kids are gearing up for a couple of weeks of pressure).

And … if you have any ideas for next year please get in contact. Email your ideas or call us. We’d love a couple more music teachers (we have violin and guitar at the minute) and we have a spot on Monday mornings that would be ideal for another playgroup or children's/family activity. More broadly we are open to ideas - the best things we run are always community led!

See you soon.

Leanne

Thanks to everyone who came along to our big cook-up for Preserves Group last week. We now have lots of delicious capsicum relish for sale at ACC, great for a gift!

This week we have AAA Bowls starting up on Wednesday and Crunch is back on Thursday. Come along for some creative fun and a yummy lunch as well … for only $15 … book in on our website.

We hope to see you.

Leanne

Well we were back with a bang last week. It feels like the holidays are a distant memory already!

On Monday evening I went to a farewell event for Councillor Amanda Stone, who has been on Yarra Council for 15 years. She has been a wonderful supporter of neighbourhood houses and is generally a lovely person - we will miss her, and we wish her all the best in her next endeavours. It was really amazing to see the contribution and connections she has made across Yarra over her time with Council - not just across the community but also with Councillors and Council staff. Congratulations Amanda, truly, on all that you have achieved in this sometimes (I am 100% sure) thankless role.

Back at home … it was lovely to see everyone again on Friday for craft, gardening and lunch.

And Thursday evening was fun - it was super to welcome a couple of new faces to Alphington Arts, where we did gelli plate printing. Lots of fun. LOTS of mess!

On Saturday afternoon we had 6 students come along to our VCE Study Help session - and a generous volunteer, Jessy, came along to supervise. She lives locally and is a teacher. Thanks so much Jessy. We have another session this Saturday and next … if you know anyone who is in the middle of VCE let them know they can book in. BYO practise exam.

The CWA craft group also met on Saturday afternoon - preparing for Christmas market sales. They are amazing fundraisers … and will have a stall at our Christmas Makers Market coming up on Saturday 23 November - so you will be able to come along and buy a lovely home crafted gift (or two) from them.

This week Kalimna and I will have our heads down focusing on preparing the paperwork and presentation for the AGM coming up on Monday 28 October at 6.30pm. Jill will be back in the office this week getting ready for AAA Bowls to resume next week on Wednesday 23 October. Clare will be starting up her Art and Drawing classes on Monday afternoon and Thursday evenings, and also recommencing our AAA Arts program on Friday afternoons.

We also have a busy day Tuesday with Preserves Group from 1pm and Movie Club at night. We’ll be seeing There’s Still Tomorrow at 8pm at Westgarth Cinema if you’d like to come along. It’s part of the Italian Film Festival.

Please note the posts below … Armchair Theatre are looking for some new members and a reminder about Alphington Open Studios, coming up at the end of November.

I look forward to seeing you soon.

Leanne

With Darebin Parklands around the corner, a raft of heritage buildings dotted through our streets, plane trees in their glory and the ultra urban grunge of a train line on our doorstep, the upcoming street photography workshop in October should be fabulous.

Starting at ACC, join photographer Suzanne Phoenix for a lovely, family friendly walk around our neighbourhood with your camera or phone on Saturday 19th October 10am-1pm. The cost is $48.

This workshop is suitable for all ages. Children will need to be supervised by their paying adult. Please click this link to learn more about Suzanne and join the walk in Alphington in October!

Please note that we need a minimum number of people to attend in order to run our workshops.