It was super lovely to welcome our colleague Kathy Vrettas from Yarra City Council to our community morning on Friday. And we were delighted that she brought along Cr Edward Crosslands who is the new Yarra Mayor.

The Yarra neighbourhood houses have such a great relationship with Council, and we are always thrilled when staff and councillors come along so we can show off all the exciting things we have been up to - and that deliver on our shared strategic objectives to create great services for our local community.

And … to mark the occasion … I FINALLY took a photo of some of our crafting friends who come along on Fridays with GenU. They have been coming for at least 6 months now, and we really look forward to them attending each week. Such nice people!

If you are interested in craft or gardening - with a good dose of socialising thrown in - our community mornings might be just right for you too! Come along from 10am. All welcome. Lunch is at 12pm.

Hi, we are really looking forward to saying hello to everyone as we resume our action packed Friday program. It has been great to get some phone calls and emails from our regulars already.

This year we will be running a similar program to last year - but with a few tweaks to the timing of things, so please note …

Community Gardening/SHEd

From 10am, come along and join Clare and Corrado outside as they work to improve our lovely grounds. Over the year you will have the opportunity to learn about growing and maintaining an urban orchard and vegetable garden, composting and pruning and how to save seeds, grow seedlings … all the things! And depending on interest, there is also the opportunity to work collectively on small scale projects in our community shed.

If you have passed by recently you will see that our raised garden beds will be looking for some love after a month of wild growing (the tomatoes definitely need staking!). And as always I am sure Clare has lots of creative plans for the year ... This is a great opportunity to meet local people. No need to enrol, just come along with your hat and gloves and join in.

Community Craft

From 10.30am we’ll be running our inside craft group - suitable for knitters and crocheters etc. We are always delighted to welcome new people of all abilities and skill levels to join in. Bring your own materials along if you’d like to work on your own project, or you can use our donated stash if you’d like to make things that we can sell to support the program. Again, no need to book, just come along and join in.

Community Lunch

At 12pm you can join us for a light lunch. We’ll come together to enjoy foods such as pasta bakes, soup, toasties etc. with a cup of tea or coffee and dessert, including fruit. This program is supported by our lovely friends at the Alphington CWA who donate amazing sweet and savoury home cooked dishes. Yum!

AAA Art in the Shed

For anyone needing to access all abilities programs, you can join Clare, Corrado and Hazel from 1-2pm for some arty fun. This program is tailored to the interests of participants. It costs $5 weekly, and you must book in for the term on our website. Please note that places are limited.

What a great weekend we had for the 2023 Alphington Show!

Entries for the show arrived on Friday. We had over 100 entries from people of all ages - it was lovely to see so many people keen to share and showcase their skills and talents.

Michelle and Anne from Alphington CWA were there to oversee the judging on Friday night from 5.30pm, and they brought in the experts, Nola from the broader CWA family (and an expert show judge) along with Bill and Wayne from the Preston Garden Club. We thank them all for their time and enthusiasm for our local event. And we thank everyone who entered. So much talent in our community!

On Saturday we held our annual makers market with 22 stallholders lining the street, whilst inside Devonshire tea was served by the Alphington CWA - and thoroughly enjoyed in the front garden with perfect autumn weather.

Our Show also included face painting and nature crowns, a raffle, a BBQ … and even a leaf pit for nature play!

Thanks to Nelson Alexander, Bunnings, Alphington CWA and Friends of Baucau for our raffle prizes!

Our raffle prize winners were very happy!

And pony rides. And a guess the lollies in the lolly jar (there were 207!).

Another happy winner!

Once again this year a raft of volunteers helped out to make the day a success. Thanks so much to you all! Including (but not limited to) Elaine, Anne and Serene for managing the craft and eftpos machine, Cheryl who again ran nature craft, Corrado, Jo, Ina, Heather and Anne who wrangled the BBQ and Marie-Louise, Lola and Jackson our dog show judges.

Thanks to Kalimna for organising so much of the overall logistics and once again taking amazing photos. And to Lee, Clare and Jill who worked to make the event a success.

I f you came along to the Alphington Open Studios event at ACC in December last year you would have seen some really beautiful recycled timber chopping boards made by local artisan Jane Hausegger.

In Term 2 she has offered to run a workshop for us here at ACC, to teach people in the community how to select, cut, finish and dress recycled timber to safely use for kitchen products (that make amazing gifts) such as coffee paddles and chopping boards.

If you are interested in developing your timber skills you’ll love this course that has a focus on simple, beautiful and sustainable creations.

The workshop is on Saturday 6 May from 10am-12pm in our Community Shed and it costs $130 (which includes all materials). You can book in here.

Thank you to all the lovely stall holders that brought their fantastic items for sale last Saturday.

We hope you all enjoyed the atmosphere and the great food, face painting and kids craft on offer.

Here are some lovey photos of the day!