Hi all

After a restful January for us (and a productive one we hope for the the amazing volunteers who ran Project Stationery from ACC over the last 5 weeks) we are back in the office from tomorrow (Tuesday).

And we are looking forward to seeing you.

We have an action packed agenda coming up for the first half of 2025 - which is all outlined in our new brochure. We will have it available to collect at ACC and at the Library, or you can check it out here.

We have a new cooking and lunch program on Mondays this year - Garden to Plate, where we will use seasonal food to cook a meal and sit down together to eat it. Come along to learn some new recipes and have a great meal. It is free but bookings are required as spots are limited.

We are also proposing a new night time dinner on Thursdays called The Supper Club. If you are a mum at home sick of cooking or any other carer who needs a break, if you live alone and would like some regular company for dinner or you are new to the neighbourhood this could be ideal for you! Come along weekly. We hope those attending will not just enjoy a nourishing meal but also the opportunity to make new local connections/friendships. Book in here.

For those of you interested in living more sustainably, we have some super workshops on in second term, including Sewing Machine Repair, Overlocker Repair and Clothes Mending. These workshops are partly funded by Yarra City Council’s Climate Emergency team. And they complement our new Thrift Seekers Op Shop Tours (we are hosting one a term this year thanks to some funding from our lovely friends at the Community Bank on Queens Parade). Our first one is coming up soon on Saturday 8 March at 10am when we’ll be heading to Abbotsford - it should be lots of fun! You can book into all these programs here.

This semester we also have the Alphington Show coming up - on Saturday 29 March. So … start baking your bread, nourishing your garden, making your jam and crafting your heart out. We look forward to seeing all your entries … we’ll have the paperwork for the Show - with all the official categories etc. - out in the next week or so (we hope).

We have a couple of spots left in our Book Clubs that will start up in February - 1 spot in our 2nd Monday evening, 2 spots on Tuesday evening and 3 spots on Thursday evening - if you are keen share books with others. You could even join up with a friend …

It is going to be a busy few weeks getting everything up and running but we are really looking forward to seeing you again. Our first Community Lunch starts up this Friday - come along to catch up - craft, gardening and community shed activities from 10am, and lunch is at 12pm.

See you soon.

Leanne

Keen to improve your artist skills? Clare is running Artful Painting and Drawing again this year on Monday afternoons and Tuesday evenings. She is a fabulous teacher and I personally am very jealous when I see everyone sitting down making amazing art on a Monday when I am in the office. If you are interested in joining her classes you can contact her on 0423 453 160 or check out her website Swirl Art here.

We also have Crunch coming up again for 6 weeks - enjoy a chat over lunch followed by a creative art activity with Lee on Thursdays from 12.30pm. Book in here.

And … we’re also running Alphington Arts again at night, on the 3rd Thursday of the month from 7.30-9.30pm. A great opportunity for anyone that is slightly arty and keen to get to know other arty people in the neighbourhood. Come along and share your skills and learn from other local artists - it’s really fun and friendly and community minded. Book in here.

Hi all, a reminder that if you come to ACC we’d really appreciate if you could fill out our participant survey this week. Just click here.

Alternatively, you can scan the QR code below. Or you can complete a hard copy in the office … but ONLINE IS BEST.

The survey is about what you do at ACC, why you come along and how attending ACC makes you feel - particularly in relation to community connections.

Thanks so much for taking the time!

So much fun at Community Lunch this week celebrating Diwali - with Meet sharing her Punjabi culture with us. Fabulous food, clothes and dancing! Thanks Meet.

Last week we had our last session of Crunch for the term. It has been such a fabulous new program, and it has engaged a different cohort of locals - it is always nice to make new friends! Crunch will be back next term for another 6 weeks, starting Thursday 24 October.

Speaking of art, did you go to Art for All this weekend? I went along and saw so many people I knew - what a great event hey? We are so lucky to have so many fabulous parents in our community who run community events like Art for All and the Alphington PS Fete.

On Friday we were joined for lunch by our local State MP, Kat Theophanous. She came past to check out the renovations that were primarily funded by two State Government grants (with a bit of our own savings in there to top it up). She was very impressed with all the changes we made, and we also had a great chat about neighbourhood house funding, and how the State Government could continue to support us into the future.

This week Julie Johnston who runs the North East Neighbourhood House Network is taking some of our colleagues on a bus tour of all the Darebin neighbourhood houses … so we will be looking forward to them popping in on Wednesday for morning tea. I will be showing off all the changes we have made recently and talking about the programs we run here to meet our local community need, and also talking about the way we try to present ourselves in the community to build community engagement and establish a sense of place.

Speaking of which, have you seen the new ‘vases’ on the fence - a little celebration of spring for you to enjoy next time you pass by.

Coming up this week our Lemon Cleaner DIY mini-workshop on Thursday morning at 11am. $10. Clare will show you how to make your own environmentally friendly lemon based cleaner … and explore some other ideas for keeping your house fresh and environmentally friendly using things from the home garden. It will be low key and lovely! Find out more and book in here.

Also, click on the links below to find out more about our VCE Exam Help sessions that will run on Saturday afternoons in October. We are also offering a Meet The Candidates session or the upcoming Darebin Council elections.

Also, check out the learn to bowl opportunity sent through from Anne and the Alphington Bowls Club. Coming up this weekend.

Finally … our next Alphington Arts session is coming up next week - on Thursday 19 September at 7.30pm. We are going to be doing life drawing with a model this time - so it should be super fun! If you are interested in joining in you still can here. We have this session, and two more coming up next term.

I hope you have a great week and look forward to seeing you soon!

Leanne