Hi, Leanne here.

In the midst of wicked global problems I think sometimes it is a bit hard to see the bite-sized chunks that we can digest and act on as individuals. And … even if they are presented to us on a plate, as it were … it is sometimes also hard to see how our individual actions and choices do anything meaningful, or have any real value in a global sense.

On the other hand, I feel that my/our pandemic experience disproves this thought.

When I look around at the Melbourne community and the very different life we are living to people in the UK or USA, just for example, I feel like my actions (to stay home and wear a mask and not whinge too much) have contributed to protecting my loved ones and to broader community safety. And this makes me feel good.

And I feel that our individual actions collectively enabled us as a community to actually see the benefits of putting public health first. Which enabled our State Government to more easily maintain the determination to keep public health front and centre, creating (unquestionably I think) a better reality for us than many other people internationally at this moment in time.

In addition, I can see that Victoria’s approach has influenced how other states across Australia are now tackling the virus when it gets into the community.

My/our action has created both a better place right here in the immediate for us, and also provided an alternative model that has influenced and can continue to inform others, nationally and hopefully even globally.

And this, friends, is my intro spiel to thinking about (or perhaps rethinking) the value of taking personal action on the other wicked problem in our lives, climate change.

Because little everyday actions at the individual level can make a significant difference, driving and bolstering political will, leading to real change at the big picture level. And they can also just make you feel good that you are doing your best and playing your part to look after those you most love.

In this context you might be interested in this latest offering from Yarra Council, a panel discussion they have put together called, ‘choosing a plant-based diet: taking climate action through the food we eat’.

Yarra Council invites you to join Shannon Martinez, Head Chef and Owner of Melbourne's best vegan restaurant, Smith and Daughters and Jess Panegyres, former Campaign Manager, Forests at The Wilderness Society in a discussion about why we need to change the way we eat if we are to tackle the climate emergency.

It sounds interesting right?

Choosing a plant-based diet: tacking climate action through the food we eat
Thursday 11 March, 7pm - 8.15pm
Online event

BOOK NOW

Shannon Martinez, Smith and Daughters

Hi friends, remember … this year if you’ve come home from holidays and your parsley, coriander or silverbeet has bolted you can feel happy instead of sad … and take the opportunity to save the seeds for our new Street Seed Library.

The library was installed by Darebin Council around November, and is all about encouraging sustainable food options, connecting up us locals with backyard veggie patches (we’ve all pretty much got one of some description right?) and building community connections through sharing and caring.

Not sure how to save seeds? Just jump on the interwebs (google, YouTube etc.) to find out exactly how and when to harvest and package your seeds, and then … when you are next passing by, you can leave them in our Street Seed Library for someone else to collect. And at the same time you can see if anyone has left seeds that could be your next crop. Neighbourhood loveliness … neighbourhoodliness!

Our new brochure is out. We’ve created a trimmed down version for semester 1 2021. You can read it here. It is jam packed with old favourites like playgroups and choir and new ideas including a range of short courses, workshops and events you can book in to.

• Women in the Shed is back on Monday (for beginners), Tuesday and Thursday for 6 weeks in Term 1 and 2.

• Our free Access All Abilities Bowls program run with Alphington Bowls Club is back for 6 weeks in term 1 and 2.

• Our new Drawing in the Shed short course will also run for 6 weeks in Term 1 and 2. Run by local artist Louisa, this is a low-cost opportunity for all members of the community to develop the observation and co-ordination skills necessary to make creative drawings in any style. It will cover contour drawing, creating creative compositions, drawing with perspective and more.

• In 2019 we had Gordon come along and run a sewing machine maintenance workshop. It was a fantastic morning and so we’ve rebooked him this year. On Saturday 1 May he will run a sewing machine maintenance workshop and then on Saturday 17 June he will run an overlocker maintenance workshop.

• Local Manu is keen to share her Indian cooking skills with us … starting with a chai tea making workshop (Sunday 9 May). $20. Book here.

• Our History Walk is back! Join local Anne and other history buffs for a stroll around South Alphington on Sunday 16 May from 2pm.

• And finally … Home maintenance 101. It’s a maintenance kind of year it seems … and on the weekend of 19 & 20 June we’re offering a two day workshop (only $50 with Learn Local funding) all about building home maintenance skills. How to unblock a drain, how to stop a cistern running, how to fix a hose leak, how to hang pictures and fix cracks in plaster. How to fix windows that stick … (depending how old your house is the list goes on and on right?).

Book in online today.

Local Manu is keen to share her skills and knowledge and we imagine that there are quite a few people in our community who would be very interested in learning how to make chai tea from scratch.

In this workshop Manu will introduce participants to all the spices and demonstrate a basic brew. She’ll then explain how you can vary the flavour, and participants will work in small groups to make some variations on the basic recipe.

Then everyone will be able to taste the different teas and find their favourite!

You’ll come away with a recipe, an understanding of possible variations and a starter kit so you can make your own chai tea at home.

The workshop costs $20 and will run on Sunday 9 May from 2pm.

Interested? You can book in here.

At ACC we try to offer a wide range of opportunities for people to meet their neighbours, to make friends in the community, and to build, explore and share their skills and knowledge.

We run a number of activities that are self-led or run by a generous volunteer. These include Czech and Slovak Playgroup, Ukulele, Line Dancing and the like. For these programs we ask all attendees to contribute $5 per week (no matter how long the session lasts) to keep the lights on and the heater heating etc.

We also support a number of micro-businesses that provide services that fit in with our programming goals. Small business owners/sole traders running these programs set their own fees and we support them with low room hire rates (again $5 per attendee) and publicity. These programs include Jane’s Group Harp, Cat’s Lego Club and Matthew’s Guitar Lessons (about to start up).

Then we run a number of tutored programs, where we spread a small bucket of money that comes from Darebin Council and Yarra Council as widely as possible, prioritising community building and community need.

In the first half of 2021 we will fully subsidise Jill to run our very successful and long-standing AAA Bowls program (a partnership with Alphington Bowls Club) and Jenny to oversee our Friday community morning program that includes Community Craft, Gardening Group and Morning Tea on the Corner.

Then with the remaining program funding we will partially subsidising our tutored/supervised Community Shed sessions.

These programs will cost $5 per hour per participant (still a bargain) and we’ll need a minimum of 6 people booked in by the term for them to run.

Of course, we also tap into other funding where ever possible. We always have our eyes open and our ears to the ground … last year we partnered with MyTime to support our Peer Support Playgroup for example. And we get one-off grants from wonderful community support organisations such as Clifton Hill/North Fitzroy Community Bank who have previously provided funding for our Community Lunches and our Gardening Group … and this coming year will be supporting our History Group (more to come on this).

Our full program for 2021 will be out next week, and we’ll be featuring some of the new things on offer at ACC (and some old favourites as well) in our newsletter in coming weeks (with the links to book in).

We hope you can find something that you will enjoy being part of, and we look forward to seeing you onsite in the new year. Our programming will resume in the first week of February.