What a lovely, connected community we live in!

Another fabulous year of carol singing last night - Jan (our unflagging and entertaining host) and Jan (on piano for the first time) led a packed out Alphington Bowls Club audience through nearly every song in the ACC songbook once again. You never miss out on your favourite carol at this event - because they all get sung 🎵.

And it was just lovely to hear our local choir The Alphingtones perform. They sounded gorgeous.

Thanks David for your bagpiping … and Anne - always a powerhouse behind the scenes. And Mish for her running around! And Geoff (secret Santa business).

And everyone who comes along every year and contributes by leading a carol etc.

These carols have been running for around 40 years … and have been hosted at the Scout Hall, in the outdoor amphitheatre at Kate’s house (1 View Street) and now at Alphington Bowls Club. Last night I heard someone say they typed up the original songbook! Amazing.

And we raised about $275 through our gold coin donations. This year we’ll support some people doing it tough through The Salvos.

Merry Christmas.

If you are here this week and would like to contribute to our solar light project please put your hand up and we’ll give you the materials to make one! We’d love you to contribute.

Oyr little hill of dreams is coming along now, with lots more lights added this week.

Hi,

Kalimna here. I just wanted to say a big thank you to the many supporters and volunteers that brought the Christmas Makers Market together.

This year we were supported by Nelson Alexander with local billboards, Brenta Meats with great sausages to sell, the Ivanhoe Rotary Club volunteers wrangled the BBQ and the Alphington Open Studios artists shared their wonderful works inside.

We would also like to thank our own volunteers like Marie-Louise, Elaine, Monika and Anne who looked after our new kiosk and the craft and preserves sales. And Cheryl and Richard who helped out with kids activities.

There were stalls raising funds for various charities and causes this year - which we love supporting. These included Friends of Baucau coffee sales, CWA craft, fundraising for Ivanhoe Grammar’s Cambodia community service trip and Manu’s fundraising to support children in India.

And lastly thank you to all the stall holders - we hope you enjoyed the day.

There were lots of shoppers and the market provided many great Christmas gifts to the people that visited from our community.

It is fabulous to be able to support locals to shop locally.

Join us on Friday 15 December for Christmas lunch at ACC. We’ll have a cold buffet of ham and chicken and salads, with a selection of Christmas desserts - including fruit and mince tarts, shortbreads etc. We’ll have it in our garden - weather permitting. It is always so lovely to catch up with everyone! Let us know if you plan to make it by emailing here. You can of course always just drop in … but a general sense of who is coming will help us with catering!

And a lucky door prize to win (just for coming along!) … and we’ll also have a visit from Santa.

We hope you can make it.

ALSO

Don’t forget that Christmas Carols are on again! Sing your heart out at Alphington Bowls Club - from 7pm on Sunday 17 December. A gold coin donation will go to a charity. Thanks once again to our wonderful community organisers for this event - and the Alphingtones Choir members who step up to lead the singing and keep us all vaguely in tune and in time!

Hi Kalimna here …

Thank you to Music for the Wetlands and ACC for giving me the chance to capture this magical day.