This year we’re running formal playgroups on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday mornings and then welcoming families to pop into our garden on Wednesday mornings from 10am-12pm for an informal play.

Grab a coffee from Alphington Foodstore next door or an icy pole from the milkbar, and enjoy our mud kitchen or our sand pit, our ride on toys etc.

There are tables and bench seats scattered around to relax and enjoy conversations with other parents or just sit and take a breather for 5 minutes. Come along with your kids, arrange to meet another family here … our house is your house!

We hope to see you at ACC when we return for Term 1. Our programming recommences in the first week of February.

The Alphingtones are a long-standing local choir. It is likely that you have seen them performing at events such as the Wetlands Festival. They bring cheer with their voices to many local occasions, including our annual Christmas Carols (which we sadly couldn’t run this year)!

If you have a penchant for singing and you are thinking that joining a choir could be your thing, why not contact Kate here.

The Alphingtones choir meets on a Thursday night at ACC at 8pm. Weekly sessions cost $12.

Our Women in the Shed program has been very popular and in 2021 we are offering this program again on Monday for beginners, then on Tuesday and Thursday for those that have been along before or have some basic confidence … and would like to work in a tutored environment and pursue their own projects.

There are 18 spots in the program across the 3 days and 6 of these have Learn Local funding to enable us to offer a discounted rate for those in need. If you would like to access this funding you can contact us here. The full cost is $150 for 6 days (that’s only $25 a day). The discounted cost is $50 for the whole course.

This tutored program is all about building your skills and confidence using a range of hand and power tools in the shed. You’ll explore jigsaws and handsaws, electric sanders and hand planers as you make a chopping board, then move on to perhaps exploring tiling tools like tile cutters, along with tile cement, tile spacers, grout and sealer as you dive into mosaics, or perhaps you’d prefer to explore how to manipulate metal with heat? That’s an option too… And then there are electric drills, dremels, drop saws and more to explore! Sounds great hey?

You can book here.

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.