On Friday afternoons Clare runs a AAA Arts program here at ACC that is supported by two lovely volunteers - Corrado and Hazel. With so many hands on deck the program can be tailored to follow participants different interests - which is just fabulous. Lately they have been exploring ideas around paint manipulation, printmaking and collage.

The program itself is underpinned by a grant from our lovely and amazing banking friends, Clifton HIll and North Fitzroy Community Bank on Queens Parade.

Did you know we have a compost hub at ACC? It is not huge - just two bins - but they are available for our community to contribute to (if you don’t have your own system at home etc.).

Clare manages them on a Friday … and with a little love (and weekly turning) they are amazingly productive.

We have a collection of neighbours and friends who contribute their kitchen scraps regularly which is just lovely … and we use the compost generated to keep our community garden beds healthy … so we can grow food to share! Like our little seeds that have just been planted and will hopefully pop through the soil any day now.

We hosted another great workshop with Gordon Carr on the weekend.

Our Sewing Machine Maintenance workshop was fully booked and our largest room was filled with sewing machines and their owners - wanting to learn how to avoid costly repairs and how best to maintain their own machines.

Gordon’s long history in this field of work makes him a gem of a teacher.

He has props that explain all the parts of a machine - like the clear-cased sewing machine pictured above! He is very honest about the common things that users often do wrong and he shares simple tips that can help you avoid making the same mistakes with your own machine.

There is a second workshop coming up - this time for overlockers - on Saturday 10th of September from 10am-12:30pm here at the Alphington Community Centre. The cost is $45 and there are still a few spots left if you are interested. You can book in here.

If you are a local with young children you might like to come along and join the other families who hang out in our front garden on Wednesday mornings. Come hail or shine, Playtime in the Garden is running in the front yard near the cubby and under the pergola. Pop in anytime from 10am-12pm and catch up with other families in a Covid-safe way.

Please note this is an outside program - but our toilets and kitchen are of course available if you need them.

And … if you’d like to borrow some toys to take home for the week you can join our Toy Library which is open inside. You can borrow up to 4 toys at a time. So handy! And neighbourhoodly …

Term 3 of Women in the Shed starts today - this Thursday at 10am. This program is fully booked again for this term and next - it is wonderful that we have so much consistent interest from our community!

We are also starting up our AAA Arts program on Fridays from 1pm. This course will combine painting, print making and woodwork and will be led by Clare with help from Corrado who has recently started volunteering with us on Fridays.

It is a free access all abilities program (please note that carers will need to stay and help if needed) that is kindly supported by our lovely Community Bank friends just down the road in Clifton Hill.