Did you know you can book our Centre on Sundays for family events - like children’s parties?

We have two timeslots available - morning or afternoon - so you can host a great event without making a big mess at home. You can use the platters in our kitchen, we have plastic plates and cups so you can minimise waste and we have both kid and adult sized tables and chairs … along with flexible indoor and outdoor spaces …

Check out our website for all the available times the nitty gritty details.

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.

Is getting fit/keeping fit one of your 2025 goals? This year we are offering some great programs for anyone keen to keep fit and active.

• Active Adults fitness with Jess from Phase1Performance here at ACC 11am on Tuesdays - $15 a week, book for the term.

• Line Dancing with Shirley on Wednesday at 10.30am just over at the Alphington Scout Hall. $5. Enrol then pay weekly.

• Community Yoga with Rosie on Wednesday at 5.30pm, here at ACC. $5. Enrol then pay weekly.

Click here to book your spot. We’d really like to thank Jess, Shirley and Rosie for running these low cost community classes, and we hope you enjoy them.

Hi all, Happy New Year.

FOOD FOOD FOOD

With some new funding via the State Government ‘Community Food Relief’ program, we are creating more opportunities for our community to build social connections through food. Sharing a meal regularly is a great way for locals to get to know each other. And with our new kitchen up and running we are in the ideal position to build community food opportunities this year - so we feel super lucky that this fortuitous funding has come along.

We have five food related programs on offer in 2025, and we’d love for you to come along!

• Garden to Plate (NEW) - Learn to cook seasonal food and then enjoy sharing a meal, on Mondays from 11.30am 1pm. This is a free program, but you must book in online as places are limited.

• Thursday Supper Club (NEW) - Do you often eat alone? Are you tired of cooking and/or keen to make some local friends over a meal? Come along and enjoy a healthy weekly ‘family meal from 5-6.30pm (perfect if you don’t like to be out too late at night). Term 1 costs $40 (that’s $5 a week). ’ - food provided but as a group you will need to set the table, serve up, do the dishes etc. - just like you would a home. This program starts on Thursday 13 February. Click here to join up. If cost is an issue for you just call our office.

• Community Lunch - our Friday lunch continues in 2025, join in from 12pm, or come along earlier to catch up over gardening, craft and community shed activities from 10am. This is a free program, but please let know to expect you - call or email.

• Crunch - Like good food? Enjoy being creative? Thursday lunches are for you! Join us from 12.30pm -2pm for lunch followed by a creative arts activity - painting, drawing, 3D art … and more. Book in for the term or by the week here.

• Preserves Group - join us on the 3rd Tuesday of the month from 1-3pm to help us turn excess garden produce/ seasonal fruit and vegetables into jams, chutneys and pickles for fundraising. We use donated jars and ingredients (donations always welcome) … and we’ll thank you for your volunteering efforts with good conversations and a light afternoon tea (including a fancy coffee)! Email us here if you’d like to join in. This group is coordinated through What’s App.

ALSO on to other things … join a Book Club

We have a couple of spots in each of our Book Clubs in 2025. They are on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings, with a daytime group meeting on Thursdays at 10am. Our Book Clubs meet monthly from February (when you come along and collect your first book) and finish up in December. You’ll read 10 books for the year supplied by Darebin Libraries. Our Book Clubs are a great way to meet other locals! Keen to join up? Book in here!

AND … there’s lots more.

• Op Shop Tours

• Sustainability/Repair Workshops

• Art Classes

• Access All Abilities IAAA) programs

• Playgroups

• Music and Dancing Groups and Classes

• Fitness Classes

Check out our full program here. And book in here.

I’ll highlight some of the other great things we’re super excited about in the coming few weeks.

I hope you are having a good break/relaxing summer.

Cheers Leanne

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

We have now got our brochure out for semester 1, 2025 … so you can get an idea of the new things we have planned. We’ve got op shop adventures, some new food programs, a few sustainability workshops and a new community yoga session on the cards. We’re pretty excited to be able to offer this range of new programs in 2025. And we have the Alphington Show and Dog Show coming up again this year at the end of March - always lots of fun!

The links to book in to these new activities will be up in the new year. I’ll put another post/newsletter out when they go live.

In the meantime I hope you get a break from everyday life over the coming week or two … and I (and all the staff at ACC) look forward to seeing you in 2025.

We’ll be officially back in the office after Australia Day.