Hi everyone,

It was nice to finish off last week with a Halloween-themed Community Lunch and our AAA Arts group also got into the spirit of things!

Just a reminder that we won’t be open this Monday and Tuesday due to the Cup Weekend public holiday. We hope you’re all enjoying the long weekend as much as we are!

We’ll be back to business as usual on Wednesday. On the radar this week we have:

• Line Dancing on Wednesday morning from 10am-12pm down at Alphington Scout Hall

• Armchair Theatre in the afternoon from 1-3pm (if you’re feeling a little exhausted by the morning’s exercise)

• Or, if you’re in need of a good stretch, Community Yoga will be on in the evening from 5.30-6.30pm

• Book Clubs are running three times this week, on both Wednesday and Thursday evening from 7.30-9pm, and Thursday morning as well from 10-11.30am.

• We have another great Crunch planned for you this Thursday, starting at 12.30pm

• And, of course, we can’t wait to see everyone at Community Lunch on Friday at 12pm, and hope you’ll come along in the morning for gardening outside or craft and chats inside.

Unfortunately, AAA Bowls won’t be running this week as the Alphington Bowls Club has another event on, but we’ll see you there bright-eyed and bushy-tailed next Wednesday!

See you soon!

Cheers Leanne

Alphington Open Studio Weekends are back! For the last two weekends of November, we will be one of a number of locations around Alphington showcasing some fantastic artists from our community.

We are very excited to feature works from Fiona Currie, Francesca McNamara, Sharon West and Jane Haussegger, and for the workshop Clare Mannion will be running on 29th and 30th of November!

We’ve just got in the new brochures for this event, so pop by soon to pick one up and find out all the details (including a handy map of where you can find all the artists). Come show your support!

A date for your diary.

It’s that time of year again… the weather is warming up, the magpies have nearly finished swooping, and our very creative community are working hard to provide another classic Christmas Makers Market. This year it will be on Saturday the 22nd of November from 11am - 2pm.

We’ll have a whole lot of great stalls selling things by talented locals, including the CWA, and our own jams and preserves, a sausage sizzle (obviously) and fun Christmassy kids’ activities.

Get in some early Christmas shopping and enjoy the (hopefully) lovely weather, and catch up with friends in the local community!

Hi Leanne here. Once upon a time I used to work in policy in State Government, and was lucky to be involved in the drafting of new legislation and helping usher it through the processes to become an Act of Parliament. It was fascinating, I was truly intrigued by the Parliamentary Counsel (the people who wrote the legislation) because they had the most pedantic job choosing the exact right words … and they loved it so much! And it was just great to understand how the whole involved process works.

So … on Friday morning we awoke to the news that the Statewide Treaty legislation had passed in Victoria.

And as I don’t really know what Treaty for Victoria means exactly, and the newspaper articles didn’t really explain the full gamut of what it entailed, I turned to the parliamentary documents and Hansard (which holds the official documents) to have a read.

If you are also interested in understanding the legislation that has passed you too might like to read some of these things.

Firstly, we have Premier Jacinta Allen introducing the legislation and explaining the what’s and why’s in the second reading speech in the House of Assembly. Here is the link.

And here is the Explanatory Memorandum. This is very detailed and explains the intent/purpose of each clause of the Bill.

And finally here is the Statewide Treaty Bill 2025 that was passed.

And, if you are interested in finding out more about Treaty you could check out the Treaty Victoria website here. Happy reading.

Tonight we have our AGM. 6pm for a quick overview of the year and some yummy dinner. We’ll be having duck curry for dinner which will be delicious. I’ll make a veg. option too of course. Yes … bribes to come along - it’s not too late just send us an email before lunchtime if you can make it.

Lots of great stuff last week. Check out the posts below for photos etc.

Coming up …

• Garden to Plate is proving popular (note you do need to book in as we only have 10 spots).

• We made some lovely art at Crunch on Thursday. If you enjoy sharing a meal and being creative this is a great program for you! You are very welcome to join us.

• AAA Bowls is back.

• AAA Arts is running.

• Community Yoga is back this term - book in online!

• Keiko is here running Sound Healing on Wednesday.

• Another Embracing Life and Death discussion session is on Thursday afternoon.

Please note that we’ll be taking the Monday off next week before Melbourne Cup Day holiday. Hard to believe it’s nearly November already!

Also, note our campaign for more funding … and please sign a postcard if you can. It’s been lovely to read some of the messages you have written about why the neighbourhood house is important to you! Warms the cockles of our hearts ♥️.

Hope to see you here soon.

Cheers Leanne