Lovely to see everyone last week with the resumption of Crunch, Garden to Plate etc.

I (we) hope to see more of you this week!

Please note that Kalimna will be out of the office on Tuesday this week - and I have an exciting afternoon - attending a ceremony on behalf of Friends of Baucau - 26 friendship groups will be awarded the Order of Timor-Leste by President Jose Ramos-Horta. You may remember that Darebin Neighbourhood Houses had the opportunity to travel to Timor-Leste in 2019 with Friends of Baucau - and I have been on the committee ever since providing neighbourhood house input.

So … our office will be unattended but please email if you need anything and I will check in.

Our Men’s Breakfast on Saturday had 13 attendees planning to come along which was super for our first one … and I am looking forward to catching up with John this week to see how it went.

A reminder that 2nd Monday Book Club is on tonight, and that Line Dancing and Sound Healing are on Wednesday.

Also that Community Lunch is on Friday.

Finally … lock in Friday 22 August from 5-7pm and join us for the opening of our Winter Arts Salon Exhibition. Drinks and nibbles … and lots of local art! Always fun.

Have a great week.

Cheers Leanne

Hi everyone

Sorry I missed the newsletter last week! I was on an overnight flight from Penang home and after 4.5 weeks of holidays I was a bit vague and forgot to check if we’d put something together or not.

But … I am back now and it has been lovely to catch up with so many of you in the last few days.

And … we’ve got lots starting up this week.

• Monday (today) - Table to Plate. It’s free! Join me from 11.30am-1pm and we’ll cook up seasonal produce (and catch up on life, school holidays etc.) and then sit down and eat together. We’re going to be cooking with lime today - fresh from my (and Julie’s) garden! And using some of the leafy greens that are flourishing in the garden beds at ACC, along with potatoes that we harvested just before the holidays.

• Clare’s Artful Paining and Drawing is starting this week, and Corrin’s Learn to Weave course is also starting up. Look at the bottom our this email, or on our website for their contact details to book in. It’s not too late!

• On Thursday we have Crunch. $15. I will cook lunch, and make you a coffee with a little sweet treat. Lee will lead a fabulous art activity. There is a regular crew of people who are coming now - but new faces are very very welcome. It is friendly, yummy, creative and fun. We hope to see you.

• Friday - Community Morning and Community Lunch. Free. Join us for craft and chats inside and/or join Clare in the garden and community shed for more practical activities (along with chats of course) outside from 10am. Followed by lunch at 12pm.

• Saturday - a new addition! John is running our new Men’s Breakfast. $10. Join him from 8am and cook up a storm together, before sitting down to eat and get to know each other. Suitable for men of all ages - brothers, sons, fathers, uncles, grandpas … You can contact our office to book in or get in touch with John (his details are in the brochure below).

Also, our Winter Salon is coming up very soon - on 22-24 August. We are seeking local artists to be part of the show, so please encourage anyone you know to get in contact with us if they might be keen. There is a form to fill out on our website. It is free to enter. Please not that works need to be for sale. It is always a lovely event - one of the highlights of the year. On the Friday night we’ll have our opening night, with drinks and nibbles from 5-7pm. And then the show will be open on the weekend from 10am-3pm for anyone to drop in. This year local artist Joe will be using The Kiosk for a poetry and movie installation - Lee and I spent last Thursday setting up the space and giving it a trial run - it is going to be super fun!

Okay, so that’s about it I think. Hope all is well with you and look forward to seeing you at ACC soon!

x Leanne

Sound healing with Keiko is running again on Wednesday evenings from 7:15pm until 8pm. Classes are $15 each.

Please book in with Keiko by email sounddroplet@tutamail.com

Upcoming dates include 13th August, 27th August and 10th September.

Come along to experience the calming effects of sound healing. Crystal bowls are played intuitively, and each experience is uniquely tailored to participants, helping you feel more relaxed and at ease, while relieving stress and bringing you back to a more natural, balanced state.

It’s lovely!

Alphington Playgroup is back on Wednesday morning. Come along from 10am-12pm and make some local friends in the garden. Lots of lovely people attend (kids of course, and mums and dads and grandparents and carers) and there is space inside on rainy days. It costs $5 weekly. We’d love to see you.

AND … did you know we have Alphington Toy Library open at the same time? Well, Tuesdays AND Wednesdays … You can borrow up to 4 toys for 2 week bursts. Great for clutter busting at home, good for the environment … join up for $50 a year!

Also … we offer Birthday Party Hire of our space on Sundays. You can choose a morning or afternoon slot. 4 hours from $165. It saves you from cleaning your house and we have lots of great supplies on site to reduce single use plastic. If you are interested just visit our website to check out available times and book in.

Welcome back everybody! We hope you had a restful and relaxing break and managed to keep out of the cold!

We’re very excited to be back in the office for another term and looking forward to seeing you all! Leanne is still enjoying the gorgeous sunshine in Europe (which we’re all very jealous of) but will be returning early next week! In the meantime, Tahlia and Kalimna are back in the office keeping everything running so feel free to pop in and say hi!

We’ve got some exciting new programs running this semester, with Embracing Life and Death starting up on Thursday 31 July, Learn to Weave with Corrin staring on Wednesday 6 August and our new men’s breakfast starting on Saturday 9 August, so check out our brochure for more details on those and all the other exciting activities we have returning.

We’ve got some of our favourite events coming up this semester, with the first one being our annual Winter Arts Salon! This will run over the weekend from 22-24 August, with an exciting opening night on the Friday and tons of amazing artworks from our favourite local artists on display all weekend so don’t forget to pop in and have a look!

This week, we’ve got lots of our weekly programs back, including playgroup on Wednesday morning and our community morning and lunch on Friday so come along to catch up with everybody and tell us all about the exciting adventures you got up to over the holidays!

Looking forward to seeing you all back here soon!

Cheers Tahlia