Phew … we’re recovering from the Winter Art Salon this week … a fabulous and very busy few days (check out the separate post for photos etc.) and we hope you made it along to see all the beautiful art and local talent for yourself!

Speaking of local talent, Yarra Council came along and interviewed Marlene a couple of weeks ago at Crunch - check out the little video they made here. Thanks Marlene for being such a good sport (and saying such lovely things about us) when put on the spot!

And of course time doesn’t stand still here at ACC … we’re straight into another action packed week.

Of note:

• Preserves Group on Tuesday at 1pm. I think we’re making cumquat marmalade.

• Alphington Arts on Thursday night from 7.30pm. Come along and get arty! Have a chat etc.

• Also two Book Clubs on Monday and Tuesday evening given it’s the 3rd week of the month!

• And all the usual things - playgroups, toy library, art classes, music lessons, play reading, choir, line dancing, community lunch, gardening. AAA Arts etc.

Finally … our AGM is coming up on 31st August. We look forward to reviewing the year with a quick slide show, ticking off the finances … and we’ll share some food etc. Book in and come along if you’d like to help us celebrate what we’ve been up to over the last 12 months.

Looking forward to seeing you soon!

Cheers Leanne

Hi everyone,

We had a great time last Thursday cooking up a Korean feast at Cook by the Book! Rob thinks it might have been our best collective cooking effort yet!

It was also super (if somewhat chaotic - because I forgot they were coming) to have Yarra Council staff along to do some video interviews about how ace neighbourhood houses are - for a loneliness week campaign they are putting together. We’ll share the material when they publish it! They also stayed for our yummy Korean lunch and it was great to have a chat with them.

Thanks so much to Jamie from Kew High who was here doing work experience with us for the week. He was a super conversationalist and worked really hard. It really was a pleasure to have him here!

This week we’ve got lots on including:

• Heart-Centred Breathwork on Tuesday at 7.30am (we’ve set up a weekly payment option for this now so you can come along and give it a try)

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

• Playtime in the Garden, also on Wednesday from 10am-12pm

• U3A Armchair Theatre on Wednesday from 1pm-3pm

• Cardboard Playgroup on Thursday from 10am-12pm

• Cook by the Book on Thursday from 11.30am-1pm

• CRUNCH on Thursday from 12.30pm-2pm

• Alphingtones Choir at St. Andrew’s Church on Thursday from 7.30pm-9pm

• Community Morning on Friday from 10am-1pm

To find out more and book in online, please visit our website at this link.

Cheers Leanne

Hi everyone,

We are running the first sessions of some of our new programs this week, including Heart-Centred Breathwork with John from the Men’s Breakfast on Tuesday morning at 7.30am - should be a lovely way to start the day! … and Cook by the Book on Thursday morning from 11.30am-1pm. Feeling super excited about these programs and seeing both fresh and familiar faces … if you haven’t yet, don’t forget to book in online here at our website!

On Thursday from 12.30pm-2pm we will also have our first session of CRUNCH for the term, and at 1pm-3pm we will have our monthly session of Embracing Life and Death.

Our novel writing workshop The Momentum to Write has been pushed back a week, so it will now be starting on the evening of Monday 10th of August - giving you an extra week to book in.

Looking ahead, we have an event with Dementia Australia coming up in August (read on for more…) and some events for Senior’s Month happening in October (info coming soon…). And we are getting ready for our Winter Arts Salon weekend running from the 14th to the 16th of August. Save the date! And encourage your arty friends to join in.

So we are busy, busy, busy - in a good way!

Cheers Leanne

Hi all it has been lovely to be back at work and see lots of people this week. We’ve been getting very organised - programs, admin, supplies, ideas … all the things! And thank you so much to Akimbo Bakery for their awesome donation of bread dropped off this week.

We’ve got one more week until all our short courses and such things kick off. So please enrol. Here’s some things to think about …

• Cardboard Playgroup - Thursdays 10.30am-12pm. Lee is in the process of making some cute things from cardboard for our Thursday playgroup session. Each week she plans to add something new - at least for a while. Come along and check it out.

• We’ll be doing printmaking this term at CRUNCH … how fun! All welcome. Join us on Thursdays for lunch at 12.30pm before we head out to the Community Shed for some creative fun. Only $75 for 6 weeks, including lunch - what a bargain! Book in online here.

• Cook by the Book - this term we are going to explore Charmaine Soloman’s Complete Asian Cookbook. It is a favourite of mine and has great recipes, many of which were written back when ‘all the things’ were not readily available in Australian supermarkets - so the recipes are delicious but are often made with a handful of staple ingredients and include ideas for how to swap things out if you can’t find them easily. Her recipes are sorted by country - so we’ll explore a different one each week. It is going to be super! And delicious. YUM. Book in online here.

• The Momentum to Write - have you got a story brewing in the back of your mind? This a great opportunity to begin the writing process, or if you have already started something, to get a bit of a boost. Fran is lovely and very talented. Book in online here.

Also of note … we’ve got Preserves Group coming up this week on Tuesday at 1pm … and with a donation of lemons from Wendy’s tree (thanks so much Wendy) we’ll definitely be making some preserved lemon. If you have any produce you could send our way please let us know … we love thinking that our preserves come straight from neighbourhood gardens! If you’d like to join in Preserves Group please come along!

Also … we’ve opened up the artist registration form for the Alphington Winter Art Salon at this link here. If you are an artist please enter some works! It’s a fun and friendly event open for anyone, and it showcases 2D and 3D artworks.

And we’re asking for donations of tiles for a new mosaic project (read the post below for the details of what we are after).

Hope you have a great week. See you soon I hope.

Cheers Leanne

Keen to join a daytime book club?

We are hoping to get a couple more people interested so we can start a Tuesday morning book club from July.

The group will meet monthly with books supplied by Darebin Libraries.

Click this link here to book your spot.