Hi everyone,

It was great to see even more of our ACC community last week all back for another year. Book clubs starting, AAA Arts back on Friday afternoons and our Men’s Breakfast had at least 10 people booked in which is super! Thanks John for organising this.

This week the first sessions of Garden to Plate, AAA Bowls, and Sound Healing with Crystal Bowls will also be running. Feels like we are well and truly back in business…….

AND … it is also time to start getting ready for the Alphington Show! HOORAY!!!!! You should start thinking about what you’re planning to enter right now, because this year there’s going to be some tough competition!? In addition to the usual cooking categories (bread, jams, presrves, cakes etc.) we have a new one this year - covering everyone who makes kombucha and kimchi and the like …. (upon request). How fun! Also, don’t forget the Dog Show …. time to start training up those fur babies!

There’s a lot coming up and a lot of posts in our news this week - see all the links below. And in the meantime here is our very official program listed for the week:

• 2nd Monday of the Month Book Club, tonight!

• 2nd Tuesday of the Month Book Club (we’re still recruiting for this new Book Club - so please get in touch - we hope to start it up next month!).

• Toy Library open Tuesday, 1-3pm.

• AAA Bowls at Alphington Bowls Club (email us at info@alphington.org.au to join), Line Dancing at Alphington Scout Hall, and Alphington Playgroup here at the centre (book in online here) all on Wednesday morning from 10am-12pm.

• U3A Armchair Theatre, Wednesday 1-3pm.

• Our new Alphington Playgroup on Thursday morning 10am-12pm.

• Garden to Plate, Thursday 11.30am-1pm (more info and book in online here).

• Sound Healing with Crystal Bowls, Thursday 7-8pm (contact Keiko at her website here).

• Community Morning on Friday from 10am, and stick around for Community Lunch at 12-1pm.

• AAA Arts, Friday 1-2pm (email us at info@alphington.org.au).

Cheers,

Leanne

Local arty folk … join us!

On the 3rd Thursday of each month at 7.30pm we run Alphington Arts, where anyone with an interest in exploring art can come along to try something new.

Lino printing, watercolour, life drawing, landscape painting - each month is different. We tap into the skills that locals bring along .. or we find something that we are interested in learning more about collectively ... and give it a creative crack.

And it is all very casual - we have a drink and some snacks and get arty … and a laugh!

It is creative and friendly and lots of fun.

If you’d like to join in this year you can book in on our website.

The first session is running on Thursday 19 February, from 7.30-9.30pm and in this session we will be creating pieces for a shared community clay sculpture that we plan to install in our front garden.

Hope to see you there!

Over the last 18 months we have launched and been running two new and very tasty programs: Garden to Plate and CRUNCH (Creative Lunch).

This year they are both back with a bit of a variation - they will be running on alternate Thursdays!

So, Garden to Plate will start next Thursday the 12th of February from 11.30am-1pm, and Crunch will start the following Thursday the 19th of February from 12.30 to 2pm. Each program will run for 4 weeks per term. The cost is $10 per week and places are limited so you will need to book in if you plan to attend.

At Garden to Plate we cook a meal together using fresh seasonal ingredients (including from our Community Garden when possible!) and then sit down and eat our creations (admiring what we made and chatting about life). And at Crunch we eat a lunch cooked by Leanne and then get into the creative spirit with arts and craft activities led by Lee! Both are lots of fun and very social. A real highlight of the week.

See some of our favourite things we made at Garden to Plate and Crunch last year are in the photos below … and don’t forget to book in online here for our first sessions!

Hi everyone,

The last few weeks have been great fun as we’ve been winding down for the year. AAA Bowls finished with a barbecue on Wednesday, and all of our AAA Arts participants took home folios of their fantastic creations on Friday. And we had a great day on our Thriftseekers Op ShopAdventure on Thursday checking out all the op shops on High Street in Preston.

We’re also very proud to have been part of another successful Alphington Open Studios. We had some really amazing artists this year and it was great to see so many people come through the doors despite the weather (which was a bit bleak at times).

Now it’s just about time for Christmas, and we’re looking forward to our big Christmas Lunch this Friday. It will be on from 12-2pm. This year we’re going to have some great musical performances and a visit from a very jolly VIP. We would love for anyone that’s been part of our Alphington community this year to come along! Please email or call to RSVP if you aren’t a Community Lunch regular so we can plan our food!

Alphington Christmas Carols will be on Sunday the 21st of December at 7pm over at Alphington Bowls Club. We’ll be singing all the classics and hope it will be a night of both Christmas and community spirit! Bring a gold coin donation - it will go to a worthy cause.

Project Stationery will be setting up shop here from next Sunday and will be sorting and redistributing stationery over the whole summer period. This is a great use of our space while we are closed over the school holidays.

Wishing everyone a very happy holidays, look out for our new brochure. Coming soon!

Cheers Leanne

We had a great night last Thursday at Alphington Arts! Here are some photos of few of the Christmas themed lino-prints that we made. Pretty cool, right?

Alphington Arts will run again next year twice a term on Thursday evenings at 7.30pm. It’s lots of fun and a great way to learn new skills and hang out with other creative people in the neighbourhood!

Book in when our new program comes out!