Next week on Tuesday the 17th of February we’ll be back with our first Preserves Group of the year! We’ll be making seasonal jams and tomato relishes… mmm delicious … hopefully we will be able to restock our supply in time for the Alphington Show next month. It’s free to come along, please book in online here to let us know you’ll be joining. See you Tuesday from 1pm.

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!

Week 2 already …. and it really is good to be back! It had been super to catch up with so many of you already, and to have wrangled the leaves (oh the leaves, the leaves) into order and gotten the rest of our organising (that we didn’t get too at the end of last year) organised.

And yes, our brochure is finally out. Check it out here.

And so it is the perfect time to book in online to our programs for this year!

AAA Art (Friday 1pm) and Artful Painting and Drawing (3 classes on Monday and Tuesday) will both be starting back this week with the wonderful Clare. You can contact her directly to book into Artful Painting and Drawing on 0423453160 and call our office on 9499 7227 to find out about AAA Art.

Book Clubs are back! There are still some places available this year - so book in online. Our Thursday evening Book Club starts this week. Get in quick as these groups generally fill up fast!

And this Saturday at 8am we will also be running our first Men’s Breakfast for the year - you can book in on our website or call John on 0439899352 for more information. See the post below for more details …

Also running this week will be:

• CWA on Monday night at the Gleeson Centre in Darebin Parklands

• Alphington Playgroup and Toy Library both Wednesday and Thursday mornings at 10am-12pm.

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

• U3A Armchair Theatre on Wednesday at 1-3pm.

• Alphingtones Choir at St Andrews on Thursday at 7.30pm.

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

Looking forward to seeing you here at ACC.

Cheers Leanne

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,

We had a fantastic and very busy week last week, and we’re happy to be settling back down into our normal rhythm again.

The barbecue is clean and packed back away (for the next few months) and we’ve done the tidying up …. so we’ll just be sitting back in our office chairs and kicking up our feet (haha - we can only wish!!!).

If you couldn’t make it to Alphington Open Studios last weekend, luckily it runs for two weekends. We’ll have 4 artists here again this Saturday and Sunday as part of this neighbourhood-wide event. Find the map here to check all the spaces and artists you can visit across Alphington. And a special thanks to the Community Bank in Queens Parade for supporting the event this year.

We’ve still got some fun things coming up … another Op Shop Tour on Thursday 4 December (come along and do some sustainable Christmas shopping), Christmas Lunch and Christmas Carols. Check out the posts below for details. Also John is feeling better and going to run a final Men’s Breakfast in December.

Also … we’re starting to focus on programming for next year. If you have a great idea for a program or workshop, have skills to share and/or are keen to volunteer to run something etc. please get in touch asap.

For example, we’re very interested in some more after school activities running here - music lessons, tutoring etc.

We love all new ideas. Email info@alphington.org.au or call us, 9499 7227.

Also coming up with week we have:

• Garden to Plate is on today from 11.30am-1pm. Book in online here!

• Our Toy Library is open Tuesday from 1-3pm. Book your toys by 11am for easy pick up.

• AAA Bowls at Alphington Bowls Club, Line Dancing at Alphington Scout Hall and Alphington Playgroup here at ACC all on Wednesday from 10am-12pm

• Armchair Theatre runs on Wednesday 1-3pm. We’ve been enjoying listening along with them to Under Milkwood by Dylan Thomas recently. Such a great ‘radio’ play.

• Crunch on Thursday from 12.30-2pm. Book online here

• Community Gardening and Craft on Friday from 10am-12pm

• Community Lunch Friday 12-1pm

• AAA Art Friday 1-2pm

We can’t wait to see you.

Cheers Leanne