Do you love trivia? We hope to put together a table for the Friends of Baucau trivia night fundraiser coming up on Wednesday 18 November.

Tickets cost $60 or $45 for concession - but all the money goes to supporting on-the-ground community organisations in Timor-Leste.

If you want to join in please email us here. We’ll then coordinate booking seats at an ACC table.

Alternatively you might have a group of trivia buff friends and put together your own table - and then here’s the link to book directly.

We are currently starting to get organised for next year, and we are open to adding some new programs to our schedule. If anyone has an idea for a great program or workshop that you would like to set up, or know of something great that we could possibly offer, please email us at info@alphington.org.au.

We love having volunteers come along and run activities like John’s Heart-Centred Breathwork and Men’s Breakfasts, and Rosie’s Community Yoga….. Or teachers who want to hire out the space for classes like Clare’s Artful Painting and Drawing, and Yoyo’s Violin Lessons …

In particular we have rooms available on weekday afternoons between 4pm-7pm and would be very interested in having some after-school programs or more music and/or tutoring type activities on offer. We could also fit in more counsellors or self-help type groups that might be interested in using our smaller spaces in the evenings. We are open to any ideas!

We look forward to hearing from you. Please note that we’ll be finalising our program for Semester 1, 2027 at the end of November, so all ideas need to be with us in the next couple of weeks.

Neuroblastoma Australia recently reached out to us to invite our ACC community along to their fun run and fun day coming up on Sunday 15 November. We encourage everyone to go along and support an important cause!

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Run2Cure Melbourne is a fun and inclusive day for the whole family, featuring a 1km Little Heroes Walk, family activities, and run/walk distances suitable for all ages and abilities. Most importantly, the event raises vital funds for research into neuroblastoma, a rare and aggressive childhood cancer that primarily affects babies and young children. Find out more and register here at this link.

When I was in Baucau in Timor-Leste the other week I had breakfast every morning at the Pousada Hotel … and after a few days I realised that the ‘marmalade’ I was putting on my bread was actually pumpkin jam. Having never had pumpkin jam before I looked it up online to discover that it is a traditional Brazilian jam … (also another Portuguese colony) and … I can highly recommend it.

So … this week we made some at Preserves Group. It has pretty simple ingredients: pumpkin, lemon and orange, with a hint of cinnamon. And some sugar (of course). Perfect on a fluffy white Portuguese bread roll (traditional breakfast fare in Timor-Leste).

So we’ve now got some for sale in the foyer, along with a new batch of cucumber pickles. You can pop past and buy some if you like. Only $7. Our jams and preserves make a lovely small gift for someone … and the proceeds support us to run our disability programs.

Win=Win.

Anyway, thanks to everyone that came along to our short courses this week. it is super to get back into the swing of things!

Now the weather is improving you might like to start your day in a mindful way - why not check out John’s Breathwork sessions which you can book on a weekly basis or for the term.

And …

We’ve also had a refresh of our op shop this week - so come and have a look for a bargain if your wardrobe also needs a refresh.

This week we’ve got Embracing Life and Death coming up on Thursday from 1-2:30pm. This month the focus is on bereavement and living with grief and loss. The sessions are free, but booking is essential via eoldoulasinmelb@gmail.com.

We have 3 spots remaining for Community Yoga this term if anyone is keen to join Rosie from 5:30-6:30pm on Wednesdays. It’s just $22 for 3 classes over the next few weeks. Book in here if you’re interested.

As always, we’ve got all of our regular programs and short courses continuing this week so we hope to see you all soon.

Cheers Leanne

Hi everyone,

Lots of getting organised behind the scenes this week. We’ve been diving into emails, setting up the processes for this coming term and confirming numbers … all the boring admin-y things that make us feel somewhat under control (at least temporarily!). But, more excitingly, we’ve also been mosaicking! We are currently working on a project with Clare that is coming along very nicely. If you are around Thursday or Friday morning this week and would like to help us (hopefully) finish things off, we’d love some help!

Also, on Friday, we collected the fired ceramic pieces for our totem poles - they look beautiful! See the poste below for some pictures.

As you may recall, I am on the community reference group for the 2 Wingrove Street site, and we had another meeting on Wednesday. If you read the minutes from the last Council meeting you will know that they voted to continue to have reference group in place as the site is developed. There are lots of great community thinkers in the group, all with different stakes in the site and the wider community outcomes … so I think it is a really valuable … and it is super to be a part of this process. I’ll keep you up to date as things progress. Council is currently about to launch into seeking geotechnical assessments for the site - which will be very helpful and really are essentaial - because the site used to be the tip, and so there are inevitable issues around stability and leeching etc. etc.

This week we are back into the swing of things with our Money Matters - Scams and AI conversation on Wednesday 14 October from 12-2.20pm. We have 16 people booked in, so a few places left if you still want to reserve a spot available at our website here.

Then on Thursday night we have Alphington Arts at 7.30pm. Come along for a fun night of getting creative.

It was lovely to see everyone on Friday - we had some new people along which is always great. Also, we had a good turnout this week for playgroups on Wednesday and Thursday (let’s hope the weather keeps being nice on these days).

Okay, that’s about it I think. See you soon!

Cheers Leanne