It’s done ✅ (well near enough … there’s some flashing to come but …) hooray 😄.

We are pretty excited to have our pergola built … it really finishes off the front garden and we know it will transform the way we use our spaces right across our site. Already on Friday morning it proved fantastic, providing some lovely light and shade for families who popped in to use our garden on one of our hotter days this summer.

Luckily midway through Thursday Federal MP Ged Kearney happened to come past … the funding for this pergola came from the Federal Government Stronger Communities Grant via Ged … and so it was great to show her that it was FINALLY, NEARLY completed.

A picture of Ged and I (Leanne) amongst the builders tools …

The last few months have sped by and we’re now closing up shop for Christmas. We’re all taking a break from the office for the entire school holidays … we’ll be back on 31 January 2022 raring to go!

Coming up next year as part of our regular program we have:

• Ukulele on Monday evenings

• CWA on Mondays (monthly)

• Collage on Tuesday evenings (6 weeks per term)

• History Group on Tuesday evenings (monthly)

• Toy Library open on Wednesdays

• AAA Bowls on Wednesdays (6 weeks per term)

• Line dancing on Wednesdays

• Women in the Shed with Maylei on Thursdays (6 weeks per term)

• Choir Thursday evenings

• Arty Gardening on Fridays

• Morning Tea in the Garden on Fridays, and

• Observational Drawing with Louisa on Saturday afternoons (6 weeks per term).

Keen to join in? You can book (and pay) on our website now so you are ready to hit the ground running in 2022 …

And of course in amongst all this we have book clubs and playgroups, guitar lessons, ASRC food collections, counselling and … some weekend workshops and events (like the Alphington Show) that you should check out! You can find all the things in our program here.

We hope to see you in 2022.

We didn’t get to publish the beautiful photos that Kalimna took from our fun community weekend last week because we had a technical computer hitch … but we’re back up and running now.

So thank you to the Alphington Open Studios artists who we worked with for the Open Studios weekends. It was fabulous to have a shared opening night that everyone could come along to and just super to have works by all the artists in our space. Yarra Council provided us with some funding to activate our inside hanging space which supported this project.

And then thanks to our stallholders who made wonderful produce and goods for the Christmas Makers Market on the Saturday. And thanks to all the community who came along to shop and enjoy our lovely neighbourhood. I know I made a good start to my Christmas present shopping … and I am sure lots of others did too.

A special thanks to Ivanhoe Rotary who personned our BBQ. It makes such a difference to our centre to have these sorts of community partnerships and we value them so much. And my mum Cheryl who ran the kids activity - she’s a gem and the trees were very cute. And finally, finally Elaine who volunteered on our craft stall. She’s an amazing knitter and community giver as well.

We run 5 book clubs here at ACC and have a couple of spots available in the 3rd Monday and Tuesday of the month groups along with one spot in Thursday evening in 2022.

So … if you are interested in joining a community book club here is your chance.

It costs $60 per year to join. Your group will read 10 self selected books. The book sets with notes are provided by Darebin Libraries.

Keen? You can join here.

We’ve been delighted to contribute to expanding the artists involved in the Alphington Open Studios weekends this year with our salon exhibition featuring works by all the open studios artists along with a wonderful mix of works by other local artists both established and emerging.

At ACC (with help from Yarra Arts) we’ve been exploring ways to engage with local artists and activate our hanging space and this exhibition has enabled us to demonstrate the potential of our building and has also opened up conversations about exhibiting in our space.

As a result, in 2022 we’ll be looking to hold more regular community art exhibitions that enable a unique mix of artists to exhibit together.

It is just wonderful to be able to celebrate the creativity in our community.

We had a steady stream of visitors over the two weekends. If you enjoyed this exhibition, or are an artist who would like to join in next time, keep an eye out for future dates and details in our program (out before Christmas).