Some silverbeet, spring onions, tomatoes and dried beans (that we wlll save to replant) … came from the garden this week.

It has been a long hot summer and we haven’t quite got our automatic drip system right yet …so it was nice to even harvest these after 4 weeks of accidental neglect. I expect the families who have been using our garden every day over summer probably helped out and had a tomato 🍅 or two along the way … better to be eaten than wasted!

Thanks Anne and Elaine for coming along Friday to help wrestle things back under control.

You just never know what will happen next at a neighbourhood house …

This week we were thrilled when Eugene (who lives locally) popped in and offered us an outside all-weather table tennis table. And then promptly dropped it off AND included some bats and balls. It was quite exciting to see it arriving on the back of a ute on Friday afternoon!

Thanks Eugene and family (who had outgrown the table). We have set it up in the back garden and now we invite you, our neighbourhood friends, to pop in for a play.

Also … if you have some spare table tennis bats and balls at your house that you no longer use (but are still in good nick) think of us! I am sure we could use some spares …

This year we’re running Playtime in the Garden on Wednesdays from 10am-12pm out in the front yard - making the most of the new cubby house, pergola and sandpit.

This week at least 8 families came past for a play whilst it was on. Some met up with existing friends, others came by themselves. There were mums bringing their kids and grandparents bringing grandchildren for a play. And a few families also borrowed toys from the Toy Library whilst they were here.

It is just so lovely to see our community making themselves at home at ACC and utilising our play-spaces and resources.

If you’re home with children on a Wednesday morning you might like to pop in too!

We received this information via email and thought there might be some people in our community who would be interested in this free ‘Understanding Dementia’ course run by the University of Tasmania.

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Did you know that nearly half a million Australians are currently living with dementia? With the ageing of our population this number will double in the next 30 years. 

In response to the need for accessible evidence-based education, the Wicking Dementia Centre at the University of Tasmania offers a FREE online course, Understanding Dementia MOOC. 

Course details

• It's FREE and you can enrol today

• Course opens on Tuesday 8 February 2022

• Duration is 7 weeks, with an estimated effort of 3 hours per week

• You can study day or night, on your smartphone, tablet or computer

• Receive a personalised certificate on completion

Enrolments are now open at mooc.utas.edu.au

Many people with dementia live in the community and education about this condition can better support them, as well as their families and caregivers.

Our course content includes how the brain is affected by the diseases that cause dementia, symptoms, diagnosis, stages and management, and personal and carers’ perspectives of living with dementia.

The Understanding Dementia MOOC has consistently ranked in the Top 3 courses in the Health and Medicine Category on Class Central (a leading aggregate site of over 50,000 online courses).

If you have appreciated knowing that you have a neighbourhood house (eg. us … or another of course because we’re all a big team ) here in the community for you over the last couple of crazy years, have enjoyed our newsletter, participated in our programs, appreciated knowing food relief is available, have engaged with our community art activities on the street in lockdown (such as the History Walks, the Alphington Neighbourhood Gallery art on the fence, our Honestly letters, the Community Building Blocks, the Make Your Own Adventure map of Darebin Parklands etc. etc.) or if you have used our outdoor tables or played in our garden or come to our Christmas Market … you might like to talk us up in this survey … or even document a particular story or event (you can do this at the end).

The State Government is currently asking for feedback from Victorians on ‘living more locally and experiencing our neighbourhoods and communities in new and different ways’.

It is a great opportunity to share your lived experience of the community value of having neighbourhood houses in your local area, so that hopefully we can get more recognition (and perhaps even money to run more local programs tailored to specific neighbourhood needs into the future …).

Here’s the link. Thanks in advance!