Are you interested in social outings by private bus … with lovely neighbourhood house folk?

My colleague Alison, who runs North Carlton Railway House, has a super ‘winter bus 🚌 trip series’ running, and has extended the invitation to attend.

If you are interested you’ll find the details below. To book in just give them a call (or pop past). Their house is at the former Railway Station on the old inner north line accessible from Park Street in North Carlton.

Sounds fun right? Thanks Alison!

• Monday 3 July - To The East (from Narre Warren to Brighton) $10

• Monday 7 August - Flagstaff Precinct Museum $10

The Yarra Leaps and Bounds Festival is coming up in mid July … and I (Leanne) have been helping Friends of Baucau organise one of the events.

So … if you missed Womadelaide this year … you can still be cool and groovy in our ‘hood, and come along to see the Dili Allstars with Timor Oans at Collingwood Town Hall on Thursday 13 July from 6.30-9pm. Here is the link to find out more.

It is a free event (donations are welcome on the night as funds raised will go the supporting Friends of Baucau programs) with food and a bar … AND you can book tables of 10 people for $100 … if you’d like to sit down … ACC will book a couple, so if you’d like to be part of our table(s) please let us know here - it costs $10 per person.

I am roping my oldest daughter and niece in to help on the bar (and could do with additional volunteers if anyone is keen). And I’m making my soon-to-be 17 year old have her birthday there (be sure to say happy birthday 🎂 🎈 if you see her. I told her to invite her friends! It’s a perfect venue for a party right?!?).

So it’s a real community thing … and it would be super to have lots of people come along! I hope to see you there.

Did you know you can hire our venue for kids birthday parties?

We have everything you need … a kitchen and plates and cups, tables and chairs, platters and a lovely flexible indoor/outdoor space with a cubby and sandpit. Just bring along your pass-the-parcel and some fairy bread and sausage rolls and you’re ready to go!

You can find all the details and available times on our website here.

Hooray! Hard rubbish collections begin in June.

Darebin’s hard rubbish collection is being rolled out area-by-area starting after the long weekend … moving south to north every two weeks.

You will receive a brochure in your letter box before your collection - it will include everything you need to know!

It is super important to note that Council can only actually recycle e-waste, mattresses, car tyres and scrap metal … so the rest (that isn’t collected by neighbours etc. as part of the joyful informal hard rubbish swap that inevitably happens!) goes to landfill.

BUT … this year there is someplace to take those great-for-someone-else things that don’t get redistributed before the truck comes by … Darebin Hard Rubbish Heroes is once again setting up ReLove - the PreLoved Pop Up … a friendly recycling shop!

So if you have items that someone else might love - or if you just like to rifle through other people’s junk in a friendly shop environment (rather than - or perhaps in addition to - on the street), pop on down to the old Kmart Tyre and Auto at the back of the Plaza (should be a super venue) and check out what’s in stock.

And … it is ALL run by volunteers SO … to volunteer yourself just click here. And … if you want to find out more about these passionate and committed locals (and pick up bargains year round) you can join Darebin Hard Rubbish Heroes on Facebook.

Hard rubbish season is THE BEST season!

Did you know we have a Toy Library at ACC? It has been around since the 1980s … so for lots of adults who grew up in the neighbourhood, it is how they first came to know us.

We have 400+ toys in this amazing community resource and after A LOT of work by Kalimna (she has worked on this tirelessly for hours on end) we now have it fully online.

We’d like to thank the Inner North Community Foundation for supporting this transition as part of their Covid recovery community investment commitment.

We’ve been taking baby steps for a bit trialling the system … and now we’re thinking we might be ready to run (or at least walk right across the room) …

So … Join up! Join up!

It cost $45 per year and you can borrow 4 toys at a time.

Then you can return them in two weeks, or renew your loan. And when you are ready reserve 4 more.

Note, bookings need to be made before 10am on Tuesday. This is when our long-standing friend Sarah comes in to fill the orders.

Families can then collect their toys between 1pm-4pm that afternoon (Tuesday) here at ACC.

And … if you have a sleeping bub in the car let us know (call the office on 9499 7227 if you can’t wave us down through the window) and if we can we’ll bring the toys out to you (our very own neighbourhoodly version of click and collect).

Toys in our library include baby play toys, games, trikes and bikes, puzzles, musical instruments, construction kits and loads of imaginative play items. And there are some super vintage items along the way (that have survived from back when it all began).

Check it out here.

Also … if something is a bit glitchy in our system please let us know … we’re definitely teething at the minute!

Also, also … if you are already a member contact us - Kalimna has already set you up in the system … and we’ll make sure your payments take into account the period we were out of action (note Kalimna is in Tuesday and Thursday).