Last week we joined more than 200 neighbourhood houses across Victoria outside Parliament to ask for fairer wages from the State Government. We saw a fantastic turnout of staff, volunteers and community members and had the opportunity to speak to a number of supportive MPs. Thanks to everyone who came along, here are some photos from the day! A big thanks to Kalimna for taking such great photos.

Great to have a new vet in the area ... and they’ve kindly approached us to offer some prizes for our Alphington Dog Show in March! How lovely. Here is some information about their open day coming up:

Lots of good things coming up this week.

Preserves Group - Join Kalimna in the kitchen on Tuesday for Preserves Group. From 1pm we’ll be cooking up some tomato chutney and some summer fruit jam. In between chopping and stirring we’ll stop for an afternoon tea break - coffee and a sweet treat, so it’s not all hard work. From 1pm. Also …. if you have small clean jars to donate we’d love some more! We’re cooking up in preparation for sales at the Alphington Show (coming up on Saturday 21 March - a date for you diaries).

Day of Action - on Wednesday our office will close for a couple of hours around lunchtime as we head into the city to campaign for better funding for neighbourhood houses on the steps of Parliament. If you’d like to support this we’d love your company. Just email us here and we’ll let you know the details (we’re catching the train in!).

CRUNCH - Join Lee and Leanne for lunch and a creative arts activity at ACC on Thursday from 12.30pm. Only $10 this year. Book in on our website here.

and/or ….

Alphington Arts - on Thursday evening at 7.30pm for more arty fun! A lovely opportunity to meet other creative folk in the ‘hood, chat and create. This time we will be doing collage, inspired by Gustav Klimt. You can start your work with a photo of someone you love (bring your image along) or choose a random person from a magazine. We’ll be using mixed media - ink, paint, markers and paper to build our works. Thanks Lee for organising this session. You can book in here.

Community Lunch - we have the Deputy Mayor from Yarra Council joining us on Friday, along with some of our Council colleagues. It is always great to have Councillors and staff come along and see our space in action! All welcome (of course).

Hope to see you soon!

Cheers Leanne

Build your own video game from scratch!

Creative Bytes is offering a free 10-week online coding course for families with children aged 8-12 in Clifton Hill, North Fitzroy, and surrounding suburbs. The program is proudly supported by Community Bank Clifton Hill–North Fitzroy and is designed to give children an accessible introduction to coding in a fun and engaging way.

Through this self-paced course, children learn to create their own video game using Scratch, a beginner-friendly, block-based programming platform used widely in schools. No prior coding experience is required, and the course is suitable for complete beginners.

Creative Bytes is a registered Australian charity that delivers coding and STEM programs through schools, libraries, and community organisations. Their programs focus on building digital skills, confidence, and creativity in children, while supporting educators and communities to deliver technology learning locally.

The course is completed entirely online at home and can be started at any time after registration. Families can work through the lessons at their own pace, and participation in the program is completely free.

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.