Hi Leanne here.

Well, I feel our news this week is full of creativity and arty goodness. Which is pretty lovely. I am always so inspired when we have new things and creative things on the cards …

Kalimna and I had our first day back together onsite on Friday … it was so very nice to catch up in real life and start thinking about getting going again. And now we’ve both got lists on lists of things to do!

In the next couple of weeks we will be touching base with all our groups to discuss the path forward for each … but feel free to call us or email us too if your group has a plan and/or is feeling impatient … it’s the squeaky wheels that get attention and all (especially in the chaos of once again rebuilding and reimagining everything).

In the meantime we have two things that are definitely happening:

1. Join us for our very casual Playtime in the Garden on Wednesday from 10am … and a BBQ sausage in bread with Jill at 12pm. She’s also upped her barista skills in the last months, and we’ll be firing up the Friends of Baucau coffee machine … and seeing how that goes!

2. Then … on Friday we’re offering another outdoor opportunity to catch up. Join Katrina for Gardening Group from 10am and Arty Gardening from 10.30am (we’ll be decorating tin cans and planting up seeds and seedlings 🌱 this week). Followed by Morning Tea on the Corner with Kalimna from 11.3am.

See you soon.

What’s happening on Wednesdays?

The spring weather is tempting us to go outside and we’re keen to re-engage with our community.

So from Wednesday 27 October (after we reach 70% double dose*) we will be running a weekly BBQ on the corner as a way of reconnecting with you all. We’ll set up outside near the Shed and welcome anyone to come by and enjoy a sausage in bread and a cuppa. We have a coffee machine we can get fired up so you can even enjoy a latte.

Keep October 27th free from 12pm. We would love to see you!

*and subject to any restrictions re. numbers and vaccination status that apply.

And when we reopen families continue to be invited along on Wednesday mornings to enjoy ‘Playtime in the Garden’ with access to our new cubby and sandpit along with craft activities set up by Lee from 10am-12pm. So you can come for a play and have some lunch as well.

For the last week we have been working hard to get ready for our AGM, coming up on Monday 25 October. If you would like to attend please email us here and we’ll send you the zoom invitation.

Whilst it has been quite a lot of work to get everything together (and I think we are nearly done, hooray!), it has also been really lovely to revisit all the things we did in the 2020-21 financial year.

Here are seven pictures that start to tell the story.

Despite lockdowns we ran eight classes of our Women in the Shed program - thanks Maylei and Jen for your expert tuition and Richmond Neighbourhood Learning Centre for loaning us ACFE hours to make it more financially accessible for participants. Women in the Shed has really been a wonderful program to build confidence and self-esteem, alongside building practical skills and knowledge.

And we started new programs, such as Louisa’s Drawing in the Shed classes on a Saturday. They’ve been solidly booked all year! Thanks Louisa for so generously sharing your talents with our community. It is really lovely to see locals sharing their skills in the neighbourhood.

Speaking of sharing, remember our Honestly project? Looking back I think we are really lucky to have a week by week documented account of the first 8 months of the pandemic. And as a community I am sure you will all agree that it was so interesting to read how others were travelling as the world turned on its head … and also comforting to acknowledge the connections - in the end despite our unique circumstances we were all experiencing similar feelings.

We were only able to run one community event for the year … but our Christmas Makers Market was a success and we were super pleased to partner with Ivanhoe Rotary (who ran our sausage sizzle for the first time) and also help local makers sell their wares to the community - I think I did 80% of my Christmas shopping at the market! … hopefully we’ll be able to run it again this year.

Moving things outside has proven itself the way to go in the last year … and we’ve loved seeing regulars and welcoming new people to our Friday morning tea on the corner each week. Here’s a photo of Yarra Mayor Gabrielle de Vietri having a chat with locals at one of our morning teas.

We also set up our podcasting studio The Cupboard this year. When we can get things going again inside I am sure it will prove a wonderful community resource … did you know you book in to use it when we reopen at very reasonable rates? Just give us a call to discuss. This photo is of our lovely friends from the Community Bank on Queens Parade who helped fund this project (we really are so lucky to have this model of banking in our community).

Throughout 2020-21 our playgroups resumed whenever we could open. We make our spaces available four mornings a week for families to come together and make friends through playgroups … which we know can be a lifesaver when you are immersed in the lovely but draining world of nurturing a young family! This is a photo of Maimi who runs two fabulous sessions of Japanese playgroup each week here at ACC.

If you are part of a local sports club or other community not-for-profit group in Yarra, did you know that you can tap into Council’s ongoing community training courses?

The next one is all about social media. It is on Tuesday 14 September, from 6-8.30pm. You can register here.

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Building Community with Social Media

Social media and online activities are now part of the way we communicate at work and play. For community organisations they provide a great opportunity to reduce workload and create efficient communication, the challenge however, is to decide which platform will have the greatest impact to support goals.

This interactive session will provide a basic overview of the most popular social media platforms used in Australia and insights on the best way they can be used effectively. This session will be most beneficial to organisations new to promoting their organisations through social media channels. Topics include:

• The pros and cons of some social media and online platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter)

• Understanding target audience / selecting platforms

• Having creative ideas for content

• Communicating the right messages

• Preparing a social media plan

Date: Tuesday 14 September 2021

Time: 6.00pm – 8.30pm (2.5 hours)

Method: Online 

Register: HERE.

A nice picture of Elly (who is part of the Community Development - Capacity Building team at Yarra) from when she came along to our morning tea on the corner.

Other upcoming workshops include:

• Governance Training for Community Groups - 7 October 

• Evaluating Project and Programs - 9 November

If you are interested in learning more about the history of our neighbourhood … and also like a stroll, perhaps you’d like to print out or collect our first History Walk.

This walk starts on the south side of Alphington Station and takes you on a tour of the Old Alphington Village. Thanks to Anne and the 3078 History Group for all the background work that has gone into this flyer, and thanks also to Lee for the graphic design and Kalimna for the photos.

We’re planning to record an accompanying podcast at some stage to sit along side this walk. We’ll let you know when this is active.

If you have a printer at home you can print a copy here. If you’d like to collect a printed copy you’ll find some out the front in the little brochure holder on the side of our seed library.