At ACC as you probably know, we get by on the smell of an oily rag. All the things that happen here are implemented by less than 2.5 EFT (effective full time) staff hours.

It’s a miracle … not really!

We rely on a fabulous group of volunteers to help us run all the things we run.

Starting from the top of our organisation is our Committee of Governance who kindly put aside a couple of hours each month to help us plan our strategic direction and provide high level support.

Then we have wonderfully committed people who run things week in and out … like the two Shirley’s from line dancing - one who leads the group and the other who comes past each week to deliver the money.

And Phil who has joined us this year for 2 hours weekly to help our neighbours learn how to wrangle their devices (and David who used to do this but has been up in Sydney).

And Anne who helps in our garden (and Demisse who was here last year - we’re missing him).

And Sarah who sets up toy library each week.

And all the people who put their hand up to be the leader of their book club or playgroup … or any other activity that is part of our program.

And Elaine and Manu and Monica who make preserves to sell … and Anne and Marie Louise who have been yarn bombing and crafting … and Elaine (again) who knits and knits … and Sandra … and Frank who knits 🧶 too.

And the AAA Bowls volunteers who support Jill and run such a wonderful program …

Thanks all. Your big(ger) and the small(er) contributions make all the difference - and we know we couldn’t possibly do it without you.

Happy National Volunteers Week.

This week we completed our long planned street art project - acknowledging the 262 days we collectively stayed at home to look after each other and protect the most vulnerable in our community between 22 March 2020 and 21 October 2021. Six colours - one for each lockdown. 262 lines - one for each day. Lovely to have Lee back on board this term to help deliver our community art project ideas!

This week is Neighbourhood House Week, a great week to stop and reflect on all the fabulous things we do, and remember why we do them!

At ACC we hope to contribute to creating and supporting a strong and connected community … and along the way we want to:

• Enable individuals to live well, and lead healthy, active, creative and sustainable lives

• Nurture community connections, and

• Action a fairer society for all.

Our program of events and activities all contribute to achieving this overarching goal (our vision) and these objectives.

For example, our Arty Gardening program encourages participants to live more sustainably, be creative and get outdoors and do some physical activity through gardening. It ticks lots of boxes!

Our Ukulele Group enables people to live well by learning new skills and doing something they love, encourages creativity through music and enables participants to make friends with fellow musicians.

Our food collection for the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre is all about playing a part in actioning a fairer society for all.

And we run our weekly morning teas to nurture community connections between locals. We also sell the Friends of Baucau coffee to nurture community connections - at the organisational level - connecting ACC with the Friends of Baucau. And … by selling the coffee via Juliet at the milkbar we are also creating a meaningful three-way partnership/community connection and supporting her small and valued local business along the way. Wins all round right!

This week to celebrate neighbourhood house week we thought you might like to join us for morning tea on Friday. If you are around please come along from 11.30am for a cuppa, some cake and a chat. We’d love to see you!

This week I attended a ‘community conversation’ event with the Commissioner for Ageing, Gerrard Mansour and sat next to/caught up with Anne who comes along to ACC on Fridays and is responsible for the gorgeous yarn 🧶 bombing around our centre.

The Commissioner talked about some of the prerequisites for ‘ageing well’. In particular he mentioned:

1. A positive attitude. Under this broad heading he talked about maintaining your self-belief that you are a valuable person as you retire and lose your long-standing value as an economic contributor in society, being open to the capacity to learn new things (like how to zoom and use myGov to upload your digital vaccination certificate!) and also being open and willing to accept support when needed (just get that hearing aid or that walker so you can keep participating in your community). Which leads to …

2. Social connections. He noted that since the pandemic he has seen three distinct cohorts in the over 60s - those that are raring to go and get out travelling overseas or around Australia in their caravans ASAP (or are back at neighbourhood houses the minute we open our doors), those that are balancing risk and vulnerability eg. attending events but wearing masks or going to outside events, and also a group that is still too worried to turn up.

And he expressed concern about those being left behind - those older Victorians who have become even more isolated because of their worries and fears about the pandemic and those who have not had the capacity to communicate and connect during lockdowns as much as others because they are not digitally literate.

I thought all these ideas were very interesting to think about, particularly in the context of our neighbourhood house where we actively create the space in our community to encourage social connectivity, care for the most vulnerable and promote opportunities for life long learning.

The conversation was attended by a suite of politicians … and it is great to know that they are hearing these messages, and real life stories from older Victorians - including stories from Darebin residents at the forum who shared their lived experience of being left behind …

Alphington Show was so much fun this year! We had glorious weather and lots of people came along and joined in. The pony rides were a real hit and our show entrants were super talented.

We’d like to thank our partners Alphington CWA. It was terrific to run this event together.

We’d also like to thank our friends from the Preston Garden Club for judging (along with the CWA) and Nelson Alexander for helping us publicise the event AND for providing a prize. We had 16 people get a hole in one on our mini-golf green and go into the draw to win the $100 LaTrobe Golf Club voucher… and many more spent quite a while trying!

This year we had 29 entrants in our family friendly, funny and somewhat shambolic dog show. The calibre of entrants was very impressive … we saw the most amazing trick - a dog who retrieved a tissue from a tissue box when their owner sneezed. Beyond impressive! We’d like to thank E and A Salce on High Street Thornbury for the prizes.

We had around 15 stallholders in our makers market with lots of lovely things to buy. We love running events that support local makers.

Finally a big thanks to our volunteers. We had some new helpers this year and along with some old favourites! And we really couldn’t do all the things we do without you.

Oh, and congratulations to all our prize winners … thanks once again everyone!

See you next year!