Budgets, grants applications and acquittals, Council submissions … last week was flat out behind the scenes … and busy in person as well.

Lots of people attended the Embracing Life and Death discussions on Thursday afternoon. Crunch was a small group this time (but lovely - we did still life painting with gouache paint), we got a delivery of a couple of cubic metres of compost to keep us busy in the garden on Friday (thanks Nat at Darebin Council for organising this again!) … and two birthday parties were held at ACC 🥳 on Sunday.

This week CWA is meeting at the Gleeson Centre on Monday night, Garden to Plate is on Thursday at 11.30am … and it’s the long weekend … so we’ll see you back on deck next Tuesday.

Hope you make the most of it. I am planning to go to Rutherglen (to check out the wineries) with some of my oldest friends from university. Should be fun!

Cheers Leanne

This week Darebin Council endorsed new funding and leasing agreements for our neighbourhood houses.

We now have secure tenure for the next 8 years (4 + 4 lease) and funding for 4 + 4 years (with a review process built in along the way).

It is a great outcome and it was lovely to attend the meeting and hear just how much our local Councillors value neighbourhood houses.

A photo from the Alphington Show - Leanne with Mayor Emily Dimitriadis and Cr Alex Sangster.

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.

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

Keen to get into reading this year? We run 5 Book Clubs that meet at ACC. Books are provided by Darebin Libraries. And they are all just about to begin! The perfect time to join up if you are interested. Just jump on our website to sign up.

You can book in here.

Kalimna will then get in contact with you with all the details (note she is in the office on Tuesday and Wednesday each week).

This year we have the following vacancies:

• 2nd Monday of the month Book Club (evening) - 2 places

• 3rd Monday of the month Book Club (evening) - 3 places

• 1st Thursday of the month Book Club (evening) - 2 places

• 2nd Tuesday of the month Book Club (morning) - 9 places (this is a new book club that will begin when we have 5 people signed up … )

We look forward welcoming you to one of our Book Clubs.