Hi Leanne here! As you probably know, on Friday mornings we have an open house at ACC, where people come along and craft and make things in the shed, and garden with Clare etc. … and then at 11.30am we get together for morning tea in the garden - and a laugh and a chat. It’s really lovely to keep up regularly with neighbourhood friends over food and a cuppa - some people enjoy it so much they come along just for the morning tea part of the session!

This year we’re wondering if there is anyone in the community who would be interested in volunteering to cook/coordinate our morning tea/early light lunch.

At morning tea we generally have:.

• Something sweet (cake, biscuits etc.)

• Something savoury (toasties, spanikopita, sausage rolls etc.)

• Fruit (whatever is in season), and

• Tea 🫖 and coffee ☕️ of course.

On Fridays we open at 9.30am. The role would involve cooking and then setting up some platters and loading up our trolley with all the things (catering for around 15 people) … and sending it out into the garden at 11.30am. Our cooking volunteers are of course very welcome and enthusiastically encouraged to join in morning tea as well.

We’re flexible about how the volunteer role(s) could unfold … Maybe a couple of people could work together, or a couple of people could alternate weeks or one person might like to commit weekly and run the whole thing.

Also … if you aren’t available on Friday mornings but enjoy baking perhaps you’d like to cook something at home and drop it off regularly? This would be super helpful and lovely too!

We have a budget for the program to cover the food costs, so there is no cost to volunteering - apart from your time (which I am sure will be rewarded with appreciation from those who attend).

If this sounds like something you might enjoy contributing to, please let us know! You can email Leanne here. And … include your phone number so we can have a chat. That would super!

Thanks in advance.

We’re holding our first jamming session for the year on Thursday 16 February. If you’d like to come along and help cook up a storm sign up on our website.

And … if you have fruit trees or access to homegrown veggies to make relishes etc. we’d love to be the recipient of your backyard bounty!

Give us a call on 9499 7227 or pop past or email. If we know what to expect we can plan our cooking around it … thanks. Hope to see you soon.

Oh .. and also, if you have small jars we’d love ❤️ them …

We’re kicking off our new monthly Tuesday Movie Club on the 14 February and we’re going to see a romcom, from the makers of Bridget Jones Diary and Love Actually etc. So why not join us for a very romantic Valentine’s Day activity!

What’s Love Got To Do with It? is on at Westgarth Cinema at 12.45pm. The cost is $12.

If you want to come with us you’ll need to be at Alphington Community Centre at 12pm to catch the 12.07pm train at Alphington Station. We’ll arrive at Westgarth Station at 12.12pm. This gives us 30 minutes to walk over to the cinema and buy tickets etc.

If you plan to make your own way there that is great too! Just let us know so we can look out for you when we arrive.

If you are interested in joining in this activity please email us here. We propose to create a Movie Club What’s App group, so that we can easily organise this new ongoing monthly activity!

Here’s the official promo for the movie!

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A pitch perfect ballad of emotions, this romantic comedy follows a filmmaker who decides to document her best friend’s journey toward arranged marriage.

Moving between London and Lahore, this is a story of love, friendship, tradition and iconoclasm. How do you find lasting love in today's world? For documentary-maker and dating app addict Zoe (Lily James, Rebecca, Darkest Hour), swiping right has only delivered an endless stream of Mr. Wrongs, to her eccentric mother Cath's (Emma Thompson, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande) dismay.

For childhood friend and neighbour Kaz (Shazad Latif, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel), the answer is to follow his parents' example and opt for an arranged (or "assisted") marriage to a bright and beautiful bride from Pakistan. As Zoe films his journey to marry a stranger, she begins to wonder if she might have something to learn from a profoundly different approach to finding love.

Striking a touching balance between respect for cultural customs and belief in the power of romance, What’s Love Got to Do with It? offers an impassioned take on the notion of love, romance and finding that special someone.

Are you a keen gardener? We’d love some help in our garden on Friday mornings. Clare is here from 10-11.30am working to maintain our lovely community garden space and building up the capacity of our seed library and the other gardening resources onsite - and at the same time sharing seasonal gardening expertise and composting tips and tricks etc.

If you enjoy a chat and like gardening perhaps you’d like to come along? This program is suitable for young families and retirees, and anyone in between who enjoys gardening.

Note the program concludes with morning tea at 11.30am. We hope to see you soon!

Time flies when you are having fun!

We’re now putting together the program at ACC for next year and as always, we are interested in your ideas.

If you have a skill you’d like to share through a weekend workshop or through a regular activity please let us know (eg. our Visible Mending Club runs monthly thanks to Serene offering to share her skills).

If you have been to a course or program somewhere else that you think would be super for our community please let us know (eg. it was thanks to recommendation that we met Gordon who now runs our Sewing Machine and Overlocker Maintenance workshops annually ).

Just email info@alphington.org.au or give us a call on 9499 7227 and we can talk about how to make it happen!

And as a taster … new things on our radar for next year include:

• Movie Club - once a month on Tuesday afternoons we’ll head over to Westgarth Cinema on the train to watch a film together.

• Podcasting 101 - a short ACFE course (we have funding to support this program thanks to RCLC - our lovely neighbourhood house colleagues in Richmond)

If you are interested in joining in these new activities just look out for our new program that will provide details of how to register. It should be out by early December …