Hi!

This week is an arty week … with Alphington Arts on Thursday evening at 7.30pm. $15. We’ll be learning the basics of watercolour which will be lots of fun.

If you enjoy making art you might be interested in joining in Alphington Arts. It is a social arts group that casually shares skills and explores a different art experience each month. So far we have had a go at things like weaving, life drawing (people and animals), basket making, print making … and now watercolour.

Jump on our website to book in if you are interested.

And … don’t forget that our Winter Arts Salon opens on Friday night. Come along and check it out from 5pm. Or pop in over the weekend. Details below.

If food is more your thing we are cooking with a middle eastern vibe today at Garden to Plate … and our hero ingredient will be quince.

We also have our Preserves Group meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) at 1pm. Come along and help us cook up seasonal ingredients. We’re still hoping for a donation of local fruit … oranges, lemons, limes, cumquats … please let us know if you can contribute fruit … and of course you are always welcome to come along and join in the cooking process!

And then there are all the usual things - Alphington Playgroup on Wednesday (here), Line Dancing on Wednesday (at the Alphington Scout Hall), the Alphingtones Choir on Thursdays (at St Andrews in Fairfield) etc.

Also … our next Op Shop Adventure is coming up on Tuesday 2 September (10am). We’ll be heading over the Abbotsford for this one. Book in for $5. BYO MIKI. We’ll catch the train, visit two op shops and stop along the way for lunch on Victoria Street. Fun. Yum.

Looking forward the busy arty week ahead. Hope to see you!

Cheers Leanne

Join us for an arty weekend! We’re looking forward to the upcoming Winter Arts Salon exhibition!

Works will arrive by 3pm on Thursday 21 August … and we’ll start hanging … the exhibition will open on 22 August - Friday night at 5pm. We already have more than 30 artist entries including people we know and also some new participants - so it is going to be great!

The exhibition will be open all weekend - Saturday and Sunday from 10am-3pm.

Put it in your diary and come along!

Leanne here. I had a fabulous experience on Tuesday - attending the Kelvin Club in the city for a Medal of the Order of Timor-Leste ceremony. President Jose Ramos-Horta presented the medals to 26 Australian/Timor friendship groups, along with some individuals and the College of Eye Surgeons.

The medals themselves are quite beautiful (check out the photos) but the speech he gave was amazing. It was truly fascinating to hear first hand stories about the support that Australian individuals and organisations provided to him personally and to the independence movement in Timor-Leste. So many people in the room had truly done amazing things.

So I felt so lucky to attend. It has been a very rewarding experience to be part of Friends of Baucau for the last 5 years on behalf of our neighbourhood house … supporting on the ground projects led by locals in Timor including supporting a women’s shelter, local schools and kinders, community arts initiatives, natural disaster recovery projects, micro-business programs and other women’s empowerment programs.

And did you know you can contribute too? Just buy the Friends of Baucau coffee from Juliet at the milkbar (or us) … and all the profits go straight back into these types of super initiatives … Friends of Baucau is a volunteer organisation, so the money really is channelled straight back to the Baucau community.

We’re gearing up for creativity for Adult Learners Week this year with an installation at Fairfield Library.

We’re taking a trip down memory lane … replicating old library cards and pockets … and getting out date stamps to explore ‘books that stay with us’. Our project called ‘Due Back’ will be at Fairfield Library from 1 September … pop in and check it out - and add your two bobs!

Neighbourhood houses and libraries provide amazing community resources for life long learning and we’re excited to have the opportunity to highlight this through this fun and interesting (we trust) interactive community arts installation.

Lovely to see everyone last week with the resumption of Crunch, Garden to Plate etc.

I (we) hope to see more of you this week!

Please note that Kalimna will be out of the office on Tuesday this week - and I have an exciting afternoon - attending a ceremony on behalf of Friends of Baucau - 26 friendship groups will be awarded the Order of Timor-Leste by President Jose Ramos-Horta. You may remember that Darebin Neighbourhood Houses had the opportunity to travel to Timor-Leste in 2019 with Friends of Baucau - and I have been on the committee ever since providing neighbourhood house input.

So … our office will be unattended but please email if you need anything and I will check in.

Our Men’s Breakfast on Saturday had 13 attendees planning to come along which was super for our first one … and I am looking forward to catching up with John this week to see how it went.

A reminder that 2nd Monday Book Club is on tonight, and that Line Dancing and Sound Healing are on Wednesday.

Also that Community Lunch is on Friday.

Finally … lock in Friday 22 August from 5-7pm and join us for the opening of our Winter Arts Salon Exhibition. Drinks and nibbles … and lots of local art! Always fun.

Have a great week.

Cheers Leanne