Hi everyone,

Lots happening this week in the lead up to our Christmas Makers’ Market this Saturday the 22nd of November! The weather is looking good - touch wood - and it’s shaping up to be a lovely day to celebrate another great year here at ACC. We have 25 stalls this year, so lots of opportunities to find perfect gifts.

And while you are shopping we’ll be running Christmas craft activities to keep the kids entertained, and naturally a barbecue to keep everyone happy. We’re also looking for volunteers to help out on the day - see more details later in this newsletter.

Alphington Open Studios will also be starting this weekend, and the inside of the centre will we transformed into a gallery space on both Saturday and Sunday to feature some awesome local artists. How exciting!

And before all this we have another great program lined up this week:

• Garden to Plate this morning from 11.30am-1pm - book online

• 3rd Monday of the Month Book Club tonight 7-8.30pm

• Tomorrow from 1-3pm we are running a special Preserves Group in preparation for the market on Saturday. We will be making jams, pickles and relishes, and we encourage everyone to come along if you can! And donate small clean jars if you have them hanging around …

• Toy Library will also be open tomorrow from 1-3pm

• And 3rd Tuesday of the Month Book Club will be meetomg tomorrow evening 7.30-9pm

• AAA Bowls at Alphington Bowls Club, Line Dancing at the Scout Hall and Alphington Playgroup here at the Centre Wednesday morning from 10am-12pm

• Armchair Theatre Wednesday from 1-3pm

• Crunch on Thursday from 12.30-2pm

• Alphington Arts will be running Thursday evening from 7.30-9.30pm and we will doing linocuts to make Christmas cards! This is a super fun activity and a great way to get into the Christmas spirit. We hope to see you there! Book in online.

• Community Garden and Craft Friday morning from 10am-12pm

• Community Lunch Friday 12-1pm

• AAA Art Friday 1-2pm

Looking forward to a very Christmassy week!

Cheers Leanne

Hello,

If you have some time on Saturday between 11am-2pm and would like to help us at the Christmas Makers Market please email Kalimna - info@alphington.org.au.

Anne and Monica admiring the stock!

We would love some friendly volunteers to help us sell, coffee, craft and preserves and we’d also really appreciate a hand with the sausage sizzle.

Our Christmas Makers Market is on Saturday 22nd of November from 11am-2pm. The weather looks hopeful and we have lots of stallholders booked in …. so we look forward to seeing you there.

The Kiosk all set up and ready for business.

Kevin cooking up a storm.

A date for your diary.

It’s that time of year again… the weather is warming up, the magpies have nearly finished swooping, and our very creative community are working hard to provide another classic Christmas Makers Market. This year it will be on Saturday the 22nd of November from 11am - 2pm.

We’ll have a whole lot of great stalls selling things by talented locals, including the CWA, and our own jams and preserves, a sausage sizzle (obviously) and fun Christmassy kids’ activities.

Get in some early Christmas shopping and enjoy the (hopefully) lovely weather, and catch up with friends in the local community!

Alphington Playgroup is back on Wednesday morning. Come along from 10am-12pm and make some local friends in the garden. Lots of lovely people attend (kids of course, and mums and dads and grandparents and carers) and there is space inside on rainy days. It costs $5 weekly. We’d love to see you.

AND … did you know we have Alphington Toy Library open at the same time? Well, Tuesdays AND Wednesdays … You can borrow up to 4 toys for 2 week bursts. Great for clutter busting at home, good for the environment … join up for $50 a year!

Also … we offer Birthday Party Hire of our space on Sundays. You can choose a morning or afternoon slot. 4 hours from $165. It saves you from cleaning your house and we have lots of great supplies on site to reduce single use plastic. If you are interested just visit our website to check out available times and book in.

Did you know you can rent our space for children’s birthday parties on Sundays?

You can book in for the morning or the afternoon, and it costs $150 +GST for the main room and undercover space out the back - with access to the kitchen (and toilet of course). Perfect for a small party with enough room for eating and party games inside or out depending on the weather …

Or if you need a bit more space you can add on the dining room and front yard for an additional $100 +GST.

We let our hirers use all our plates, glasses, platters, cutlery etc. which means that the parties can be more sustainable … and of course for mums and dads - they don’t have to vacuum their own house (and clean behind the couch) for visitors.

If you are interested in birthday party hire visit our venue hire page to find out the available dates for the rest of the year.