Last week Kalimna and I headed off to Silverwater Resort at San Remo for the annual Neighbourhood Houses Victoria (NHVic) Conference. NHVic is our peak body.

There are 400+ neighbourhood houses in Victoria, and of those, 25% have had new Executive Officers come on board in the last 3 years - so it was not just a chance to catch up with old friends (the last conference was pre-Covid times) but also an opportunity to talk to people new to the sector. Including Jen - who many of you will remember! She started our Women in the Shed program and has recently been appointed to run Garfield Neighbourhood House in Cardinia Shire - it was lovely to see her.

And we got lots of great ideas. Costa Georgiadis from Gardening Australia kicked things off with a talk all about how he goes about pitching gardening … making the stories engaging and entertaining. It was a great reminder. Jacinta Parsons from ABC radio was the keynote speaker at the dinner and talked about her chronic illness and how important community support is. And in between we heard from the new ACNC commissioner, got an update on the progress of the First Peoples Assembly in Victoria from Reuben Berg (amazing that we already have a fully operational Voice structure here in Victoria, that is well on the way to working toward the practical implementation of Truth and Treaty and we haven’t really heard much about it) and also talked and heard about community gardens, social enterprises, volunteering … and got inspired about all the things that we do day to day in neighbourhood houses.

It was a fabulous learning experience for both of us.

Hi Leanne here. We’ve had a busy couple of weeks with lots of new things happening at ACC.

Last week our Women in the Shed and AAA Bowls programs started up for the term. It was lovely to welcome new faces and people who have been along before. Women in the Shed is full but we always welcome people to AAA Bowls - if you know anyone who might be keen! It is a wonderful program that is led by Jill and supported by a team of generous volunteers from Alphington Bowls Club.

On Wednesday last week we started up our Podcasting 101 course. And there is still 1 spot available - we can catch you up - it is not too late. We have Declan Fay teaching the course. He has an amazing wealth of knowledge in this field, having worked extensively in comedy and radio and on a variety of podcasts including writing the narrative podcast Crossbread and he is a fabulous teacher and story teller. If you are interested you can book in here.

Our community mornings on Fridays are going great - we have a regular crew of gardeners working with Clare to keep our grounds shipshape and productive - and we have had an influx of crafters this month from GenU - it has been wonderful to connect up our organisations more and also to meet some lovely and enthusiastic new knitters, crocheters and stitchers. In the afternoons our AAA Arts group is growing and evolving with Clare leading the way and Hazel and Corrado volunteering weekly.

Speaking of which, our partnership with CWA Alphington has been super - we had sausage rolls and chocolate chip biscuits for morning tea last week - delicious!

In addition to this we have a new Men’s Support Group running on Monday evenings in the Shed and Yoyo in building up her Violin classes. She is currently studying at VCA and is just lovely if you think violin is your thing! If you are interested in either of these please don’t hesitate to email us info@alphington.org.au.

Over the last two weekends we’ve also run two workshops - Recycled Timber Design and PIllow Talk. We trust everyone that attended had a great time and walked away with new skills and knowledge. It is fabulous when local community members come along and share their skills and talents with the community!

We’re also busy working with the Yarra Neighbourhood Houses and Yarra Council on a Climate Change Resilience Plan - similiar to the one we did with Darebin a few years ago. Connecting our community, responding quickly to need, making sure the most vulnerable are looked after and out for, and equipping people with skills and knowledge - these are all the bread and butter things that neighbourhood houses do every day - and our adaptive, flexible and responsive framework will serve our community well as we start to collectively consider the impacts of a changing climate, whether that be more hotter days, more severe weather events etc.

This week Kalimna and I will be out of the office from Wednesday afternoon through to Friday as we are off to the annual Neighbourhood Houses Victoria conference. Lee will be here Wednesday afternoon and Clare will be here from 9.30am-3pm on Thursday and Friday to keep things going.

So finally … we’ll start our programming for next semester soon. If you have any ideas we’d love to hear from you! Send us a email or give Leanne a call. And we hope you have a great week!

Did you know if we have a new weekend playgroup on at ACC - for Italian speaking families? If you are interested in coming along and joining some young families in our garden then the next one is on Saturday13 May and then on every second Saturday for the rest of the term. The cost is $20 per term to join and you can book in on our website here.

This term at ACC we are delighted to have our friends from Alphington CWA helping us out with the catering for our morning teas /sort of early light lunches that are on at 11.30am each Friday during school term, outside under the pergola in the front garden.

Our gardeners, shedders and crafters come together each week after an active/creative morning, to share a cuppa and a some delicious food and a chat.

The first week of our new arrangement went swimmingly, everyone LOVED the food that was provided … AND we’re all quite excited to see what turns up next week … thanks Alphington CWA (Silvana and Miranda in particular this week).

If you are a local who enjoys gardening or crafting or making or chatting … please join us on a Friday morning from 10am for our community morning. You can come along regularly, or pop in more randomly. There’s a great bunch of lovely welcoming people here, and a super-friendly outdoor program you can join in led by Clare.

And if you are interested in joining the Alphington CWA they meet just around the corner at the Darebin Parklands Rangers Offices, in the Gleeson Room on the first Monday of the month at 7.30pm.

We often have people asking us for a weekend version of our Women in the Shed program, and here is a super taster for anyone wanting a gentle and practical introduction to working with timber! Lovely local artist Jane Hausseger is running our upcoming Recycled Timber Design Workshop next weekend on Saturday 6 May from 10am-12pm.

Jane will teach you how to make coffee paddles - small chopping boards - that can be used to serve food or coffee and would make lovely handmade gifts. In the workshop you will learn about selecting recycled timber, cutting, sanding and then dressing the timber with products that are suitable for food use.

It is a great introduction to recycling timber and you will walk away with a lovely product at the end. You can book in here. There are still two places available. So book in and come along.