We’ve got a new brochure out for Semester 2. Hooray! It is full of lots of fun things to do. Here’s a a quick taste.

Neighbourhood Dinner

We’ll be running a new event - a Neighbourhood Dinner. It is on Tuesday 8 August (pretty soon) at 6pm. It is a ‘pot luck’ type dinner and you are invited to bring a plate of food to share and come along to sit down and chat and meet your neighbours. And we’ll probably need your help tidy up at the end. It is open for all ages and it would be super if you could RSVP by booking in here. Just so we can at least take guess at how many will be coming!

Women in the Shed

We have two courses starting in Term 3. Our introduction course will run on Thursday morning at 10am-12pm. This course costs $105 and is subsidised by ACFE funding. Then on Thursday afternoon we are offering an intermediate course that is full fee paying. In this class participants who have completed the beginners course can work on their own projects, still with a tutor available for supervision and continued learning. You can book in to both here.

Winter Art Exhibition

It is on again on the 19-20 August! We’ll organise drinks on the opening Friday night. Email us if you are an artist keen to join in and we’ll send you the link to enter works when we are back on deck. If you want to buy a ticket to the opening you can do so here.

Repair Workshops

Supported by Sustainability Victoria, who are investing in building a repair culture in our community, we’re offering a series of 6 workshops over the coming semester to help build community skills to keep things out of landfill. Check them out and book in to the ones with dates here.

Artful Painting and Drawing

Clare is running a new painting and drawing class here on Monday afternoons. it should be super! You can book in directly with her here.

Meditation

Local Susanna has approached us about running meditation classes on Wednesday evenings. We’ll put out more information in the coming days, but it should be super. Get in contact with her if you’d like to find out more on 0407561586.

As we approach the end of term 2 we’re all looking forward to a break so that we can return refreshed and ready to roll for the second half of the year.

So, firstly this is a reminder that we’ll finish up this Friday 23 June and take a two week break - then see you all on Monday 10 July bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready for term 3.

In this last week we’ll be working on the program for next semester.

We’ve had lots of people come and talk to us about new ideas which is just fabulous! We’ve had discussions about health, wellbeing and fitness classes, maternal/child health support, art classes, community art projects and more. So we’ll spend the week following these ideas up and seeing which ones we can get going.

And we’re also talking with our local artists from Alphington Open Studios about the dates for this year, and talking with the Music from the Wetlands committee about how we can best help out for that fabulous event (how EXCITING - it will be on again in late November, always such a wonderful day!).

We’re also super thrilled that our colleagues over in Richmond got a grant from Sustainability Victoria all about building a ‘repair’ culture. And they have invited us to be part of their workshop series. So we might have a bike repair workshop here, maybe Gordon back for Sewing Machine and Overlocker maintenance/repairs, and a session on how to repair a lamp … Sounds great hey (I’d love to know how to use a kit to rewire my lovely old standard lamp safely … ). Richmond are just in the process of working out what happens at which site!

We also have two students from The Academy of Mary Immaculate here this week, which will be just lovely. I am sure they will be very helpful in getting organised for the end of term. And also a great resource to tap into for programming ideas. Look out for them and make them feel welcome!

And finally I have included a photo from last week of the green tomato relish that our lovely preserves group made. The tomatoes came from Kalimna’s mum and dad who have a big garden - she brought in so many tomatoes that our cooks needed two sessions to get through them all. With donated glass jars and fabric and donated ingredients, our preserves group activities are not just about being productive and helping us fundraise whilst chatting and making community connections, but also about low food miles and recycling! It’s super isn’t it!

We’re super thrilled that Clare is going to run her Artful Painting and Drawing art class right here at ACC next term. We’re always getting enquires from people wanting to do art, so it is great to be able to offer this service. And especially so with someone as lovely as Clare.

The class will run on Monday afternoons from 1-3pm. The cost is $225 for 5 weeks ($45 per session) or $450 for 10 (the full term). Classes will start on Monday 10 July.

If you’d like to find out more about the content of the class you can visit Clare’s website swirlart.com.au. To book in give her a call on 0423 453 160.

Our garden has been spruced up by a delivery of compost. And we’d like to thank the volunteers who moved it into place, spreading it out across our site. And thank Darebin Council for the delivery. This year again we are receiving the FOGO compost - which is the compost made from our green waste bins … so … it’s entirely possible that your carrot peelings and cauliflower leaves (if you put them in your green waste bin) are now right here in the garden at ACC! Isn’t that a nice thought.

We’re about to (well in the next month we hope) plant more indigenous plants 🌱 out in our front corner garden that has been looking a little sad … we will give them the chance to settle in over winter and be ready to burst into life in spring! Fingers crossed.

If you are keen on gardening we have a lovely group of garden enthusiasts here on a Friday morning from 10am who help weed, rake leaves, save seeds, plant out beds, thin seedlings … and all the things. And anyone is very welcome to come along and help us improve our outdoor spaces, help grow community food and meet nice people! We’ll reward you with a delicious morning tea at 11.30am (catered by our CWA friends) to thank you for your contribution!

We were very excited to see that the State Government election commitment of $100,000 to support all the programs we run here at ACC, as announced by our local member Kat Theophanous, was in the budget this week! Hooray.

We always have a long wishlist of projects and programs that are just awaiting funding … and so we’re thrilled that we’ll be able to get cracking with them. Thanks Kat.