Great to have our local State MP Kat Theophanous pop in this week to talk about our news, the toy library, our AGM etc.

We’ve had some fabulous support from the State Government in the last few years with additional grants and funding.

As you know, we generally get by on the smell of an oily rag, so these one-off investments are amazing opportunities for us …

Our annual report is now printed for the 2022/23 financial year, presented at our Annual General Meeting on Monday night. Thanks so much to everyone who came along for our meeting and dinner. It was great for our staff, volunteers, Committee and neighbourhood friends to get the chance to chat and learn more about either other.

Keen to read all the amazing things we did in 2022/23? You can check out our annual report here!

I think I forgot to mention that we (with all the other houses in Yarra) launched our Yarra Neighbourhood House Network Climate Action and Resilience Plan a week or so ago.

With fantastic support for Council staff we developed both an individual plan for our house and a shared plan for all of Yarra’s houses.

You can click on the links above to check them out.

It really is super to be taking this type of positive action, and amazing to be working collegiately with Council to think about how neighbourhood houses can make a difference as the impacts of climate change become more obvious. Having the plans also helps us prioritise grant opportunities as they come along, and share our agenda and now clearly articulated capability in this space, more clearly.

I also had the privilege of attending a VCOSS (Victorian Council of Social Services) ‘heatwave scenario planning’ workshop with about 40 other key social services representatives across greater Melbourne in the school holidays.

So it has been a really interesting and immersive month of climate change activity here at ACC.

Come along … come along! 10-12 Wednesdays we have a lovely mix of families who are regularly attending our Playtime in the Garden. There are mums and dads and grandparents and carers … and Lee sets up creative activities - and even makes cups of tea (or you can help yourself … or buy a fancy coffee next door!) What more could you ask for?

With rain and sunshine and warm weather our garden is looking fabulous at the minute. Some beautiful pale blue ixia bulbs have popped up in our front garden. Clare tells me they are from a donation in the seed library - so thanks for sharing neighbourhood friends!

We’ve started growing spring seedlings, and over the holidays Clare took our tomato seedlings home (along with some basil seedlings I think she said) to keep an eye on them, and they are now starting to look strong and healthy … so we should have some ready to give away in our seed library soon - keep an eye out if you haven’t got around to raising your own this year.

Last week Lee and Elena added some more hand-crafted bling to the very front corner. We’re trying to protect that garden bed as it gets established.

More generally all our programs are back up and running this week. AAA Arts recommenced last week, and our AAA Bowls along with our two Women in the Shed courses are starting mid week.

We have our AGM coming up very soon - let us know if you’d like to attend - and then two repair weekend workshops - clothes mending and bike repairs … these are part of the sustainability workshop series we’ve been running this semester with other houses in Yarra.

There’s always lots on at ACC. And we hope to see you here soon.