This week we were delighted to welcome a new group of men to use our community shed facilities on Friday morning.

They came along with support (eg. transport) and project supervision from two Merri-bek Council staff - as part of a program designed to help older men connect with each other and build community friendships.

The men were from North Fitzroy, Coburg etc. and I think it really is super to be able to share our resources across the inner northern suburbs - and also connect up with community development colleagues at a neighbouring Council.

They were a great fit for our Friday community morning program and we hope they come back into the foreseeable future.

We’re looking forward to sharing a cuppa and chat with them in future weeks and seeing the outcome off their hard work (they are working on constructing ride-on toys for toddlers).

Soup, slices and biscuits. We had a lovely lunch on Friday of delicious minestrone soup and my personal favourite, lemon slice. Yum! Thanks so much Alphington CWA friends for catering. Our community friends really appreciate your efforts.

We generally have around 14 or so people here each Friday at 11.30am for an early meal.

If you too are interested in coming along, you are very welcome. You can join us from 10am for gardening and/or craft, or just come for lunch at 11.30am.

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.

Despite the overall result for Australia, and even Victoria, people in our local community overwhelmingly voted yes to support self-determination for our First Nations neighbours, friends and colleagues to address the structural disadvantage they face in our society, and help close the gap.

At Alphington PS 79% of voters said yes, at Fairfield PS 82% said yes and at Perry Street Kindergarten 75% said yes.

Alphington Community Centre has an ongoing commitment to supporting the Uluru Statement from the Heart and we hope that beyond this referendum, momentum garnered in communities like ours can help move things forward, and we can together create a fairer and more just society.

We’re super excited about Music from the Wetlands! Such a fun and fabulous family day down by the Yarra at the bottom of View Street. It is coming up on Sunday 19 November starting at 11am … and we’ll be doing our bit running the kids activities again - put it in your diary and come along for a super relaxing neighbourhood day - and don’t forget to pop in and say hello to us!