Thanks to everyone who came to preserves last week. It was lovely to see you cooking and chatting, and the smells were amazing! What did we make?

We now have a winter fruit chutney and a zucchini pickle for sale. So pop past our office and buy some for your next cheese platter or ploughman’s lunch! You won’t be disappointed. Our preserves cost $7 and the profits made support access all abilities (AAA) programs.

Darebin Council has started the formal round of consultation on their next Council Plan. This is the strategic document that sets out their priority areas of action for the next few years - and subsequently steers their investment in our community.

So … this is your chance to have yours say - get in before the 1 September!

Here is the link to the very quick survey you can complete.

And … whilst you are thinking about rubbish bins and street planting and all the ratey- related things … don’t forget that Council also plays a fabulous role in building and supporting social services to help us all out at our more vulnerable times and make our lives better … (like their investment in kinders, maternal and child health care, aged services, neighbourhood houses, sporting clubs and facilities etc.) and are also advocates for the interests of our community at higher levels of government … including encouraging practical action around wicked problems like climate change, immigration policy, gambling harm etc.

It is great to think strategically about how you would like Council to invest their $$ locally - and this is your chance to let them know!

Well it has all been art, art, art this weekend, with our Winter Arts Exhibition running Friday night, Saturday and Sunday.

With 40+ artists work on display, and over 120 works in the show there was a super range of art to enjoy.

We had lots of people come along to enjoy the art accompanied by drinks and nibbles in our lovely new spaces on Friday evening … and works sold - which made the artists happy, I am sure! Then a steady stream of visitors over the weekend. It is great to be able to partner with local artists and support their practice. It is also a thrill for us to be able to provide unique opportunities for our community. There were lots of people who came along who we don’t normally see at ACC - and that is fabulous!

Thanks to all the artists who participated in the show and to everyone who came along.

We are looking forward to touching base with everyone this week as they collect their works and congratulating those who bought a piece as they also drop by to collect them. A reminder that our office is open 9am-3.30pm Monday to Friday.

And … time doesn’t stop! This week we have our:

• Preserves Group on Tuesday afternoon from 1-3pm. It will be super to top up our preserves that we have for sale after a busy weekend of sales at the Winter Arts Exhibition.

• Movie Club on Tuesday evening - we’ll be Iris and the Men at 6pm at Westgarth Cinema if you are interested in coming along please let us know.

• Life Journaling workshop series starting this coming weekend, from 10am-12pm. It runs for 4 weeks with journalist Carmela Ferraro here to help you write your autobiography! How fun! It should be really super. Book in ASAP if you are interested here. We will need minimum numbers for it to go ahead.

Looking forward to seeing you at ACC soon.

Leanne

Did you know we have a defibrillator at ACC? We’ve now permanently located it under the new pergola in the backyard. With a very prominent sign on our new pod building. So it is available for our whole community to access in an emergency 24/7.

Defibrillators save lives and are so easy to use!

This one literally talks you through the whole process. Where to put the pads … how to send the shock, when to stand back, when to do chest compressions …

We hope it never needs to be used but are super pleased to have it available for community use.

Well … a busy latter half of the week for exciting visitors …

On Thursday we had Kerry McGrath who is the General Manager of Community Strengthening at Yarra Council come past for a mini tour and chat. She is currently visiting all the houses in Yarra - which is so great because each one is so different. It was lovely to talk to you Kerry.

We really appreciate the investment that Yarra Council makes in neighbourhood houses - both financially and collegiately (so many nice people there that we work alongside to deliver shared services for our local community).

Then on Friday Keir Paterson from NHVic (our peak body) joined us for lunch … before a mix of our participants joined in a formal focus group with him and some masters students from Melbourne Uni.

NHVic is putting together a report looking into what makes people first come to neighbourhood houses - and then stay engaged. They are thinking about things like placemaking (if houses look interesting from the street does that encourage people to come inside) along with programs, events, social connection etc. etc.

As you possibly know, we have done lots of placemaking things at ACC - from changing our fences and office location so you can see we are ’home’, to all our lovely dinky signs, murals, mosaics, metal sculptures and yarn bombing in our gorgeous garden … and then there is the table tennis table, the mini golf green … also the interactive art on our fence and the book and seed exchanges. All these things make us a memorable location in the neighbourhood and encourage our community to casually interact with us … creating a feeling of friendliness and connection - before people even walk in the door!

Anyway … it is super for our locals to have the opportunity to feed into these sorts of statewide discussions. Thanks NHVic for approaching us to be part of it all!

Apart from this excitement we had a relatively quiet week with both Kalimna and I being sick … aagh. It seems we are not alone, it’s like an endless roundabout of illness at the minute isn’t it?

Anyway … onto cheerier subjects … this week we have some great things on including:

• Adult Exercise on Tuesday at 11am - it’s not too late to join in … call us if you are keen! We can do 3 weeks instead of 4. Only $15 a session - small group (you’ll get lots of love!)

• Community Playgroup on Wednesday from 10am-12pm. $5 weekly. It well attended and friendly.

• Crunch on Thursday from 12.30-2pm. We’re getting arty this week. $15 for lunch and creativity. Book in on our website (on the enrol page …)

• Our Community Morning on Friday from 10am-12pm, followed by Community Lunch at 12pm, gold coin donation if you can.

Also … put the opening night for our Winter Arts Exhibition in your diaries, Friday 16 August, 5-7pm. Come along and admire local art! We’ve heaps of entries already which is super!

We’ll have drinks and finger food - $5 a head donation. And … we’ll be officially opening our new spaces. How exciting.

Have a great week. See you soon (we hope).

Leanne