Our AAA Arts group is having a great time on Fridays this term, working together on an outdoor timber sculpture to brighten up our garden beds on the corner.

The project is utilising scrap timber offcuts, and there has been lots of painting, followed by drilling and screwing going on.

It is fabulous to see participants being so creative, learning new skills and gaining confidence to do new things. We’re very fortunate to have great support for this program with Corrado and Hazel volunteering weekly. It makes such a difference to what we can offer activity-wise.

Keep an eye on our gardens over the next few weeks if you are passing by - to admire the results!

On Friday afternoons we always enjoy our access all abilities art group. It run by Clare and supported by Corrado and Hazel, our wonderful volunteers. We have a super mix of people attending to work on mixed media group and individual projects each week.

Here is one of the latest group pieces, made from paper. It is up on the wall in the Community Shed.

Hi, we are really looking forward to saying hello to everyone as we resume our action packed Friday program. It has been great to get some phone calls and emails from our regulars already.

This year we will be running a similar program to last year - but with a few tweaks to the timing of things, so please note …

Community Gardening/SHEd

From 10am, come along and join Clare and Corrado outside as they work to improve our lovely grounds. Over the year you will have the opportunity to learn about growing and maintaining an urban orchard and vegetable garden, composting and pruning and how to save seeds, grow seedlings … all the things! And depending on interest, there is also the opportunity to work collectively on small scale projects in our community shed.

If you have passed by recently you will see that our raised garden beds will be looking for some love after a month of wild growing (the tomatoes definitely need staking!). And as always I am sure Clare has lots of creative plans for the year ... This is a great opportunity to meet local people. No need to enrol, just come along with your hat and gloves and join in.

Community Craft

From 10.30am we’ll be running our inside craft group - suitable for knitters and crocheters etc. We are always delighted to welcome new people of all abilities and skill levels to join in. Bring your own materials along if you’d like to work on your own project, or you can use our donated stash if you’d like to make things that we can sell to support the program. Again, no need to book, just come along and join in.

Community Lunch

At 12pm you can join us for a light lunch. We’ll come together to enjoy foods such as pasta bakes, soup, toasties etc. with a cup of tea or coffee and dessert, including fruit. This program is supported by our lovely friends at the Alphington CWA who donate amazing sweet and savoury home cooked dishes. Yum!

AAA Art in the Shed

For anyone needing to access all abilities programs, you can join Clare, Corrado and Hazel from 1-2pm for some arty fun. This program is tailored to the interests of participants. It costs $5 weekly, and you must book in for the term on our website. Please note that places are limited.

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).

Our popular Women in the Shed course recommences next week - and there are a couple of spots left in the Intermediate class.

if you are keen to repair items around your house or make something from scratch, this is a great opportunity to access our tools and Maylei’s knowledge - whilst hanging out with other lovely people.

You can book in here.