Last week we had our last session of Crunch for the term. It has been such a fabulous new program, and it has engaged a different cohort of locals - it is always nice to make new friends! Crunch will be back next term for another 6 weeks, starting Thursday 24 October.

Speaking of art, did you go to Art for All this weekend? I went along and saw so many people I knew - what a great event hey? We are so lucky to have so many fabulous parents in our community who run community events like Art for All and the Alphington PS Fete.

On Friday we were joined for lunch by our local State MP, Kat Theophanous. She came past to check out the renovations that were primarily funded by two State Government grants (with a bit of our own savings in there to top it up). She was very impressed with all the changes we made, and we also had a great chat about neighbourhood house funding, and how the State Government could continue to support us into the future.

This week Julie Johnston who runs the North East Neighbourhood House Network is taking some of our colleagues on a bus tour of all the Darebin neighbourhood houses … so we will be looking forward to them popping in on Wednesday for morning tea. I will be showing off all the changes we have made recently and talking about the programs we run here to meet our local community need, and also talking about the way we try to present ourselves in the community to build community engagement and establish a sense of place.

Speaking of which, have you seen the new ‘vases’ on the fence - a little celebration of spring for you to enjoy next time you pass by.

Coming up this week our Lemon Cleaner DIY mini-workshop on Thursday morning at 11am. $10. Clare will show you how to make your own environmentally friendly lemon based cleaner … and explore some other ideas for keeping your house fresh and environmentally friendly using things from the home garden. It will be low key and lovely! Find out more and book in here.

Also, click on the links below to find out more about our VCE Exam Help sessions that will run on Saturday afternoons in October. We are also offering a Meet The Candidates session or the upcoming Darebin Council elections.

Also, check out the learn to bowl opportunity sent through from Anne and the Alphington Bowls Club. Coming up this weekend.

Finally … our next Alphington Arts session is coming up next week - on Thursday 19 September at 7.30pm. We are going to be doing life drawing with a model this time - so it should be super fun! If you are interested in joining in you still can here. We have this session, and two more coming up next term.

I hope you have a great week and look forward to seeing you soon!

Leanne

This week we did a bit of a colour study in Crunch. And ate a yummy lunch (once again). Check out the pictures!

We have two more weeks coming up if you are keen to come along please book in here.

Our AAA Art group put some work in the Winter Arts Exhibition this year. And we took some photos of them in front of the 5 pieces once they were hung. Check them out …

Well done everyone involved.

We are expecting to have about 30 artists as part of our Winter Arts Exhibition this year. What we really love about this exhibition is that it is so inclusive. Anyone can enter works. So … some works are by well established artists whilst others are by emerging artists. It is lovely to see the mix!

The Exhibition runs Saturday and Sunday 10am - 4pm, with a fun opening night on this Friday from 5 - 7pm. Come along!

We are thrilled that our AAA Arts group will enter some works this year. Our access all abilities programs are run by staff but supported by generous locals who volunteer their time weekly to help us ensure that everyone in our community has the opportunity to do the things they most enjoy.

Here are some process pictures.

8 people at Crunch last week. It was super! We ate a Penang chicken curry with rice for lunch, had a coffee and a chocolate chip bikkie, and headed out to the Community Shed for some sketching using ink and sticks for mark making.

It was fabulous to see all the different works that were produced, and to see everyone chatting as we ate and then absorbed in creativity when we were in the shed.

If you are keen to join in you can book in online.

All the fresh vegies chopped up ready for the curry!