At ACC we offer a number of great things for young families.

On Mondays we have a Czech and Slovak Playgroup. So … if you have a Czech or Slovak background (or know a young family who does) you might like to think about joining/recommending this playgroup - a fun and friendly group of families that come along each week to share language, lunch and life. Find our more and join up here.

Lego Club is an after school activity for primary school aged children running on Mondays again this year. Cat runs this fabulous structured program that has a clear focus each week, such as building a bridge or a house. She brings along the right Lego for the project and documents the wonderful creations for each child - so that even though the hard work is sadly dismantled, it can be remembered for ever! If you have a child who loves Lego this could be just the program you are looking for. Email Cat at learnitprograms@gmail.com to find out more.

On Tuesday mornings we offer a MyTime Peer Support Playgroup. This playgroup is led by the very kind-hearted, generous and caring Sue Lenzi, who is a social worker and counsellor. It is linked in with Downs Syndrome Victoria, and any and all families are welcome to attend, but it is particularly great for families needing extra support, as Sue is there for a regular chat and can help you along the way with whatever you need. It is ideal for parents with post natal depression, families with English as a second language, families that are managing young children with disabilities etc. To facilitate conversational opportunities with Sue this playgroup has the extra assistance of Gianna, who is the playgroup assistant. She sets out activities and keeps the kids occupied. Sounds like something you (or someone you know) could be interested in? Find out more and/or book in here.

On Wednesdays this year we are opening up our yard for casual drop in community Playtime in the Garden from 10am-12pm. Families are invited to come along by themselves or with friends and use our sandpit and mud kitchen etc. As we progress and get more organised we’ll have some weekly activities out for families to help themselves to. Grab a coffee next door and make the most of our secure play spaces (note we are in the middle or renovating our front garden, but we’re expecting it to be open and fully operational early March) or sit out on the corner and keep your kids entertained with our chalk drawing box.

And then we have our Toy Library open at the same time as Playtime in the Garden. So you can pop in and borrow toys. Note we’re just in the process of rejigging this service, and thinking of putting together some packs that can be reserved online. We’ll keep you updated on how this pans out.

On Thursdays the very lovely Maimi hosts 2 wonderful Japanese Kilin Playgroups. These playgroups are (as the name suggests) run in Japanese and are quite structured with songs, books, written exercises, cooking and activities for children. From the office it looks and sounds like the kids have a great time! If you are keen to find out more email maimiclass@gmail.com.

And … we’re open to more ideas. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you are part of a playgroup needing a new home, or if you are looking for a place to run after-school kids activities. We’re always keen on building the services we offer the young families in our community!

Hi friends, remember … this year if you’ve come home from holidays and your parsley, coriander or silverbeet has bolted you can feel happy instead of sad … and take the opportunity to save the seeds for our new Street Seed Library.

The library was installed by Darebin Council around November, and is all about encouraging sustainable food options, connecting up us locals with backyard veggie patches (we’ve all pretty much got one of some description right?) and building community connections through sharing and caring.

Not sure how to save seeds? Just jump on the interwebs (google, YouTube etc.) to find out exactly how and when to harvest and package your seeds, and then … when you are next passing by, you can leave them in our Street Seed Library for someone else to collect. And at the same time you can see if anyone has left seeds that could be your next crop. Neighbourhood loveliness … neighbourhoodliness!

Our new brochure is out. We’ve created a trimmed down version for semester 1 2021. You can read it here. It is jam packed with old favourites like playgroups and choir and new ideas including a range of short courses, workshops and events you can book in to.

• Women in the Shed is back on Monday (for beginners), Tuesday and Thursday for 6 weeks in Term 1 and 2.

• Our free Access All Abilities Bowls program run with Alphington Bowls Club is back for 6 weeks in term 1 and 2.

• Our new Drawing in the Shed short course will also run for 6 weeks in Term 1 and 2. Run by local artist Louisa, this is a low-cost opportunity for all members of the community to develop the observation and co-ordination skills necessary to make creative drawings in any style. It will cover contour drawing, creating creative compositions, drawing with perspective and more.

• In 2019 we had Gordon come along and run a sewing machine maintenance workshop. It was a fantastic morning and so we’ve rebooked him this year. On Saturday 1 May he will run a sewing machine maintenance workshop and then on Saturday 17 June he will run an overlocker maintenance workshop.

• Local Manu is keen to share her Indian cooking skills with us … starting with a chai tea making workshop (Sunday 9 May). $20. Book here.

• Our History Walk is back! Join local Anne and other history buffs for a stroll around South Alphington on Sunday 16 May from 2pm.

• And finally … Home maintenance 101. It’s a maintenance kind of year it seems … and on the weekend of 19 & 20 June we’re offering a two day workshop (only $50 with Learn Local funding) all about building home maintenance skills. How to unblock a drain, how to stop a cistern running, how to fix a hose leak, how to hang pictures and fix cracks in plaster. How to fix windows that stick … (depending how old your house is the list goes on and on right?).

Book in online today.

At ACC we try to offer a wide range of opportunities for people to meet their neighbours, to make friends in the community, and to build, explore and share their skills and knowledge.

We run a number of activities that are self-led or run by a generous volunteer. These include Czech and Slovak Playgroup, Ukulele, Line Dancing and the like. For these programs we ask all attendees to contribute $5 per week (no matter how long the session lasts) to keep the lights on and the heater heating etc.

We also support a number of micro-businesses that provide services that fit in with our programming goals. Small business owners/sole traders running these programs set their own fees and we support them with low room hire rates (again $5 per attendee) and publicity. These programs include Jane’s Group Harp, Cat’s Lego Club and Matthew’s Guitar Lessons (about to start up).

Then we run a number of tutored programs, where we spread a small bucket of money that comes from Darebin Council and Yarra Council as widely as possible, prioritising community building and community need.

In the first half of 2021 we will fully subsidise Jill to run our very successful and long-standing AAA Bowls program (a partnership with Alphington Bowls Club) and Jenny to oversee our Friday community morning program that includes Community Craft, Gardening Group and Morning Tea on the Corner.

Then with the remaining program funding we will partially subsidising our tutored/supervised Community Shed sessions.

These programs will cost $5 per hour per participant (still a bargain) and we’ll need a minimum of 6 people booked in by the term for them to run.

Of course, we also tap into other funding where ever possible. We always have our eyes open and our ears to the ground … last year we partnered with MyTime to support our Peer Support Playgroup for example. And we get one-off grants from wonderful community support organisations such as Clifton Hill/North Fitzroy Community Bank who have previously provided funding for our Community Lunches and our Gardening Group … and this coming year will be supporting our History Group (more to come on this).

Our full program for 2021 will be out next week, and we’ll be featuring some of the new things on offer at ACC (and some old favourites as well) in our newsletter in coming weeks (with the links to book in).

We hope you can find something that you will enjoy being part of, and we look forward to seeing you onsite in the new year. Our programming will resume in the first week of February.

At ACC we are committed to demonstrating and promoting a lighter footprint on the earth as best we can. And we were absolutely delighted to be the recipients of a Yarra Valley Water grant - in the form of a plumber - who has been working his way around our centre improving our water efficiency last week and this week.

He’s changed taps in the kitchen and cisterns in the bathrooms - mostly invisible changes that make a difference to how much water we use, as well as installing a very visible new water tank to capture the rainwater from the roof of the community shed … so that we can water our community garden in a more sustainable way.

We’re pretty excited and very thankful to Yarra Valley Water. And we’re looking forward to now remodelling our community raised garden beds so that our gardening group can start growing leafy greens and other food crops that contribute to local food production and support things like low food mile cooking programs and community food relief.

Our new water tank mid installation …