The next repair workshop we are hosting will be a great one.

It runs on Saturday 21st October at 10am here at the Alphington Community Centre and costs $25.

This Bicycle Repair Workshop is an interactive, hands-on bike maintenance experience. It includes demonstrations and explanations of bicycle maintenance essentials, and opportunities for participants to practice on their own bikes.  

In the workshop you will learn:

• ABCD check: the essential safety check before every ride.

• Bike fit: how to set your seat at the correct height, and other adjustment related issues.

• Inner tube replacement: what to do when you get a flat tyre, what essentials to carry when riding.

• Puncture repair: how to use a patch-kit to patch a punctured tube (better for the environment).

• Brake adjustment: how to check and adjust your brakes, or replace brake pads as needed.

• If time allows and if it is of interest to the group, disc brake adjustment, care, maintenance, decontaminating, and pad replacement

• Chain replacement: what to do if your chain comes off during a ride.

• Drive-train clean and lube: how to keep clean and lube your drive-train to keep your bike running smoothly and extend the life of expensive components.

Book your place here. Places are limited.

Our clothing repair workshop is coming up in Term 4, on Saturday 28 October. It starts at 10am and costs $10.

If you’d like to repair your clothes but you don’t know how to sew, this workshop is for you!

Join professional mender Mary-Ellen Jordan to learn simple sewing skills that just use a needle and thread, before progressing to some more advanced skills such as decorative stitching and patching for funky visible repairs. This workshop will cover:

• Types of needles and thread and their uses

• Basic hand sewing stitches

• How to hand stitch up a seam that’s come undone

• How to hand stitch up a hem that’s come undone

• How to sew on a button

• How to make a patch and stitch it onto your garment

• Some fancier stitches to boost your visible mending game

• Ideas and tricks for visible mending

Bring along a garment that you’d like to repair, or just come along and use the available materials to learn the techniques for future use.

Mary-Ellen Jordan is a professional mender who almost always uses simple hand stitching techniques in her work. She specialises in visible mending, putting a contemporary twist on traditional mending techniques by using them to fix a problem and add a touch of colour, pattern or texture to the garment. You can see some examples on Mary-Ellen’s facebook and instagram accounts @thetinyinstitute.

Book your place here.

We still have places available in our upcoming Repair workshops if you are keen to book in …

Sewing Machine Maintenance on Saturday 29th July from 10am

Lamp Repair Workshop on Saturday 5th August from 10am.

Overlocker Maintenance on Saturday 12th August from 10am.

These workshops are subsidised by Sustainability Victoria so you can learn how to repair and maintain things yourself - rather than throwing them away.

Hi Leanne here. We’ve had a busy couple of weeks with lots of new things happening at ACC.

Last week our Women in the Shed and AAA Bowls programs started up for the term. It was lovely to welcome new faces and people who have been along before. Women in the Shed is full but we always welcome people to AAA Bowls - if you know anyone who might be keen! It is a wonderful program that is led by Jill and supported by a team of generous volunteers from Alphington Bowls Club.

On Wednesday last week we started up our Podcasting 101 course. And there is still 1 spot available - we can catch you up - it is not too late. We have Declan Fay teaching the course. He has an amazing wealth of knowledge in this field, having worked extensively in comedy and radio and on a variety of podcasts including writing the narrative podcast Crossbread and he is a fabulous teacher and story teller. If you are interested you can book in here.

Our community mornings on Fridays are going great - we have a regular crew of gardeners working with Clare to keep our grounds shipshape and productive - and we have had an influx of crafters this month from GenU - it has been wonderful to connect up our organisations more and also to meet some lovely and enthusiastic new knitters, crocheters and stitchers. In the afternoons our AAA Arts group is growing and evolving with Clare leading the way and Hazel and Corrado volunteering weekly.

Speaking of which, our partnership with CWA Alphington has been super - we had sausage rolls and chocolate chip biscuits for morning tea last week - delicious!

In addition to this we have a new Men’s Support Group running on Monday evenings in the Shed and Yoyo in building up her Violin classes. She is currently studying at VCA and is just lovely if you think violin is your thing! If you are interested in either of these please don’t hesitate to email us info@alphington.org.au.

Over the last two weekends we’ve also run two workshops - Recycled Timber Design and PIllow Talk. We trust everyone that attended had a great time and walked away with new skills and knowledge. It is fabulous when local community members come along and share their skills and talents with the community!

We’re also busy working with the Yarra Neighbourhood Houses and Yarra Council on a Climate Change Resilience Plan - similiar to the one we did with Darebin a few years ago. Connecting our community, responding quickly to need, making sure the most vulnerable are looked after and out for, and equipping people with skills and knowledge - these are all the bread and butter things that neighbourhood houses do every day - and our adaptive, flexible and responsive framework will serve our community well as we start to collectively consider the impacts of a changing climate, whether that be more hotter days, more severe weather events etc.

This week Kalimna and I will be out of the office from Wednesday afternoon through to Friday as we are off to the annual Neighbourhood Houses Victoria conference. Lee will be here Wednesday afternoon and Clare will be here from 9.30am-3pm on Thursday and Friday to keep things going.

So finally … we’ll start our programming for next semester soon. If you have any ideas we’d love to hear from you! Send us a email or give Leanne a call. And we hope you have a great week!

This term at ACC we are delighted to have our friends from Alphington CWA helping us out with the catering for our morning teas /sort of early light lunches that are on at 11.30am each Friday during school term, outside under the pergola in the front garden.

Our gardeners, shedders and crafters come together each week after an active/creative morning, to share a cuppa and a some delicious food and a chat.

The first week of our new arrangement went swimmingly, everyone LOVED the food that was provided … AND we’re all quite excited to see what turns up next week … thanks Alphington CWA (Silvana and Miranda in particular this week).

If you are a local who enjoys gardening or crafting or making or chatting … please join us on a Friday morning from 10am for our community morning. You can come along regularly, or pop in more randomly. There’s a great bunch of lovely welcoming people here, and a super-friendly outdoor program you can join in led by Clare.

And if you are interested in joining the Alphington CWA they meet just around the corner at the Darebin Parklands Rangers Offices, in the Gleeson Room on the first Monday of the month at 7.30pm.