Community gathering spaces occupy a beating heart in the hills and remain a treasured way to plan vital resources and recreation in the coming year. Sassafras Hall has been busy despite the weather and encourages residents to pop in for planning for the New Year.
Sassafras Hall is an excellent venue for a range of activities, but the last few days of winds, rain and low cloud, have deterred people from coming out. However the hall will be open again on Saturday 16 December from 10am to 4pm for folks to drop in and take part in the ongoing community consultation to explore how best to take things forward next year to use the Hall for community activities.
Last week at the regular Community Focus Friday session, the Hills Creative Alliance was joined by colleagues from Yarra Ranges Council to discuss developing community resilience, which is the latest recommendation as the key to being prepared to help one another, and also to be able to get the support needed locally. The Rotary Club of Lilydale is also supporting the development of a satellite rotary group and are supporting activities.
Fridays are also the focus for the Hills Creative Alliance’s Memories of the Storm writing workshops. Work has started now to put together a book and also for the stories of the storm and the ongoing challenges that so many people have found so difficult.
The Hills Creative Alliance has support from a range of agencies, to ensure that the reports and stories are archived, as a resource to remember and for researchers to refer to. One element that has come through is that people affected by the disaster when 25,000 gum trees fell in one night, 200 homes were damaged and quite a few people were quite badly hurt, don’t feel there was the recognition of this exceptional scenario that there should have been.
In cold and wet midwinter weather, with no power for up to three weeks, and during a time of Covid lockdown, it really was a very difficult time for many. Many families had to find accommodation elsewhere and some folks have never been able to return to the communities and the areas they loved. Also many of the stories of the amazing efforts that many people, organisations and services made over those weeks, have not been shared or even recognised. So, this is an opportunity to say some ‘thank yous’ as well.
The third edition of the new Hills Community Focus magazine will also be out this week. This initiative was started by the Hills Creative Alliance, supported by Emerald Community House and it is a great way to get involved, as there are always more features to collect. It’s also a great way to learn some of the tricks of the publishing trade, both in print and one line. The Friday morning sessions at Sassafras Community Hall are when all this comes together and we also do Zoom sessions to develop our skills and share ideas on Monday evenings.
Please contact Hills Creative Alliance Secretary: Liz Millman on 0412 970 050 or email lizmillman@yahoo.co.uk, to find out more about the opportunities to get involved, and also to talk about exploring what the ideas are around getting a rotary group going.
