February 2025
Dear friends of SpringDale and friends I have yet to meet,
Last year finished with a flurry of activity, a dynamic team of volunteers helped to create more than 1,200 Christmas meals, which were served or delivered to community members. The meals were very well received by a wide range of people and I was so excited when our two final meals for approximately 200 people generated less than 6 litres of peelings or food scraps. (I was way too excited about this! To me it means we cooked the right food, presented the right amount and it was well received. Facts like this helps with evaluations.) Thank you to City of Greater Geelong for supporting this initiative with a Christmas Grant. Thank you to the many volunteers who helped make more than 500 single serve Christmas puddings (20% were gluten free and dairy free) and all our main meals. Some volunteers helped once and some helped with many meals.
Near the end of the year, SpringDale held its 35th Annual General Meeting, giving us a chance to reflect on many of the regular activities, partnerships, classes and events that were enjoyed in the previous 12 months. Our Annual Report is available in printed form from the SpringDale office to have or to borrow and is also available on the website https://home.springdale.org.au/2024-annual-report/ I believe one of the great opportunities that an Annual Report gives is to showcase for members and also for newcomers the breadth of activities and services that our organization provides.
One of the special activities that I did participate in was a research project, into artificial reefs for coastal protection.
Here is a link to the paper, that was the result of a great deal of local community input and research. https://nesp2climate.com.au/resource/artificial-reefs-for-coastal-protection/
Every day is quite different at SpringDale Neighbourhood Centre and even every few hours is quite different. Often most or all of our spaces are full of classes, groups, interviews or other activities. If you haven’t made it through our front door yet, please consider venturing through. Most people think we are friendly and welcoming and most people regret that they haven’t made the effort sooner. If I can, I would love to escort you on a tour of the Centre (that’s one of my favourite things to do.)
This year you’ll find a few differences in our Course and Opportunity Guide which is in the centre of this magazine. Hopefully there’ll be something that might interest you, or please let us know what you would like to present or do and hopefully we will be able to make that wish come true. More than 650 people are currently on our email list and if you would like to be kept up to date with changes as they happen please subscribe to this service on our website https://lists.springdale.org.au/phplist/?p=subscribe I promise not to bombard you with emails.
Looking forward to seeing you at SpringDale in the very near future.
Thanks for everything you do to help our wonderful community.
Yours kindly,
Anne Brackley OAM
Chief Enthusiasm Officer & Coordinator
SpringDale Neighbourhood Centre Inc.
