The Things We Get Up To
These photos show some of the annual events that have become part of the yearly rhythm in the West Beacy Bunch. We hope they might inspire you to try some in your neighbourhood!
Vision Board Session – Renie gets everyone together to make a “vision board” by cutting out pictures or words that inspire you from old magazines. You can consciously think of goals you have or just randomly choose pictures and see what eventuates. Renie does this with a small group of 10 but you could make it bigger if you had more magazines. Everyone brings scissors, glue and a piece of card or paper big enough for their board. At the end we all share our boards.
Sharing what you know.
We have many people with skills in a certain area, and others who want to learn. We have had sessions on using your phone camera, felt making, rag rug making, basket weaving, basic pottery, first nation language lessons, paper cutting, art flow, how to make kombucha, snorkelling, meditation, basic sketching, knitting, making Christmas wreaths, making paper lanterns, making pickled veggies, and Indonesian cooking classes. These sessions are very popular and always fill quickly. People love learning new things.
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Long Table Dinner
Whitney organises this major event. It is basically like a giant potluck. She holds it down the middle of Delamere Lane.We all bring out tables and chairs, tablecloths and flowers from our garden to decorate. A local musician supplies music. Everyone brings their own crockery and drinks etc (think picnic style) so there is no washing up. The Long Table dinner really is the event of the year!
Annual Food Events
Each year Kate and Kelly organise our Winter Solstice Bonfire with some sort of food people can cook on the fire.
Valmai is in charge of the Soup and Slice night – everyone brings either their favourite soup or slice.
The Harvest Dinner is hosted by Mandy from the Moran Plot Community Verge Garden. People try and bring a dish to share using something they have grown.
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Kids’ Drawing Sessions.
Once a year Shani gets the kids together to do the drawings for our flyers for the year – it’s a bit like a production line. We write the topic on the top of the paper and the kids draw a small picture they feel represents that topic. It means making the flyers is a breeze!
Movie Nights – kids and/ or adults.
Whitney organises the screening of movies in our local park or someone’s back yard, using power from the closest neighbour and sheet as a screen. We've had great success screening old classics that everyone can enjoy (eg Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Star Wars, ET)
Olive Pick and Press.
There are lots of street olive trees in our area and each year we all pick over one weekend and send the olives off to be pressed for oil. We usually pick about 1000 kilos.
Once the oil has settled we get together again to decant it and enjoy morning tea together.
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Clothes Swap
Michaela organises this annual event. It’s simple – everyone brings clothes from their wardrobe they no long want, you lay them all out on tables and people go through them. We play a game to start the night where everyone chooses a piece of clothing and tells the story of where it came from and why they are getting rid of it.
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International Play On Your Porch Day.
Tim organises this every year. All you need is a porch and some musicians (every community has a few hidden away) They can just perform and jam together or you can invite an audience as well. Tim puts up a chalk board with 15 minute time slots, but people can just perform one song they know. People bring snacks to share.
Christmas Picnic and Carol’s Night
This is another annual event. We have a pianist who leads us in some Christmas carol singing and we have a craft activity for the kids. Everyone enjoys a shared picnic together. Family and friends can come to this event, and we have lots of discussion about how we operate – spreading the word!
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Snap Crackle Pop Games Night
Tim runs this very popular games night - the funniest night of the year. The game is a mixture of taboo, charades and pick the word. We cannot recommend it enough - it’s always a winner! If you need an explanation as to how to play - get in touch.
Bake Off
Belinda's Bake Off is another annual event for us. It’s a competition and afternoon tea. Categories are sweet, savoury and kids. The winner from the year before acts as judge. The prize is a wooden spoon on a trophy board that is passed on the next year.
Bike Budz.
This community group runs a weekly bike fixing session and comes to our neighbourhood a couple of times a year. People bring their bikes that need attention and they’ll teach you how to fix it yourself.
T Shirt Printing .
We have a logo which Shani got made into a reso print. We buy secondhand t-shirts in various sizes and print up a pile of T shirts. It means our neighbourhood is full of multi coloured West Beacy bunch shirts! No one shirt is the same except for a common logo – like our neighbourhood!
Monthly Pub Dinner
Once a month Whitney organises us all to walk down to dinner at "The Local". Sometimes 5 people go, sometimes 30. A great time is had by all!
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There are also events that have been one offs when someone got particularly excited about running something - anyone can join in. We've had writing workshops, Noongar language lessons, death cafes, lego play dates, water fights, a roaming pop up choir, a go cart race, a pet parade, table tennis night . . . . .
Who knows what might be next?