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  Sustainable Neighbourhoods Lake Macquarie
Sustainable Neighbourhood News and Events

Picnic in the park
Roll out your picnic rug and catch up with friends, family and neighbours at the Toronto Picnic in the Park!
Pack a picnic dinner and enjoy an evening of music and games by the Lake with family and friends.
Friday 22 February, 5.30-7.30pm
Toronto foreshore
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Toxicity and chemicals
Discuss how to keep your family and the environment safe from possible toxins.
Monday 11 February, 5.30-6.30pm
MAPS meeting at the Uniting Church in the Trees, Morisset.
Please rsvp
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Boomerang Bags workshop
Volunteers have been making about 40 bags a month at these friendly workshops in 2018.
This year the workshops will be held on the last Sunday of the month, 10am-2pm
Find out more.

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Alliance Board meeting minutes
Do you want to keep up to date with decisions and actions of the Alliance Board? The monthly meeting minutes are usually emailed to those interested the day after the meeting. Please let us know if you'd like to join that email list.
The approved minutes are also available here.
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The psychology of climate change
One of our members sent through this interesting resource from the Australian Psychological Society discussing how to help people understand climate change, how to cope with it, and how to get involved in effectively addressing climate change.
These fact sheets along with the climate change empowerment handbook are available to download for free.
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Morning tea in the garden
Join the friendly bunch at the Holmesville Community garden for a morning tea on Sunday 31 March to celebrate Neighbour Day.
Find out more.
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Neighbour Day
Neighbour Day is coming up on Sunday 31 March. It's the perfect day to say thanks for being a great neighbour, connect with new neighbours, and feel part of your community.
Visit the Neighbour Day website to register your event and download a free kit to help celebrate Neighbour Day.
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Register your Clean Up Australia Day site
Clean Up Australia Day is back again on Sunday 3 March.
Register your site by Monday 11 February to ensure your event is included in Council’s Clean Up Australia Day promotions. 
Register a site, or contact Lucy at Council for more information.
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Year Planner
Happy 2019! We've updated our year planner for 2019.
Take a look to see what's coming up and help plan your year.
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Plant and produce swap
Reduce food waste and enjoy a chat! Neighbours bought their excess produce or plants to swap with other gardeners in December at Whitebridge.
Find out more.
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Wicking Garden Bed workshop
Learn how to construct a wicking garden bed to save water and maintenance, in Rathmines on 9 December.
Find out more.
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Holmesville Community Garden
Enjoy a morning tea to help celebrate the freshly opened Holmesville Community garden on 24 November.
Find out more.
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Waste to art
Challenge the way we look at waste at our Waste to Art exhibition. Check out the wonderful creations made for our 2018 exhibition. Keep an ear out for this year's exhibition details.
Find out more.

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Waste free Christmas
Are you dreaming of some gifts you can give without the waste?
Learn how to make beeswax wraps, body scrub, wreaths and crackers at this workshop in Cardiff on Saturday 18 November.
Find out more.
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Sustainable Christmas workshop
Learn how to make beeswax wraps, reusable produce bags and the art of Furoshiki (fabric gift wrapping) in these workshops on either 20 or 22 November.
Find out more.
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Celebrate Sustainable Neighbourhoods
We shared some afternoon tea and great ideas at our get together in November.
Find out more.
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Beeswax wrap workshop
About 20 participants learned how to make their own reusable wraps to replace plastic food wrap in November at Rathmines.
Read about how it went.
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Meet the Pelican Area Sustainable Neighbourhood Group
Volunteers from Pelican Area attended the Pelican Foreshore Markets to seek input about upcoming community projects.
Find out more.
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AGM and SGM
We held our Annual General Meeting and Special General Meeting in November, and updated our constitution.
Find out more.
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Lake Mac Repair Cafe
We are running Repair Cafes  in different locations on the third Saturday of the month.
Bring along clothing you need help with, or just come along for good company and a cuppa.
Find out more.
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Sustainable toys!
Neighbours in the Morisset and Peninsula Area got together in October to workshop sustainable gift ideas.
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Breakfast with the birds
Did you participate in this year's Aussie Backyard Bird Count?
The folks from the Cardiff Area Sustainable Neighbourhood Group helped get everyone involved with a breakfast BBQ in October.
Find out more.
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Graffiti Removal Day
Volunteers helped remove graffiti at various sites in October. Greg Piper MP attended a site in Booragul with members of the Five Bays Area Sustainable Neighbourhood
Find out more.
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Backyard food forest
We learned how to create a food forest for your backyard at the Dudley Community Garden's workshop, and then helped boost the native garden with a community planting bee in September
Find out more.
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Car boot sale
We held another successful car boot sale in September, helping our community move towards zero waste.
Find out more.
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Spring fair and grand opening
The Holmesville Community Garden was officially opened in September with a spring fair.
Check out the photos from the day.
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Beeswax wrap
Learn how to make your own beeswax wraps. A great alternative to plastic cling wrap.
Find out more.
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Follow us on Facebook
The Alliance has set up a Sustainable Neighbourhoods Facebook page!
Like us, follow us and share our posts.
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War on Waste toolkit
This excellent toolkit has been created as part of the ABC's War on Waste.
Download the toolkit from the ABC website.
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Pamper Care Project
Help us collect personal care products for those who need it most.
Set up a local collection point or make a donation.
Find out more.
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Barks and recreation
We are calling on all dog owners to be mindful of their responsibilities, and have produced a brochure to help clarify and reinforce the rules about dogs in public places.
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Plastic bag booths
We teamed up with Upcycle Newcastle to help shoppers switch to reusable bags.
Find out more.
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Social media and website policy
We have updated our website policy to include guidelines for Sustainable Neighbourhood social media pages.
Download the updated policy.
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Community gardens
We are now able to oversee community garden projects that are managed by Sustainable Neighbourhood Groups.
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Managing grant funding
We've developed a guide for Sustainable Neighbourhood groups about:
  • process to apply for a grant; and
  • how your group can access funds held in the Alliance's bank account.
Download the guide.
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Sustainable Neighbourhoods is an initiative of Lake Macquarie City Council.
www.lakemac.com.au
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We are proud to be a Very Neighbourly Organisation and supporter of Neighbour Day.
www.neighbourday.org