Get outdoors!

Spring has arrived and made lockdown strolls around Parkville Gardens more inviting. Blue skies, warm sunshine and glimpses of blossom and flowers do much to lift our spirits.

Times are tough for many in the community but we are fortunate to have easy access to open space and beautiful parks. Hopefully the natural assets of the neighbourhood are playing their part in helping everyone cope until we can meet again as a community.

In the meantime, there are cheerful things to report. The first is the good news that committee member Michael Thom has successfully secured funding for the Parkville Gardens Residents’ Association (PGRA) to stage a Children’s Week event. Kids aged from six to 12 years can look forward to an orienteering adventure here and in Royal Park on Sunday, October 24 from 10am to 3pm. Put the date in your diary today! More details next month.

The second is that the City of Melbourne will be replacing street lights with brighter Sylvania LED lamps by the end of the calendar year. That addresses residents’ concerns about parts of the area that have not been well-lit. Thank you, City of Melbourne!

By the time you read this, PGRA will have submitted its application to the City of Melbourne for funding for community events in 2022. We hope we will be successful but we won’t know until mid-December.

Before that we’ll be holding our 2021 AGM. COVID permitting, we’ll meet in person on the evening of Wednesday, November 17 – another date for your diary. This is a not-to-be-missed opportunity for local residents to come together and share your ideas and opinions on what can be done to make Parkville Gardens an even better place to live.  And if you’re passionate about the place, become a PGRA member if you aren’t one already (contact us at [email protected]) and consider putting up your hand to become a committee member.  Fresh faces, fresh ideas and fresh energy are just what we’re looking for.

Last month I introduced an agency, Dementia Australia, that has premises here. Sharing the site on Oak St is a campus of the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health (formerly the Mental Health Research Institute). The Florey Institute is the largest brain research centre in the Southern Hemisphere. It specialises in diseases of the brain and mind that affect nearly five million Australians each year.

Some of the many conditions under study at the Institute are Alzheimer’s disease, autism, motor neurone disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and COVID-19. The day-to-day work that’s done at the Parkville Gardens campus includes the collection of neuropsychology data about cognition and behaviour from healthy volunteers and people with dementia.

For more information about Florey’s work, its Brain Matters magazine or its free public lectures visit florey.edu.au •