Season of hope

Season of hope
Tom Knowles

Spring is a hopeful season and that’s the spirit of this month’s bulletin from Parkville Gardens. 

At the time of publishing, Parkville Gardens Residents’ Association (PGRA) will have just hosted its AGM and Social Evening on Monday, September 9 and I’ve every reason to hope that the night will be a great success. 

Bookings in the lead-up suggest we’ll have a capacity crowd of about 40 attendees, the maximum we can accommodate at our first-time venue, the Western Pavilion in Royal Park. 

The catering and conversation are guaranteed to be a pleasure, but I’m also confident the AGM will be enjoyable too. It’s an opportunity to be reminded of the successful events we’ve hosted in the past 12 months and of our endeavours on behalf of the Parkville Gardens community. 

It’s also an opportunity for residents to ask questions, offer feedback, brainstorm ideas for making the neighbourhood an even better place to live, and above all for new and younger residents to put up their hands to join the committee and bring fresh ideas and energy to the team. You’ll hear more about it next month!

Hats off to the City of Melbourne for the grants that enable us to stage our community events and to pay for our public liability insurance, and a shout-out also to the Victorian Department of Education for its Children’s Week funding. 

For the record, here’s a list of the events we’ve held since the last AGM, every one of them well attended and enjoyed by all:

  • A Quiz and Dinner night (our second) at the Reggio Calabria Club last October 
  • Our second Children’s Week “Amazing (not really a) Race” event, also in October 
  • A Community Picnic on the Galada Ave Reserve in March of this year
  • Our annual Easter egg hunt for the kids
  • A Community Dinner at the Reggio Calabria Club with guest speaker Sergeant Nick Parissis from North Melbourne Police Station. 

In addition, social housing providers Housing First staged a very successful “Halloween in the Park” festival in October last year that was open to all local residents. 

On the downside we had to cancel our Halloween event at the last minute. We’ve also had to postpone our next Quiz Night because of the weeknight unavailability of the Reggio Calabria Club.

One of the most significant events of the past year has been the opening of Housing First’s 15-storey tower on Galada Ave. 

Nearly 200 people across a wide range of ages, family settings and social circumstances have taken up residence there since last October. 

It’s fair to say that welcoming these newcomers to Parkville Gardens and engaging them in the life of the community has had its challenges and remains a work in progress, but we are committed to working with Housing First to achieve positive outcomes for all.

Let me finish on a happy note – the surprise doubling of our 505 bus service in July. All the more welcome for being unexpected. •

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