Woodend Neighbourhood House

It’s a fun place to be! We offer courses, workshops, and spaces to hire. Founded in 1983 out of the adversity of recovering from the Ash Wednesday bushfires, the house was originally a community drop-in centre, staffed by Red Cross and, when it was mooted to close (just 2 weeks after the fires)local volunteers, led by the determined Shirley Perrott, kept it open and moved its operations to a little corner of the Mechanics Institute. It became an Incorporated Association on 4 July 1984, with the title of Woodend Creative Living Centre and was open one day a week. Ten years after its founding (1993) it was operating 4 days a week, with lots of community activities and opportunities for education and training. Now, here we are, 30 years after its incorporation, open almost full-time, offering over 40 courses or activities, having on average 85 people walking through our doors every week, assisting smaller groups to grow and develop, supporting community advocacy and continuing the tradition of community-led action through our place in this community's life. To provide an environment which encourages all members of the community to participate in our services
and activities, encouraging self-improvement and building individual and community capacity and resilience.
2. To promote community connectedness through support of community action around identified needs.