The 9th Annual Acacia Ponds Open Garden Day was held on 25th October and the Pambula Chamber of Commerce joined us with additional events being held in Pambula township. Unfortunately the Sunday was a cold day, with lots of cloud cover although thankfully no rain, and we still had more visitors than last year… gardeners are truly a hardy lot! The Gardens were especially pretty, with the roses in bloom in many gardens, and the red and white hippeastrums made a spectacular show.

The Merimbula Quilters participated with a big display of handmade quilts in our Village Hall. The local historical society display also attracted quite a bit of interest. Our new Library room was finished on time— just! And the photography competition entries for the Pambula Chamber of Commerce Photography Competition were displayed there. Whilst entries from Acacia didn’t win any prizes for photography, we scooped the pool in the Garden in a Container Competition taking out both the Best Judged and the Peoples Choice.

Acacia Ponds residents raised almost $2000 for the Pambula Community Health on the day, which will be used to purchase much needed equipment to be used by all the local community ......... A successful day!

Now that our big Open Day is over we are all thinking of Christmas. The Social Committee are planning a bus trip to Canberra for Christmas Shopping, and of course the Christmas Party is in full planning stage.

The new library/card room is a great addition to our Village, although there is still has some more work to be done. Glen our helpful carpenter has promised to finish the extra bookshelves in November. Then we can sort and relocate our many books from the general hall. Although we have the Shire Mobile Library call every 2 weeks, there is an ever growing library in the Village including lots of garden, craft and hobby books which are well used. The card players will also enjoy their own space—no need to move the tables for the morning exercise group.

The Village is still a hive of activity…. with new homes popping up like mushrooms, and our local tradesmen busy putting on the finishing touches.

The gardens are taking on the spring colour early this year, and many of the deciduous trees are already green . The vegetable gardeners are busy. Broad beans have done extra well this year, but are now almost finished and the salad vegies are being planted out. Already there is discussion as to who will have the first tomatoes this year. Competition for that honour is always keen.