It’s time to bring back Citizen of the Year to the great volunteers that work tirelessly throughout the year in Beith. Citizen of the Year is a time to boost and bring the community together to celebrate and give recognition to not only Citizen of the Year but to also recognise The Organisation of the Year and Young Persons Contribution of the Year. It is a vehicle to attract new volunteers to the community through promoting the benefits of volunteering. The funding will help to cover the costs
Description
Beith and District Community Council want to make it a night to remember and not just for the award winners but also for the nominees and their families. To be given recognition by the community for the many hours of dedication, loyalty and hard work by volunteers is worth its weight in gold. For volunteers to be appreciated publicly gives them a sense of great positive wellbeing by knowing their skills and resilience are valued and making a positive change to themselves, others and their community. Our event will bring a sense of pride and community cohesion through the discovery of sharing their experiences with other winners and nominees and of course the whole community. We want to provide free travel to support attendees access the event to reduce isolation. Delivering Citizen of the Year event is an important milestone for BDCC in bringing people together to celebrate, reduce isolation and to make new connections and friendships. In the absence of Beith and District Community Council from 2012 until 2017 this activity was delivered by Beith Community Association from 2015 until 2022 however Beith Community Association have now requested that it be returned to BDCC. We are delighted to take this opportunity to reinstate such an important event for our volunteers.
For our event to be successful we require funding for the following:
Venue costs - £250
Catering costs - £700
Table decorations - £100
Entertainment costs - £400
Bus hire costs - £400
Award Purchases - £300
Printing – Forms, Promotional material & Certificates - £180
Total costs £2330
Location: Beith and District volunteers are a diverse group of people dedicating their time to help others.
Proposed on behalf of: Beith and District Community Council is a constituted group that bridges the gap between local authorities and local communities. In 2024 we donated through grant funding to support mental health and wellbeing, 5 Breathing Space picnic benches – 2 which are wheelchair accessible - for our local park along with 6 pieces of outdoor gym equipment to support the Beith Skatepark Group redevelop the skatepark. In addition, we donated a Breathing Space bench to Beith Development Trust and Friends of Spiers which have now been installed on their sites. We delivered a DDAY 80 years event to commemorate and to pay ‘tribute’ to those that gave so much to enable us to share the freedom we have today. We worked alongside Beith Drama Group, our local bugler, piper and minister to create a memorable community event that was hugely successful. During the summer we adopted several planting areas in the town and planted up summer bedding to support community wellbeing and happiness through a donation from Beith Christian Action Group and plant donations from Scotplants. Citizen of the Year event is our next big event in supporting our community. Our Community Council currently comprises of 5 volunteers who have been elected to serve as Community Councilors. We have appointed from its membership a Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary and Treasurer. The purpose of Community Councils is finding out what local people think about issues affecting the local community; making sure that Councils and other public bodies are aware of those views; communicating information to the local community and acting in the interests of the local community. We meet every second Tuesday of the month. We are represented in other bodies such as the Lochshore Development Group; Garnock Valley Locality Partnership and Garnock Valley working group.
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