The Marymass Flower Show, including the garden and community garden competitions, is held yearly in the Irvine Volunteer Rooms to promote the showing of horticulturally arts and crafts exhibits.

The funding will help us cover the costs associated with the flower show which are increasing every year, this includes hall lets, insurance, judges’ fees and awards. To make the follower show more accessible, we will also be running some talks and demonstrations giving an introduction to horticulture, with a view to getting more people involved with the flower show. The flower show itself is a well-attended event that helps build community spirit with those who take part and have a shared interest.

If we are successful in getting the funding, we hope that the flower show and surrounding interest creates a better knowledge of the natural environment and how to protect it. Growing flowers, having a knowledge of invasive species and community growing initiatives are at the heart of what the horticultural society does, and the funding will help increase public awareness of this.

Hall lets - £500

Insurance £90

Medals for school members and school children - £75

Teas for judges, queens Marys and chaperones - £140

Payment to speakers i.e Talks to all age groups RE. horticulture - £200

TOTAL - £1000

When we started out, we found out that the fidget muffs were expensive for the nursing homes and hospitals to buy. After consulting with nurses on the wards at Woodland View and local nursing homes, we decided there was a need for a group to make these for the nursing home and hospitals. We make the fidget aprons/ muffs/ blankets for Woodland View and local nursing homes and donate them free of charge.

The sewing group provides a place for volunteers to work together on a project, reducing social isolation, improving skills and bringing people together to help others in the community. 

Wool (various) - £400 100g ball, £3.58 200g ball, £9.99 300g ball, £11.60

Material (various) - £600 £34.18 per metre £6.99 per metre £25.36 per metre

Our goal is to continue providing community lunches and providing catering services, working in partnership with other local groups and  bringing all members of our local community together regularly with a focus on alleviating poverty, reducing social isolation and enhancing mental health and well-being. 

Our community group offers  free  lunches,or takes small donations, to all residents within Irvine, many of whom are affected by poverty, poor mental health, and social isolation and these lunches provide a vital lifeline, offering not only nourishment but also a sense of belonging and connection. These meals foster social interaction, breaking the cycle of isolation and helping improve their mental well-being.

In addition to the lunches, having a trained chef as a volunteer the group now offers an external catering service to partner organisations at cost which generates income, enhancing the sustainability of the group and allowing the group to continue supporting the community. Volunteers who help run the lunches and catering service will receive essential training in areas such as REHIS (food safety), hospitality, barista skills, first aid, and customer service. These skills not only equip volunteers to support the efforts but also enhance their employability and confidence, empowering them to make a meaningful difference in their community and benefiting them in other areas of their lives.

In order to achieve this the money provided would help with running costs for the lunches and provide external training for volunteers.

Breakdown:

Running Costs, including food and caretakers costs                         £500.00

Training and admin costs                                                                   £500.00

Total applied for                                                                                £1000.00

Our charity was set up to provide free transport to the community who were diagnosed with cancer and requires treatment in any hospital within Ayrshire, Glasgow and Edinburgh. Once the patient has had treatment we will continue to support them with transport for non cancer related treatment. We have around 40 volunteer staff within drivers and office staff. None of our staff are paid other than our drivers who are paid mileage expenses. For us to provide this sevice the charity must raise over £65000 per year. All our drivers are paid mileage at 50p per mile which is calculated at 45p per mile plus an additional 5p per mile for extra passengers.

The £1000 would breadown as 14 runs to Glasgow at 71 miles @ 50p per mile = £1000. This would allow us to take a maximum of 42 patients to appointments.

The £1000 to be used for local hospitals (Ayr, Crosshouse and Ayrshire Central) could breakdown as 33 runs to local hospitals @ 30 miles @ 50p per mile = £1000. This would allow us to take a maximum of 99 patients to appointments.

We would like to take the group and their families on an outing which would be a great benefit to them. Also to keep providing a breakfast and snack for the kids for whom some would ho without during this cost of living crisis.

Bus for trip £500

Breakfast supplies £250

Some children, through no fault of their own do not go to school with a full belly and we as a parent council would like to remedy this but also provide information to the children on the topic.

The way we would plant to do this is would be to launch our 'Breakfast feeds Minds' campaign.  It would be our intention to provide the children in the school weekly breakfast hampers, available to any child who needs it, to ensure they have something healthy and nutritious before their school day begins.  This would include granola bars, cereal pots, yogurt drinks and fruit etc that the children can grab easily but will keep them full until lunchtime.

The funding we are applying for would be broken down as follows

£900 for the purchase of breakfast items (this is based on a budget of circa £35 per week)

£100 for the procurement of literature to promote the importance of breakfast and how this feeds the health and wellbeing of a child

Interior design and decoration of display ares.

Design and fitting of information panel..

provision of spotlights, installation of audio facility and appropriate electrical works.