As a result, community sessions have been developed through the season to include children and young people (40 taking part weekly) in which they have been very involved at games and lifted the league trophy with the team at the presentation. The club has provided a platform for Irvines first competitive basketball team and inspiring the next generation. 

We are applying for approximatley 50% of the cost of hall hire (£690 based on 2023-24 costs) for the upcoming season and referees costs (£310 based on 2023-24 costs however the referee fees have been increased for the new season). 

This would really help support our members by decreasing our membership fees during the current financial climate and support them to continue to take part in their sport and continue to increase their physical health and mental well-being.

Our group comes together once per week during term time where we enjoy each other’s company over a cuppa and blether. We also often take part in activities like flower planting, walking outdoors, being creative with arts and crafts. We have also previously connected with different organisations and partners such as Megan Space, NEST and Breathing Space, this has giving us tools to support each other and our families.

We would like the opportunity to bring our families together during the holiday periods, to help reduce any financial strain during this time. It also reduces isolation as it encourages us to get out and mix with other families. If we were successful in getting the funds, we would use the money for 1 family trip to heads of Ayr farm park and 1 family fun day at the Children 1st space. While it’s important to spend time together as families, we are also looking for money to support our weekly coffee and chat meet ups to help us to sustain and build on the group. We would spend the remaining money on 1 therapeutic experience and 2 breakfast morning.  This financial support will build our confidence within our local community, support our emotional health and wellbeing, and reduce the impact of the cost-of-living crisis has on us.

Weekly Coffee and Connect

£120 – x1 Therapeutic Experience (like a sound bath, meditation etc)

£67.50 – x2 food provisions for a breakfast morning

Family Easter Day in Boutreehill x1

£240 – Artist fees for crafts and resources

£80 – Lunch

Family Summer Heads of Ayr Farm Park x1

£212.50 – 17 children’s tickets

£80 – Adult tickets (carers go free)

£200 – Transport 

Irvine Clean Up Crew is looking to continue and even increase our engagement with local schools and other community groups as we continue to promote messages of being responsible with our rubbish to protect the environment for the future. We currently have one class-sized kit of litter pickers, but often receive requests for more than one class to be out using our equipment at the one time. We also receive requests for longer term loans for environmental projects that we are currently unable to support. We are always delighted when schools and community groups reach out to us for support with litter picking activities so we would like to increase our equipment capacity so that we can support as many requests as possible. Our volunteer school’s co-ordinator will continue to provide support for litter picks and also provides opportunities to talk about the impact of litter. Seeing 41year old crisp packets generally starts some lively discussions! We also have a story that was written by two of our volunteers that is already available for schools to use in pdf format. We would like to get some copies of "Sandy's Big Adventure" printed, so that we have copies accessible for others to use out of a school setting.

We would like to use funds from the participatory budget to help us purchase another class size kit of litter pickers, hi-vis vests, gloves and buckets. We also want to arrange a school tour of our rescued "Tiger" to help share messages of being responsible with items you no longer want or need and encouraging repair/reuse rather than throwing items in the bin. Tiger (who is about to be renamed in a community competition) was rescued from the River Irvine looking worse for wear. A good wash and tidy up later and he's back to being super cuddly again. We think offering him to schools with his story and an opportunity to contribute to his ongoing adventure will encourage more conversations and promote ideas about how we can all do more to create less waste.

To help us continue to inspire the local community to take more positive action for the environment we would ask for the following:

30 x child size litter pickers: £360

5 x adult pickers: £95

30 x buckets: £60

30 x child size hi-vis vests: £150

30 x child size gloves: £110

Stationery and delivery costs to help support Tiger's school tour: £75

Printing costs for "Sandy's Big Adventure": £150

Total: £1000

Our project for the School is to promote outdoor relaxation and wellness within the community. We currently have tables and benches for the senior end.

This space gives the children somewhere to sit and relax. This has also proved beneficial in allowing the seniors within our community to share any worries or concerns they may have. As there is always an adult within the vicinity this be can reacted to appropriately to ensure they get proper support.

We now want to Mirror this in the infant area to give every child the chance to have a safe relaxing space to promote wellness across our community.  We are also looking to add umbrellas to the senior end tables and benches. In addition adding umbrellas to the new infant end benches; this would help keep the children safer on the warmer days. 

Some of the positive feedback from the children from the infant and senior end.

• Colourful

• Restful 

• Fun

• Great for chatting in privacy away from class

• Durable

• Chill out area

• Comfortable

• Nice to read books

Junior 3 seated bench -£ 299.99

Grounds Fixtures - £ 17.45

Fitted by NAC - £ 300.00

Umbrellas  & Stand X6 -£371.88

Total - £989.32

At Crossing Together Toddlers we aim to provide a fun, warm, safe, welcoming and accessible space for babies and toddlers to come along with their grown-ups from Bourtreehill and the surrounding areas of Irvine.  In setting up the group we initially looked at accessing funding to purchase equipment and toys however a toddler group in Troon had recently folded and they gifted us items that meant we could launch the group immediately. The group is free of charge to families to access and weekly snacks and craft materials are provided through donations and fundraising.  It is important for us to maintain a no charge policy to maximise accessibility due to the cost of living crisis and our locality being significantly impacted with regards poverty.  Weekly snacks provided are balanced with items like fruit, toast and juice/water being provided for the children and a warm drink and biscuits for the grown-ups.  As well as the weekly sessions we want to provide the families with new experiences that can include their older children and partners which will extend the community spirit that is being built in and around the group already.  These new experiences include family fun days, parties, trips and days out locally and further afield. 

Many of the families who attend the group rarely travel outwith Irvine and it would be great to improve the health and wellbeing through a summer trip to a farm park, which would provide a new experience by seeing the animals we sing about and read about at our weekly song and story time.  A Christmas Party with entertainment, hospitality and a visit from Santa would also encourage positive mental health during the festive time that brings much stress with extra financial outgoing in winter.  A weekend family fun day using the local park space would enable us to include working parents and older children and through hospitality/food and fun activities create a positive aspect to a park area that carries much saddness in the community and encourage resislience and new owership of the local space. 

For Crossing Together to provide these experiences at no cost to the families in our locality we would be applying for the PB Locality Funding to help meet these costs as well as doing additional fundraising and seeking donations.

Examples of costings to provide such experiences are:-

Farm park admission (approx 80 people includes under 2s free) = £625

Childrens Party Entertainer = £125

Gifting from Santa (approx 40 gifts) = £120

Hospitality Party/Funday = £130

Additional costings for items like craft materials and additional hospitality would be sought through donations and fundraising.

We are a community brass band organisation based in Dreghorn. We run 3 bands (a contest brass band, a community and a youth band) and we provide free or low cost after school music lessons for young people. We have over 100 members in our organisation and thousands of people are entertained by us each year at gala days, Christmas events and community concerts. We also support fundraising of other charities. People who participate in our bands and our audiences obtain mental well-being and educational benefits from musical activity. Each year we compete in several brass band contests and festivals all over Scotland. Any funding obtained would go towards our (2025) travel costs, entry costs, and other costs for competitions such as music, extra rehearsals etc. Participating in these event will inspires, motivates and develops our players, entertains audiences and we also represent North Ayrshire in an important cultural events.

We are applying for £1,000 for our adult groups competing costs

Cost breakdown would be:

• Travel cost subsidies – bus hire £600
• Entry fees - £200
• Music, extra rehearsal costs - £200

Each year we compete at the Scottish Brass Band Championships in Perth (March 2025) and for this contest alone a bus costs c. £700 and other costs (music, entry, rehearsals) c. £500. As we attend 3 - 4 contests per year the costs incurred for all competitions is c. £3,000. Contests / festivals are important for our groups development and the band would fundraise or meet the gap from reserves.