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Eligible applications: Garnock Valley

Total budget £18,043

Christmas dinner at Cafe Solace Kilbirnie

2024-08-28  •  No comments  •  Cafe Solace Kilbirnie  •  Garnock Valley

Cafe Solace Kilbirnie provides low cost meals each Friday at lunchtime and in the evening to the community.   These are very popular with between 30-40 customers at lunchtime and 70-80 in the evening.  Children under 12 or anyone in need eat free.   For some of our customers, we are the only friendly people they will speak to in a week, and it may be the only home cooked meal that they have.   At Christmas we like to make even more special, in particular for those customers who have no family to share the festivities with, and our chef and volunteers prepare a lovely three course traditional Christmas feast and arrange a visit from Santa to present wee gift bags for each of our customers (held over two weeks due to numbers - up to 170).   We do make a nominal charge for the Christmas events, but to avoid hardship to those customers who are struggling financially we heavily subsidise these from our own funds (and children still eat free).   We have been fortunate in receiving support from other areas in previous years to assist with costs and reduce the impact on our funds.   This year, the volunteer team are carrying out some fundraising to pay for the small gifts that we will give our customers (sponsored walk, guess the teddy's birthday etc).   Based on last year's costs (£1,677.39), and the continued increase in food prices, we estimate that we will need to subside the events by around £8-900 from our funds.   Our food costs over the past months have been higher than predicted, due to the unsuitability of much of the food that we are receiving from Fareshare and we are anticipating heavier than normal expenditure in the early part of 2025 as we start to plant out our new vegetable garden.  To enable us to meet our ongoing commitments and still provide a festive treat out for our customers, we are requesting funding of £500 to be put towards the purchase of food required for our Christmas meals (approx £2.94 per potential attendee).   

£500
The She Shed Dalry

The She Shed Dalry

2024-09-12  •  No comments  •  ZLittle  •  Garnock Valley

Any funding received will help to purchase overheads, ensuring that we can deliver the best She Shed possible, whilst supporting mental health and wellbeing. This will enable us to continue to provide a safe space, with the opportunity for our members to get involved in group activities.   

- Crafting materials £350

- Branded items £50

- Food and drink £100

- Mindfulness class £150

- Room Hire £350

 

 

£1,000
Volunteers of all ages working together.

Friends of Lochshore Park

2024-09-11  •  No comments  •  Andrew Evans  •  Garnock Valley

Our group provides a crucial role in reducing social isolation by providing a friendly welcome to those who enjoy physical exercise in an outdoor environment.  We attract members from Kilbirnie, Beith and as far afield as Saltcoats.  We are proud of our contribution to the regeneration of the park which is located on the site of the Glengarnock Iron and Steel Works, remnants of which can be seen to this day.  Our weekly workdays are opportunities for volunteers who share a love of the outdoors to connect with one another and strengthen community bonds; tasks have included planting trees, coppicing, creating paths and wildlife projects.

Lochshore Park is a newly created country park with a 5-kilometre tarred and hard-core path, designed for eventual use as a Saturday morning park run venue.  Our current project is to create a woodland trail through our “Enchanted Forest”.  To attract greater numbers to the park we would like to make this a magical experience for younger children with models and sculptures en route to a woodland glade with tree stump seats.

Over the winter months we intend to build bird and bat boxes and craft willow sculptures.  This will require the services of a willow weaving artist.  These activities will be open to the public with anything created by them free to be taken away.

We have secured funding to build a habitat for ground nesting bees, which will be a labour-intensive exercise.  However, many of the other projects we would like to tackle require expertise which none of us possess.  If awarded a Proportional Budgeting grant we would like to buy in support and training for our members.

 

Estimated Costs

Creation of Enchanted Forest    £197

Timber for bird boxes  £236

Free Public Classes  £325

Advertising  £240

 

£1,000
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Dalry Community Cinema

2024-09-06  •  No comments  •  Hugh Campbell  •  Garnock Valley

Dalry Community Sports Club was founded in 2007 as a constituted group and has been a registered charity since 2014. Initially, our key aims were to advance public participation in sport in Dalry and the surrounding area by promoting and providing opportunities for a wide range of sporting and leisure activities in an accessible manner to all groups of people, and to improve the fitness and health of the persons for whom the activities are intended. Through these initiatives we have worked to generate an environment to live in which strengthens our community, recreating the levels of inclusion enjoyed by previous generations. Over recent years we have built on this and looked for additional opportunities to help address other key issues within our community, including, social isolation, food deprivation, mental health & wellbeing and cost of living issues.  We are looking to extent some of the benefits we have realised from these initiatives by launching free regular Community Cinema events with complimentary refreshments. We ran a successful trial night in the Community Centre last Christmas and have had a number of requests to repeat this. To help us realise this, we would work in partnership with Dalry Community Centre Association to deliver these free events.

 

Community Cinema events

Breakdown of costs:

Purchase of Equipment - £300

We would seek to purchase a DVD Player (approx. £100) and a Large Projector Screen (£200). DCSC already have a projector and speakers, Dalry Community Centre would purchase the annual film licence at a cost of around £400.

Community Centre Hall Let - £14.70 per hour x 3 hours = £44.10 (1 x 90min film plus setup/pack away time – 3 hours required for event)

Cost of living – NIL cost entry– tickets only

Food deprivation – look to provide free soft drinks/tea/coffee/biscuits ahead of the film (cost £50 per event)

Attendance – maximum 100

Total costs per event = £94.10

1 event per month = 12 x £94.10 = £1,129.20 plus equipment cost of £300.

Total cost of project - £1,429.20

£1,000
GVCCB logo.jpg

Garnock Valley community concert band

2024-09-13  •  No comments  •  Garnock Valley Community Concert Band  •  Garnock Valley

Garnock valley community concert band ( GVCCB Charity number  SCO43326)) is a striving and inclusive community band-  continuing  to grow and reconnect  musicians throughout the garnock valley.

GVCCB  gives public performances throughout the community such as St Margarets church in Dalry in which included a local choir, string ensemble and the children’s choirs from local schools. GVCCB also perform at the Scottish and the National concert band festivals each year ( SCBF and NCBF), being highly successful in both – lifting platinum awards each year.

This is only accomplishable with a hard working committee, fundraising throughout the year and funding made available to us.

We keep our subscriptions as low as feasibly possible, to encourage as many players wishing to return to music.

For many, music is a vital (sometimes - only) social interaction available for them – helping their mental wellness, mental agility through reading music and actively encouraging them to interact with like minded people.

We hire local practice space within the Garnock valley community campus once a week,  maintain a musical library ( costing approx £1000-£1500 per year) to keep our concerts and competition performances fresh, challenging and interesting, and hire our musical director  at £3500 per annum

We should like to put ourselves forward for the full amount possible (£1000)to go towards the cost of our musical  library .

Considering the output for so many, we can make this money go a very long way.

£1,000

Men's Shed Dalry

2024-09-04  •  No comments  •  Gus Shedder  •  Garnock Valley

Funding will help to purchase tools, consumables, and training for men to participate in productive activities such as: fly-tying, bicycle refurbishment and repair and the manufacture of products from recycled wood.

The output from these activities is directed to other community groups and to those in need. to date we have recycled over 200 bicycles which have been used to quickly mobilises refugees settling in north Ayrshire. Promoting a sustainable and healthy form of exercise and free transportation, also contributing reduce pollution and support a greener north Ayrshire.

We have also been manufacturing garden furniture specifically directed towards members of the community who have limited financial resources and invite them to make an affordable donation as opposed to us implementing a pricing structure.

Ultimately, we exist as a sanctuary for those suffering from isolation, loneliness and mental health issues, facilitating therapeutic, Character-building activities.

We Seek to purchase dual-bevel mitre saw at circa £500.

and train 3 people to Velotech bronze standard to allow them to participate in bicycle maintenance safely and with appropriate knowledge.  training costs £360 PP 

We intend to cover the excess costs from shed funds.

£1,000
Volunteers and Fun Times

Citizen of the Year - Recognition and Celebration

2024-09-17  •  No comments  •  Beith and District Community Council  •  Garnock Valley

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

£1,000
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Dalry Community Garden

2024-09-13  •  No comments  •  Daryhub  •  Garnock Valley

Dalry Community Garden has been established for four years, providing a safe and welcoming space for visitors and volunteers.

We host various, accessible to all events throughout the year supporting local groups and organisations helping to bring our community together. As we have no permanent facilities we need to provide a toiilet for our volunteers and visitors.

Funding will allow us to provide a serviced portable toilet unit for a further year.

Cost for a serviced toilet unit for one year is £1560

£1,000
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Dalry Community Larder - Fresh Produce

2024-09-06  •  No comments  •  Lynette  •  Garnock Valley

We have been operating our Community Larder since Nov 2020, initially as a foodbank during the pandemic, but now aligned with NAC`s Community Larder model, where customers pay £4, for a selection of items and a variety of free short dated/best before items. Unfortunately, over the last 12 months, we have seen how the rising costs have impacted on our funding, where money doesn’t stretch as far as it once did and since the cost of living crisis started, we have seen the numbers of people attending our Community Larder steadily increase. We are now seeing more families attending, as well as more people who are working.  Local businesses have been great here, where we work in partnership with ASDA, Bookers, Co-op and Irvine`s Bakery, who supply us with a combination, of either free short dated/best before items, or items at discounted prices, but during the winter months the donations of fruit and vegetables falls off quite sharply.

Evidence shows that there are significant health benefits to eating at least 5 portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables daily, particularly in the case of young people and the elderly.

Estimated Costs:

Provision of fruit and vegetables for 26 weeks - 52 larder sessions @ £25 - Total £1,300.

£1,000

Light up our Toon - Kilbirnie

2024-09-12  •  No comments  •  KTCMI  •  Garnock Valley

KTCMI is a voluntary community group comprising of local residents, businesses, and representatives from various organisations in Kilbirnie.  We organise and fund our annual Christmas Lights Switch On which takes place on the last Saturday in November. This event is open to all members of the community and enjoyed by all ages. 

Our Christmas Lights Switch On has been a tradition for many years, bringing festive joy and cheer to our town and the people and visitors passing through.  The day starts with Santa and his grotto, culminating at the Cross with the big switch on of the Christmas lights. This event is possible thanks to constant community fund-raising activities by KTCMI throughout the year. The Christmas lights themselves are owned by KTCMI, however North Ayrshire Council (NAC) have previously erected, tested and stored the lights from the Council budget.  Sadly, this is not the case for 2024 as budget constraints within NAC have resulted in this vital funding being unavailable.  NAC has agreed to carry out all of the above actions to ensure the lights are safe and in place for our Switch On, but this is going to result in an additional cost of £7,000 for KTCMI on top of the ongoing running costs for example electricty charges, santa gifts etc.  

We are seeking additional funding for the following:

Santa presents for the children £450

Cost towards of hiring a hall for Santa's grotto £300

Cost towards upgrading the grotto by means of new decorations, art work, lights etc. £350

KTCMI are determined that our Toon will be lit up this Christmas and we are seeking help in raising the desired amount - our toon is arranging numerous fundraising events and hopefully these events will contribute towards the cost of the Christmas light switch on.

£1,000