North Ayrshire Healing Hearts Bereavement Support Group is a peer support bereavement group for community members who have experienced the death of someone they loved.

The group was established in January 2024 after an initial CRUSE pilot scheme. The 25 members did not want to lose the group and the support it offered, so Healing Hearts was formed. The group is completely self funded and has expanded now to 4 groups running in North Ayrshire taking their total to over 50 members.

The group support people physically and mentally they address issues such as social isolation, addiction and improve the members well-being and health, meeting up weekly and for social events.

The project brings people struggling with the loss of a loved one together invarious locations in North Ayrshire enabling them to supoort each other. All of the group is constituted and all of the members who run it are volunteers. They offer befriending, mentoring and sign posting to various services locally for example Money Matters, Counselling and CHAP.

The group receives referrals come from Social Work, GPs, dentists, Community link workers, Police , libraries and other organisations in Ayrshires.

We woulike to request money for the below-

50 Christmas Lunches @ £15 each = £750

Bingo Machine £150

2 Boxes Markers £24.99 each =  £50

Bingo Books £30 for 600

North Ayrshire Tandem Cycling (NATC) is a local group set up in August 2023 that allows Vision Impaired people to enjoy cycling with the support of a Fully Sighted, Fully Trained Pilot. We currently have 11 members who are Vision Impaired and 15 fully Sighted members. We enjoy weekly organised outings. NATC is a new project that has had a phenomenal response from the local community including donations of tandems and people volunteering to Pilot tandems for Vision Impaired people. This has benefited members by improving their mental and physical health. It allows Vision Impaired people to meet other people with Visual Impairments and helps Sighted Pilots understand some of the impacts of Vision Impairment. Members are also improving their physical fitness as well as their mental health. NATC intends to run regular events to recruit new members both Sighted and Vision impaired as well as raise awareness of Vision Impairment. The aim is for NATC to grow and support more Vision Impaired people. NATC has liaised with another Tandem Cycling Club in Glasgow which has been successfully running for several years learning from their experiences and advice. NATC would like to purchase Spare parts for our Tandems, ie, Tubes, Cables and Tyres. We also want to have our Tandems serviced to make them safe for Vi's to ride.

Our project aims to organise a Christmas celebration for the Ukrainian community in North Ayrshire, welcoming both adults and children from various cultural backgrounds, including local Scottish residents. This event will serve as a platform for cultural exchange, fostering a greater understanding and appreciation of diverse traditions. By bringing people together to share in the joy of the season, we hope to promote unity and strengthen community bonds.

We would love to share Ukrainian traditions, such as music and food, with the people of Scotland and look forward to meeting Scottish people and others to learn about their culture too. We also aim to bring children of different nationalities together, offering games and craft workshops to foster friendships and shared creativity. The celebration will feature traditional Ukrainian customs alongside Scottish and other cultural festivities, encouraging participants to connect through shared experiences.

By creating a warm, inclusive environment, we hope that everyone, regardless of background, will feel welcome. Events like this can break down barriers, spark meaningful conversations, and create lasting friendships in the community. Bridging cultural gaps and celebrating diversity, this event will contribute to a more connected and harmonious community in North Ayrshire, especially during the festive season

Funding will be used for:

Rent of premises - 50

Trampolines for children - 270

Treats, food and drinks, sweet gifts - 310

Materials for craft workshops - 70

Games and activities facilitators- 120

Funding will be used for:

Rent of premises - 50

Trampolines for children - 270

Treats, food and drinks, sweet gifts - 310

Materials for craft workshops - 70

Games and activities facilitators- 120

Kids entertainer (Santa or another Christmas character) - 100

DJ for children and youth disco - 70

Choose Kilwinning is a voluntary community group comprising of local businesses, residents and representatives from various organisations in Kilwinning.  We organise and fund 2 major annual events in our town - The Segdoune Gala in May & Christmas Lights Switch On in late November. Each of these events are extremely well attended and very much enjoyed by all ages in our community. 

Our Christmas Lights Switch On has been a tradition for many years, bringing festive joy and cheer to our town and the wider Ayrshire population.  The day is a major event with free music & entertainment, market stalls, Santa’s Grotto and many activities for all ages, culminating in our Main Street being lit-up with Christmas lights. We strive to keep the event as a fun filled family day rather than a day that has high financial outlay for parents or individuals.

These events are possible thanks to unceasing fund-raising activities by Choose Kilwinning throughout the year. Choose Kilwinning cover all expenses for the day including security, required licences, electricity supply, entertainment and on-the-day running costs. The Christmas lights themselves are owned by Choose Kilwinning, 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 £8,500 for Choose Kilwinning. We have also contacted two external companies who can provide the service, but again there would be extra costs of £5364 or £8394. 

Choose Kilwinning are determined that our Main Street and Town Centre will be lit up this Christmas and are seeking help in raising the desired amount. Without more funding Choose Kilwinning will struggle to meet this figure and our Main Street and Town Centre might not have Christmas Lights throughout the run up to and during the festive period.  This would be hugely detrimental to morale and mental well-being within our community and could also have a significant impact on our local traders.  Any funding received from the PB would go towards meeting this amount. 

Costings are attached under documents. 

The organisations plan for this is to have four separate provisions to hold these breakfasts. This would allow more families to be able to attend. We have also thught of doing the first one as an ASN breakfast with lower lighting and music turned down and any other areas we need to reduce over stimulation. We would have each of these four sessions last 1 hour 30 minutes and plan to hold then on the 7th and 8th of December 2024 with each session for 60 kids and 15 adults approximately. This means we can reach 120 kids each day so 240 in total although this can be extended slightly to meet demand. We will be offering waffles, pancakes, toast, cereal along with juice, water and milk. Hot drinks and these food options will also be available for the adults. We are looking to buy an industrial toaster for this event however we will use it thereafter in the hall for people of all ages. 

Industrial toaster conveyer style £399.00

Waffles, pancakes, bread, cereal £232.00

Juice, water and milk, £54.00

Tea, coffee and hot chocolate £33.00

Gift for kids £240

Total cost £958.00

The group ls looking to order 25 litter pickers to re stock the groups collection of litter pickers that get loaned to groups or to borrow for groups at Kilwinning sports club.  or organised nights by groups like the scouts and guides etc. 

This will restock the groups supplies that are shared out across the community. This also allows the long term loan to individuals to adopt a spot.   

The Group operates with the support of North Ayrshire Council and Klwinning Community Events. 

We meet once weekly and incur no costs from the hall, we currently have pallettes of watercolour paints and brushes that were left over from the summer program so we are very limited in our learning choices. We would greatly benefit from having a supply of resources including sketch books and different meduims to fully get the benefits from this course and our development and understanding of this creative group. We are aiming to put on a display of all our learning/work next summer once we have a good range of finished pieces to display and we are very excited about this considering on one has any experience in the Arts.

We would also like to go on a field trip to the kelvin grove art gallery in the new year, this will be an insirational trip and we will begin to explore different ways to express ourselfs which will hopefully be shown in our art work.

breakdown of costs are;-The range for supplies costings,

Watercoulor & acrylic  brushes pack of 50: £8.99 x 2 - £17.98

A3 sketch books: £10 x 10 - £100

A4 sketch books: £5 x 10 - £50

Paint by number resources: £5 x 19 - £95

roll of tracing paper: £57

drawing made simple kit/ pencils: £3 x 10 - £30

A3 card: £9.99 x 5 - £49.95

Canvas's set: £20 x 10 - £200

Acrylic paint set graduate set 48: £39.99 x 5 - £199.95

Artiste Watercolour paint set 24: £19.98 x 10 - £199.80

Total £999.68

A family funday in McGavin Park promoting all that the park has to offer. Activities and family fun with music on stage, children's entertainers and try it sessions from local groups and KA Leisure.  £1000 asked for contribution to costs.  Public Liabity Insurance

Stage Hire £550

contribution to entertainers £300

2 children's entertainers for seperate shows. £550 

the wider event costs are First aid £300

public Liability £200

portallo hire £300

stewards £700

hire of rides and inflatables £10000

We have created an inclusive environment for all involved in our group. Whilst completeing the challenges involved in the awards our group give back to the community through chosen volunteering opportunities. Our group has provided a social lifeline for many members and it gives us the chance to visit different places throughout Scotland and connect with local history. This is turn positively impacts the health and wellbeing of our group memebers to help promote an active and healthy lifestyle by offering challenges that both stimulate and motivate. We have been able to access free opportunities and museums through the national trust this has not impacted our members finanically. However, we would love to be able to go further afield and access new experiences together as a group. This money would allow us us to continue to provide an inclusive environment for all our members by covering the costs and allowing equal access to aopportunities wavering financial limitations. We hope to use this money to continue to work together as a group providing key support and care to each other with the benefit of sharing new and exciting experiences togther. 

We hope to access different places such as Dumfries house, this is a place where many of our members have wanted to visit but due to financial limitations, we have been unable to do so. We would also like to go over to Millport to share a day trip together and celebrating completeing different parts of our discovery awards and have an end trip bedore the group break up for summer. 

We would also like to celebrate burns day as many of our group have an interest in the local history of burns and his poetry. We would like to come together and share this day as a group. We would also like to support or local community pantomime and attend this together; this will allow us the confidence to attend in the evening and increase our social inclusion as well as experiencing the nostaligia of a Christmas pantomime. 

As a group we have really gelled, and we enjoy spending time togethe. The friendships that have formed through the Discovery award have spilled into the private lives of our members who regularly meet up out with the group environment creating a bigger support network for everyone involved. This award group has opened social opportunties for all involved having such a positive effect on the mental health and wellbeing of the group 

Dumfries House £260

Pantomime £120

Millport Ferry £65

Millport Lunch £200

Burns supper/Location and Food £325

Initially formed in May 2024, we are in the process on gaining more members to form a much-needed Community Shed in Kilwinning. Currently we have 21 members. We are currently trying to establish a Shed where community members can meet up with others, work on projects, and share creative skills and interests. This can be to work on a projects that may include woodworking, gardening, art, computing, or whatever our members would like. It will be a member led organisation aiming to provide whatever tools we can in order to help maintain community spirit, overcome social isolation, and improve the health and wellbeing of our members. Some of our members are retired and may experience loneliness. Even if they can visit the Community Shed just for a cup of tea it could help them greatly. We currently have the offer of the temporary use of a hall until we move to a permanent location. In order to get us started, we are keen to start working on small projects such as wooden planters and bird boxes, hence the need for some tools and materials. We have some members that interested in model making, therefore some model making kits would be great to get our members started. We would also like to provide the opportunity for socialising, therefore the board games would be a vital part in that. We are also keen to organise a visit to another well established Shed such as Dalbeattie Mens Shed, in order to research the potential for the development of our own Shed. We are looking for funding to cover the costs of a Minibus hire and fuel costs for the visit. As we are a new organisation, we have limited funds to get started, therefore we need some assistance in getting us off the ground. The funding would assist us in the purchase of the following:

Woodwork Tools (Hammers/Saws/Screwdrivers, etc): £330 Materials/Wood: £300 Model making kits: £100

Board Games: £70 Minibus Hire/Fuel: £200 Total: £1000