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. 

We as a group support ech other and our children to explore our emotions and feelings. Many of our group members share collective experiences, this has made it easier to be honest with each other and creaate relationships. This allows us to build toolkits that support each indiviual family. This group hs become a safe space for many of us and has had such a positive impact on our mental health and wellbeing. This group supports people from all over North Ayrshire to come together, meet likeminded individuals and support mental health whilst focussing on topics such as anxiety and resilience.  We have been able to bring alot of people in to speak to our group members that include First Aid, Nest and other information sessions. This has allowed us to build our own knowledge in promoting positive mental health for people within our community.

We hope to use this money to continue to support our group members by providing added resources that will benefit the families within our group. We hope to buy more visual representations of emotions that will allow us to create a more inclusive environment meaning all children will learn more about their own wellbeing.

We also hope to use this money to allow us to celebrate our groups and provide opportunities to share new experiences. We hope to be able to go on a group trip where we can have fun and spend time with each other outwith our usual environment. This money would help us minimse costs and again encourage inclusivity. We hope that this money wil cover the cost so everyone in the group can get involved and no one is left behind due to finiancial constraints.

This group has been a lifeline to many people, and we have successfully run over the last two years. Applying for funding will allow us to enrich the experience of our members and continue to build the knowledge of our families.

Break down of costs -

£400 trip - venue tbc

£300 - resources

£200 - visitors

£100 - food

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

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

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