We have established more sustainable planting and have introduced a range of perennial plants and shrubs in several areas throughout the village. We top up during summer with colourful annuals some which we grow ourselves. We also maintain over 50 hanging baskets which bring colour to the village during the summer months. All our gardens are highly visible in the village and several have seating areas for people to rest and enjoy the plants. One of our gardens has a sensory theme and a Happy to Chat Bench. We believe that the gardens connect people in the village and give a sense of community and pride in our local environment. We work in partnership with a range of other organisations, schools and community and environmental projects who benefit from the range of habitats that we have to offer.

We would be grateful if the PB could support us to bulk buy a selection of bulbs, perennials, plug plants and hanging basket plants to plant out newer gardens and top up our existing gardens. It would also enable a bulk purchase of compost and plant feed

The Clyde Coast & Cumbraes Mens Shed is becoming more and more integrated into the community everytime we open our doors, we are being asked to make or repair more and more varied items by the public, Local charitable causes & local businesses, which gives the membership a great sense of achievement and a feeling belonging to the community, which improves their mental health and wellbeing. 

We held evening sessions with the Scottish Womens Institute & the Largs Boys Brigade on seperate nights, which were greatly received and has lead to us organing evening session with both groups which will help to teach them new skills and hopefully develop into something that can use in the future.

The breakdown of costs for the funding is as follows.

1. For 2 Erbauer Impact Drivers £199.98
2. For 1 Erbauer Impact Wrench £69.99
3. For 2 Trade screw Packs £139.98
4. For 10M of 220mmx 20 Planed Pine £248.88 at current prices
5. For 50M of 150 x 19 Rough sawn Fence palanks £220.40 at current prices
6. For 20M of 47x50mm Rough sawn timber £101.00 at current prices

We would like to run a banded table tennis tournament at Inverclyde Sports Centre this season. A banded tournament would bring to Largs approximately 60–70 players from across Ayrshire and Glasgow for an afternoon's competitive table tennis. Hall hire for 5 hours would be £440. This would be a once-a-year annual event, and as such the cost of the hall hire does not constitute rent for the normal week-to-week running of our club.

 We also need some equipment for our club for the new season. First off, we would like to purchase a training robot to help elevate the skill levels of our existing members. A training robot is also a big draw for younger players. Secondly, we would also like to purchase some new bats, as the ones we currently have are poor and not suited to developing players.

Breakdown of costs:

Hall hire for banded tournament: £440

Entry-level training robot: £200

Starter bats x 8: £80

Intermediate bats and rubbers x 5: £200

Balls (2x120): £75

Total: £995

We currently have £550 in our club account and are able to put £300 towards costs, so we are applying for a total of £695.

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Largs Table Tennis Club attracts people from across the North Coast, including Fairlie, West Kilbride, Skelmorlie and Inverkip. Almost two years ago we took advantage of the fact that our town enjoys a state-of-the-art sports facility and a wide array of table tennis equipment by opening our own club in the town. Largs is fast becoming a hotspot of Scottish table tennis; in March, the centre hosted the Scottish Nationals, and in July, Inverclyde hosted the Scottish Parkinson’s International for the second year running. One of our coaches, Paul Carson, attended a supplementary course at the Scottish Parkinson’s International designed to better prepare coaches for people with Parkinson’s attending the club. We have members with Parkinson’s and members with MS. Table tennis is renowned in sports circles for its benefits to people with degenerative and neurological conditions. We aim to embrace all people at our weekly sessions; it is an open group, and you can regularly find a ten-year-old playing with a sixty-year-old, and young and old mixing with people with various disabilities. We are very proud of this fact.

Our club is open to all ages and to encourage everyone we only charge £5 for the two hours session and we have made it FREE for under 18s.

We spend a significant amount of the nursery day in our outdoor garden and forest area.  We are focussed on giving our children the best experience at our nursery and so the skill sets the children develop outside and the opportunities for different ways to play here are a large part of their learning at WKEYC.  Being able to use our outdoor space so well, builds the children's confidence and resilience to playing outside in all weathers.  In order to provide this we always consider both the children and staff's well being and how best to cater for their comfort.  

Therefore we are asking for some smaller items that will make a big difference to their time in the garden.  We are hoping for mobile hand wash stations for warm handwashing outside which is key to children's health and wellbeing; tarpaulins for shelter and ground cover with a tougher tarpolin required as this needs to be robust enough in the stormier weather;  facilities for hot drinks for staff and children to allow them to cintinue for longer outside and feel happier doing so; hand and feet warmers for staff (children are catered for already) and portable seating for staff to take five minutes whilst out in the garden - the children have these facilities in their log chairs. 

Although small these items will have a direct impact on everyone's mental and physical health.  Staff will feel valued and appreciated in their workplace as we try our best to keep them warm and dry and everyone will benefit from being outdoors, learning in a different environment.  This is proven to aid in their overall health and promote other ways to learn.  In some cases, this will also provide an element of play they may not receive at home promoting equal opportunites for our children.

Below are the items we would love to be able to provide for our  children and staff. 

Insulated Mobile Hand wash station x 3 (£204) = £612

Tarpaulin (3m x 4m) for groundsheet = £11.99

Tarpaulin (waterproof and storm proof) for shelter = £75.36

Travel Chairs x 4 (£10) = £40

Hot drink dispenser x 3 (£24.99) = £74.97

Travel mugs for staff x 8 (£9.88) = £79.04

Warm insoles for wellies ( £5.98 for 2 pairs) = £23.92

Hand warmers (40 pk) = £26.49

Total £943.77

There is a document attached with the links to the products we are looking at. As these are live links prices may have varied (especially on Amazon) from when we have looked at these - we will endeavour to purchase as close to these prices as possible. 

We also support people in the community with their food growing by supplying seeds, containers, compost, fertiliser and friendly help and advice. Every year we need to keep our supplies up of compost, fertiliser, seeds, plants, tools as we expand our work. We have been developing our garden by building terraces and new growing areas and this year will be another busy time as we move onto a new area of the garden to develop. By voting for our project you will support us in expanding our food-growing space and garden infrastructure. Our garden was previously an overgrown derelict space and our volunteers have done a tremendous job so far in making it a productive and joyful space. 

We also require a new colour printer so that we can print our signage, save money on leaflets and posters, growing instructions for people we are working with and to draw more people into our projects. As we are keen environmentalists we want to switch to an eco printer. 

Printer and supply of ink and paper £300

Gardening supplies £700

Thank you for your support  and please come and join us Mondays and Wednesdays 9:30-1:30

Just before Easter 2024, we conducted workshops with young people and children in West Kilbride to explain and encourage them to use photographs as a means to tell stories and impart information. The children and young people then submitted their images on the theme of "Oor Hame", telling what made their home, home. These images were then exhibited in the windows of the shops and other businesses along Main Street and Ritchie Street in the village, creating an open air gallery which residents and visitors to the village could enjoy.

We wish to repeat this project during the same Easter holidays for 2025, but this time we will be running the workshops with the cooperation of West Kilbride Primary School and other youth groups (Brownies, Boys' Brigade etc). In 2024 we held the workshops at what we later realised was not an ideal time, and did not get the level of involvement of young people we believe the project has the potential to engage; that said, we did receive nearly 50 images, and the exhibition was a success, but we believe that with more targeted workshops we could easily receive 10 times the number of images, making the open air gallery that much larger and spreading the collected images around more of West Kilbride's streets.

The project in 2024 looked at what "Hame" means, as it was triggered by Mandy Edwards' documentary project of the same name. For 2025 we have yet to identify a theme (we intend to consult with the school, groups and, most importantly the children) but believe that "Oor Hame" is a good name for the ongoing project, whatever theme is adopted, as it emphasises the community nature of the project.

Funding is required for workshop facilitation (£200), purchase of single use cameras (£250) printing and presentation of images (£150), publicity material (£100)

Purchase of replacement motifs

Project is to purchase 3 motifs to feature in the centre of the village's Main Street.  This is where the Yuletide Parade passes through and the public follow to visit other events and traders' premises.

The new motifs will replace old, malfunctioning motifs and will enhance the atmosphere in the village to encourage residents and visitors to mingle together in an enhanced atmosphere.

Blachere Illuminations have quoted £321 each for these motifs, including fitting of wall-mounted brackets to maximise display values, as per attached quote.