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)

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. 

Our proposed project will support the more vulnerable people in the community during the winter months, those  at risk of increased social isolation, loneliness and depression.  

Largs has a higher percentage of elderly and a higher percentage of people less mobile.   Giving them that life line in winter to connect with people encourages them out of the house to be part of daily life in the community.  The social interaction promotes a sense of belonging and safety for those more vulnerable in the winter months.

This will also showcase local establishments who support poor mobility by easy access, encouraging others to spread the word of local residents involved in community life.  We believe that poor mobility should not mean poor involvement.

We propose to meet fortnightly during 6 months of winter.  12  events for an estimated 10 residents  at each.  £8 towards each lunch is £80 x 12 = £960. 

I moved to Largs late 2022 and created Largs Music Club soon after in response to the interest I received since floating the idea on social media. 

LMC offers an informal setting for amateur musicians to meet on a regular basis and encourage and teach one another to improve their skill-level on their preferred musical instrument.

The club is growing in popularity since word is out that we existing members offer a friendly and relaxed environment for those keen to learn at their own pace without fear of judgement or impatience. As membership is growing, so does the variety of instruments being learned and taught. 

The club relies on individuals contributing their time and equipment to teach fellow members how to play their preferred instrument. With continued funding, I would aim to purchase more equipment to make that teaching more accessible - music stands, microphones, microphone stands, amplifiers, mixing desk and some basic entry level instruments to encourage those who do not own an instrument (but who wish to learn one), to join us. The funding would also contribute to the maintenance (and if necessary, repair) of the equipment purchased in our first year. These items are expensive and realistically will require additional funding from me and some other willing members to supplement any money issued following this application. However, I am confident that your contribution will assist LMC continue to grow in membership and reputation and continue playing music for the community.       

Our club assists develop confidence as well as musical literacy, with participants encouraged to play live for friends and family and now, for larger audiences in the community shows as per my vision. 

Feedback from participants so far evidence the mental health benefits of playing and learning in our community, a benefit I will highlight as I further promote our initiative in the community. 

Members talk about how the club combats loneliness and depression. I hope to continue making this club available for some time to come.

The reason I don’t include a specific breakdown of cost is because our costs are really unpredictable. The idea of the club is that anyone can turn up and learn to play any instrument. So last year we bought, among many other things, a mandolin, a banjo and a saxophone. The demand is driven by who walks through the door and what they want to learn.

We also spend money on instrument maintenance – new strings and replacement parts. Again, we respond to what our members need – replacing guitar strings once they break, for example.

We spent more than £1000 last year (all receipts available) and expect we’ll do the same again next year. That said, I expect you’ll have more applications this year, so we will be very delighted to receive any amount of award.

We at LMC are extremely grateful for your consideration.

Barrfield Community Garden is a new space located in Largs. Though only created in the winter of 2023, already volunteers have brought in raised beds, planted a large varity of vegetables, fruits, and flowers, and harvested vegetables which were  donated to the Largs Food Bank. We have served as a site for local small projects as well as a well-being space allowing local people with varying levels of ability to work with plants. We hope to expand this site in the coming years to grow more food and create a space for local people of all ages and ability to engage with, as well as of course continue to grow tasty food and beautiful flowers to share with Largs and those who presently do not have access to healthy, locally-grown food.

At present, the site has water but no electricity. We'd love to keep a few plants growing well into the autumn and need to procure solar-powered grow lights to do so. This involves the purchase of two sets of grow lights with attached solar panels to keep our melon, pepper, lettuce and tomato harvests going into the late autumn.

Our water pipes are at present not protected from the colder temperatures that come with Scottish winter. We are seeking to insulate the water pipes and employ a local plumber to install this insulation. 

In the interest of increasing the environmental sustainability of the Barrfield Community Garden space, we would like to install drain pipes and water butts. This will allow the garden to collect and utilise rainwater for watering the garden's beds and indoor plants.

People in Largs may be aware we recently experienced vandalism to the garden. After this event, we would like to  install a motion-activated camera, as well as solar- powered, motion-activated lights for the main path into the garden.

Adequate amounts of compost will be needed for planting over the winter, including but not limited to the growing of garlic and seed potatoes.

We would in future hope to create a tiered garden on the hilly portion at the east side of the garden. The area is at present covered with thistles and weeds, so we would to cover this area with weed-killing membrane as the first step of this project.

10 Meter weed membrane roll (x10) @ £6.95 = £69.50

10w led Solar grow light (x2) @ 68.50 = £137.00

Motion sensor lights for pathway lighting (x6) @ £6.99 = £41.94

SolarCam Kit with night vision and SDCard = £85

Builders bag Compost  = £52 

Insulation for water pipes, materials and labor = £200

Water butts and guttering for rainwater collection = £400

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.

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.