Expansion of the facilities of the Community Corner - £200

Provision of hot beverages, soup, sandwiches and biscuits- £800

We are a group of retirees who enjoy yoga instruction, with a registered tutor, every Tuesday morning in Saltcoats Town Hall. We have 25 members, all over 60, most over 70 and several over 80 years of age. Our current hall cannot accommodate any more than 25 and this is a sufficient number for our tutor to oversee safely. We operate a waiting list and we are inclusive of all retirees. Our group has been going for almost 20 years. Yoga keeps us physically active and improves our strength,flexibility, stamina and balance, which is imperative as we age to keep us from falling. Yoga also helps us menally, by coping with stress, when we do our breathing exercises and relaxation at the end of each class.

Many of our members are now widowed or dealing with the illness of a partner and  have consequently lost much of their social life.  We have one member who is registered blind and several who are hearing impaired. This all leads to isolation and lonliness. Covid has had a massive effect on many of us but we set up a WhatsApp group to enable us to keep in touch via phone calls and messages and to offer support when we need a shoulder to lean on.  We like to have coffee meet ups and/or lunches which allows us the time to talk together and find out if anyone is going through a rough time and perhaps needs some support.  We also try to have a day trip and a Christmas Dinner each year.  This allows us to the have the time to just enjoy a day or an evening out together to have fun. As we all know the cost of living is increasing rapidly and we live in an area of deprivation, so to be able to fund some get togethers and outings means a great deal to those who are no longer able to work.

We are all finding that technology is moving too fast for us, but as a group, we are there to offer assistance, if possible, and try to figure things out between us.  We struggle sometimes with so many things having to be done online i.e. applying for funding, making bookings, accessing menus or information and even at times trying to make a GP  appintment or order prescriptions. It's getting more difficult to access hard copies of forms and menus etc. Even when shopping ' It's all online' we hear them say.  A laptop of our own would make things much easier .as phone screens are too small for to see and are difficult for those with arthritic fingers.  We could hopefully learn together, and from one another, how to use a laptop effectively and erase the need for paper copies to be printed thereby helping the environment too. 

We have included a video below.

Yoga lessons £550, Coffee/lunch £250, refurbished laptop £200 = £1000

This project will consist of three days of workshops with fifty 9–11-year-olds from Ardeer Primary School. The project will be in connection with the 'Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival', exploring the festival's theme of 'In/Visible' using Shaun Tan's beautiful picture book, 'The Red Tree'. The process will begin by using drama activities to explore these themes, then will delve into drama skills and confidence building, which will set the young people up to create a performance that will be shared with the rest of the school and wider community of parents, carers and guardians. This project will focus on the process to get to the performance, putting the young people’s learning and development in the forefront of the work. The project will allow young people to explore mental health themes, ensuring they are relevant for their ages, for example, friendships and belonging. We aim to engage the wider school community by getting other classes to help with prop making, so they can feel connected to the performance even if they aren’t onstage themselves. This prop making will use origami to create paper boats to be used within the performance; a motif from 'The Red Tree'.  The young people will then be asked to write on their boat what tools they use to 'stay above water'- what do they do to ensure they are maintaining their wellbeing? Drama is a brilliant tool to build community spirit, as each performer can present something they are proud of and share it with their audience of supporters who will come out of the event with a shared experience that can bring them together. This is why it is so important we bring this unique project to the Ardeer community.

Cost Breakdown

2 Theatre Facilitators delivery and planning:  £780

Travel: £100

Workshop materials: £40

Performance materials: £80

Total: £1,000

For a breakdown of the materials needed please see the attached document.

We are applying for funding to allow us to promote and increase group membership and to help increase ways for participants to share their art. The art of photography is a skill that can be learned and  applied by nearly everyone. The group has already undertaken a successful exhibition, and produced postcards to raise funds. We want to have a further exhibition, to produce more postcards of members photography and sell these to raise funds for local charities.  We feel that participants sharing their photography will raise their confidence and promote wellness and postive mental health. The postcard and exhibition aspect of the project will showcase what is good about the Three Towns rather than 'buy into' negative views and opinions, thereby promoting community spirit and appreciation. costs will be as follows, print cartridges - £200, Mounting Boards - £80, Postcard printing £100, Banner/flag £200, Craft knifes/tape/backing card £100, travel costs £200.

IMC Community Fridge is applying for £1000 for the purchase of amibient and chilled foods to ensure good stock levels during the depths of winter. Many people on prepayment meters have to choose whether to heat or eat and we want to enusre that our community can do both where possible. 

£1000 will allow for £100 to be spent per week for a 10 week period to provide soups, ready meals and other tinned produce. 

We anticipate that approx 30 household will benefit per week from this provision.

We would like to apply for funding to take the residents of Saltcoats High Flats on trips and outings throughout the year. As an older community of people with a range of mobility needs, many of us live by ourselves. We can go days without talking to people. The High Flats Afternoon Club brings us together with the common theme of living in the same buidling. 

We would like to be able to book some trips and days out but due to many different mobility needs, such as walking frames, sticks etc, we need accessible transport. Transport is very expensive and if we were to get £800, we could use a varierty of taxis, minibus or small bus hires to take us on some days out. 

£500 for transport costs

£300 for entrance fees, food and drink etc.

The explorer unit is based in the three towns and is made up of young people aged between 14 and 18 years of age. The unit leaders are unable to supply the adventurous activities that the young persons wish to take part in. These activities are available at the nation Scout Outdoor Activity centre at Lochgoilhead. They would be able to take part in activities like abseiling, climbing, mountain biking, burn run, sailing and kayaking . We plan to attend there in March 2025 which would allow us time to raise sufficient funds to attend. The total cost for this project is £2050. The cost includes accommodation, food, all activities and safety equipment. We plan to take a party of 12 persons to this event. Booking for the centre is £167 per head. Total of £2004. Transport by private cars is estimated at £46 to cover fuel costs.

The group was set up after 3 men in their 40s got back into their teenage hobby of painting warhammer miniatures during the Covid Lockdowns and reconnected on social media.  Each of them suffered from social anxiety and found reintegrating extremely difficult.  After a few years of chatting together online the idea to set up a small gaming group to actually play the games was discussed.  After publishing the idea on social media 18 people showed interest so the group went ahead. Initially it was expected that it would be experienced players with their own miniatures that would be attending however the first meeting saw 9 people attend, 5 of which were new to the hobby and didnt own any of their own equipment.  The second meeting had 19 attendees with 8 of them having to use equipment supplied by the group.  

To continue the group and allow it to grow a lot more equipment will be required to allow everyone a chance to take part, especially the youngsters who have joined who dont have the ability to purchase their own kits.  Each starter box which allows 2 participants to play costs £110 and the club needs a minimum of 4 boxes to allow everyone to take part.  The other side of the hobby which most partipants find really aids their mental health is building and painting the miniatures so a space is being planned that will be fully stocked to allow the beginners to learn and enjoy that side of the hobby too.  Modelling tools and paints for this will cost.about £200. The group also provides tea, coffee and soft drinks for the attendees.

The let fees for the room at the Argyle Centre are £175 for the first year.

The ongoing cost of liviing crisis is continueing to have a significant impact on households ability to eat, heat and survive. We are looking to continue to support our community be being able to offer the range of foods that we currently have. Due to ongoing price rises, the community shop will not be able to provide the same choice and range of products if we are unable to secure funding to achieve this. Having access to a range of foods, provides a dignified support for families when they are at their most vulnerable.

£1000 would allow us to purchase food over a 3 month period, which will take us over the depth of winter when energy bills are highest for families. This equates to £83.33 per week and we support approx 65 household each week which is only £1.28 per household per week for food. 

SeaSalt Streets are seeking funding to continue its successful run of events in and around Saltcoats Town Centre. These pop-up events have included a "kerbie" competition, a basketball challenge, a bird box building day and more recently, the Betsy Miller Awareness Day.

These occasions are intended to create a talking point, a feel good factor, a want to get involved, inspiring others to create their own events, thereby starting a Ripple Effect !!!

If successful, SeaSalt Streets intend to use the funding to hire 2 smoothie bikes and a life size interactive cow. The 2 smoothie bikes, 1 adult and 1 child's, each have a built-in blender which, when peddled by the individual, mixes the milk, fruit/syrup of their choice, into a healthy smoothie drink.

The interactive cow has milking teats, which, when "milked" dispenses water giving the milker the opportunity of a lifetime to "milk a cow" A unique, one-off experience which will create a lasting memory to the participants. 

Estimated costs :

  Smoothie bikes + insurance        £350.00                                      Interactive Milking Cow                £185.00                                      Smoothie Supplies  60lt milk,                                                             fruit, syrups, 250 cups                £150.00                                    2 x Operators @ 4 hrs each          £180.00                                    Delivery & set up costs                  £70.00                                      Promotional materials                   £50.00

  TOTAL                                              £985.00

The group will use this event as an opportunity to promote the Health and Well-being benefits of eating well, and by introducing regular physical activity, the individual can bring about personal change.

By involving families, SeaSalt Streets, by way of these interactive events, hope to continue to build up community spirit and create positive changes both to to individuals and the wider community.