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Environmental survey to support community purchase of Kerelaw
2024-09-20 • No comments • • Three Towns
Later this year, we hope to buy Kerelaw - a former country estate in Stevenston – which is a well-loved, well-used, biodiverse greenspace. As part of the supporting documents for the land purchase, we need to submit an environmental survey of the site to the landowner and funder. The survey and resulting report – an ‘extended Phase 1 Habitat survey’ – would map the site’s habitats, note important ecological features, flag the presence of protected species, and provide management advice for the site.
Once we acquire the land, we will improve it for both the local community and biodiversity and seek Local Nature Reserve status from the Council.
The funding we’re applying for (£1000) would part-fund the environmental survey and report, which in total would cost £4626.
The Saltcoats Men's Group
2024-09-12 • No comments • • Three Towns
The group is about being supportive and encouraging to each other. Building camaraderie and helping participants to reconnect with others and themselves.
- Reducing loneliness and isolation
- Reducing low mood and depression
- Increasing a sense of purpose, community and belonging
- Increasing a sense of routine, structure and self-worth
- Promoting health and wellbeing - time together and a safe and trusting space to open up to peers
- Providing peer support for mental health - checking in with each other - "anyone struggling today?"
The funding we're applying for would be spent as follows:
- Cost of weekly room hire for a year (£350)
- Cost of weekly refreshments/food provision per group – teas, coffees, juice and fruit
- Cost of additional monthly or quarterly healthy activities and travel out with the community centre (e.g archery, bowling)
- Cost of promoting the group and recruiting more group participants - to reach more men in the community who have poor mental health
Saltcoats Mindful Makers
2024-09-18 • No comments • • Three Towns
Mindful Makers brings together Three Towns adults to combat the adverse effects of loneliness and social isolation with mindfulness. This community group is run by four volunteers (no cost) and comprises weekly Crafting Sessions and a Book Group. Sessions are open to all and free of charge to users. Friday meetings are held in Saltcoats Library where the welcoming environment encourages regular attendance. Week 1: Crafting - a new skill tutored by an organiser; Week 3: Book Group; Weeks 2 and 4: crafting together. Crafting and mindfulness are beneficial and can alleviate the symptoms of anxiety, stress, depression, loneliness and even dementia (craftscouncil.org.uk and verywellmind.com). Sharing experiences can counter depression through a feeling of belonging. Feedback from participants will guide our work and shape our 2025 programme. We use WhatsApp group to share and communicate between meetings, and a new Instagram account will raise awareness.
Our bid for £800 will allow for increasing costs and will (a) continue the provision of free crafting resources so no one is excluded for economic reasons - £500 (b) enable us to continue to provide community and outreach work - £50 promotion, and (c) increase equality of access for disabled members - £250 towards transport. We need to keep our activities free of charge as it becomes harder to budget for activities to help us thrive. Our 2025 development plan calls for an occasional outside maker to lead a session for a reasonable fee. A 2023 field trip was successful, but transport costs suitable for disabled participants are prohibitive, yet because of the weather we need to plan to visit indoor venues relevant to our selected crafts.
We respect sustainability, recycling items wherever possible, and augment our funds through craft sales. We support an average of 14 members at any time - an optimum number given the donated time and effort for organisation.

Food & Heat
2024-09-12 • No comments • • Three Towns
If we were to be sussessful with the funding the money would help us offer the community the free meal & hot drink 3 times per week so they are able to come along sit in the heat get a hot meal and a wee chat with friends or just to see some friendly faces in the cafe. We would love to offer this throughtout the day from morning to later afternoon as we know people have different circumstances in life and may not be able to get out early and also we want to encourage parents to come in before the school pick up as we know with the cost of living parents may skip a meal and this way they have had something warm to eat before heading home. Also we encourage anyone coming along to the cafe to charge any devices they may have including mobility scooters to try help them save some of their own electricity. We are here to help with any calls that may need to be made regarding any home issues they have, for exmaple if they have any issues with gas or electric and they are unsure how to call for help or advise.
Cost for running over 3 days per week for 12 weeks
Food cost per week £120
£100 per week for hot drinks

Lifelines
2024-09-11 • 1 comment • • Three Towns
We've created a Suicide Prevention Information Directory to act as a lifeline for anyone having thoughts of self-harm and/or suicide. We distribute as many booklets as we can along with posters with a QR Code link to the online version.
The funding we're applying for would allow the group to:
- Distribute more booklets and posters across the community
- Reach more mental health organisations, local businesses, and education centres
- Reach more people living with poor mental health and wellbeing due to isolation, bereavement, addiction, food insecurity, and the cost of living crisis
- Reach those who have fallen through the net, the hardest to reach, the most marginalised
- Build community spirit by attending mental health and public networking events and coordinating training and holding events
The funding we're applying for would be spent as follows:
- Poster Production costs (printing and laminating)
- Travel, Event and Training costs
- Promotional Materials for networking and public events including:
- Branded Pens
- Branded Keyrings/Trolley Tokens
- Branded Tops
- Branded Banner
Art ventures at Flying Start Toddler group
2024-09-11 • No comments • • Three Towns
The project is Art Venturers it is a programme designed fo babies and children under three years. The aim is to develop a childs creativity by providing experiences and opportunities for creative play in a relaxed environment. Children explore and create at their own pace and develop a sense of well being . the programme promotes bonding and attachments between the babies and their caregivers. A professional early years worker leads the sessions and the sessions are planned to support childrns development.
The costs of the project is 20 sessions at £50 per session £1000

Bluebells and apple trees for Holm Plantation
2024-09-20 • No comments • • Three Towns
Building on the tree planting work we have undertaken in Holm Plantation over the past two years, we plan to plant several hundred Bluebell bulbs in the woodland areas at the site and plant an additional 20 apple trees in the community orchard we recently planted there. This would be the latest part of our ongoing attempts to make this greenspace more diverse, interesting and attractive.
The funding we are applying for would be spent as follows:
- £250 for Bluebell bulbs.
- £706 for 20 apple trees, inlcuding delivery.

1st Ardrossan (St Peter’s) Rainbows
2024-09-11 • No comments • • Three Towns
We are a rainbows group that has 22 girls and 11 on our waiting list. We would love to take the girls to the cinema to see Moana 2. We would also like to buy them badges and supplies to continue delivering the Girlguiding programme
the cinema is £6 per child £132
badges required 22x4=88 88badgesx £2 each =£176
resources =£300

Hayocks Free Kids/ Family Christmas Santa Event & Over 50s Christmas Meal
2024-09-02 • 1 comment • • Three Towns
The North Stevenston Community Association is dedicated to supporting the local community in North Stevenston. However, financial limitations are hindering our ability to provide free events to the community, especially to vulnerable groups such as children and those over 50 who are affected by financial challenges, food crises, and isolation.
Community Challenges: North Stevenson is a financially challenged area, making it difficult for many families to afford necessities, especially food and activities. This has led to an increased reliance on anti-poverty support and often isolation. Christmas is a special time of year and we would like to help people make positive memories of 2024.
Community Events: To address these challenges, we aim to provide festive events for the community. An all-the-trimmings Christmas lunch & Free family event including a visit from Santa, a gift, and entertainment.
Budget Requirements: To successfully organise these events, we require funding support totaling £1000, allocated as follows: - £450 for the Christmas Lunch 3 course 50+ for food and entertainment - £550 for the Free kids’ and family Santa event
Activity Costs: Over 50s Christmas lunch -We estimate a guest list of approximately 60 individuals for Christmas lunch and plan to utilise the funds towards 3-course Christmas meals, table settings, crackers, and entertainment. For the kids and family Santa event, we expect approximately 100 children to attend, and the budget will cover expenses for a photo booth, decorations, a disco and DJ, and small gifts or selection boxes.
Impact and Community Resilience: The funding to enable these events will provide temporary joy and enhance community interaction and resilience. Our hall venue allows for positive interactions and offers a supportive environment to strengthen social networks and general well-being within the community. We would like to increase our services to support people locally and will use the opportunity to highlight our anti-poverty and activity-based program to provide support when needed.
Conclusion: If the funding is successful, it will enable the Association to bring joy to kids and improve the lives of those in need. It will also encourage local engagement for the development of our service provision in line with local needs and wants.

Performance in 3 days with Ardeer Primary School
2024-09-20 • No comments • • Three Towns
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.