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

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.

3TG maintain and manage the Community Allotments, Elm Park, Ardrossan. We are seeking funding to produce 'interpretative' boards to be positioned at key areas within the allotments. These will present visual and textual information. For example, the wildlife pond, and its inhabitants, why biodiversity is important for us all as well as the environment. How the pond benefits growing food. As place to chill and relax and by extension be part of resetting your wellness and mental health. A board at the community & training plot explaining, whats growing  and how it is governed by the seasons etc. Three further boards (including a site map and information) at other locations on the site. The fund would buy materials to make the boards from scratch, with volunteers from the allotment’s membership, and importantly volunteers from the communities of the Three Towns working together to construct them. The project will introduce people to woodworking, digital design, desktop publishing, and get them working outside gaining an understanding of biodiversity and growing food all at local level. They will be designed so that information can be changed and updated as and when required. The boards will be part of an ongoing move to encourage people to visit the allotment for leisure and relaxation, to experience the 'outdoors' in a safe space. This project will benefit an estimated 40 participants throughout the construction and placement stages, and further 300 - 400 people using the allotment or visiting. 

Costs would be as follows, Clear Acrylic Boards £200, Marine Plyboard £396, Coach Bolts £30, Yacht Varnish £40, fence posts £300, Ducks Black Matt Paint £86, post cement £80. The 3TG will contribute £200 to the project, making a total cost of £1132.

Vision of Project - Create a Wellbeing Corner and Volunteer Programme of Activities at Lunch time and Afterschool. 

We are House Captains of Mayfiled Primary School.  We applied to be house captains to lead and support children and young people, to listen to children's views, to work with teachers to help with learning and to encourage volunteering in and outside our school.  As school captains, monitors and buddy's we would like the funding to help us grow as leaders.  - (House Captain Application and video link to see our ideas)

Project 1 - Volunteer Programme to support Lunch Time and Afterschool Activities (Theme - Health & Wellbeing, Building Community Spirit and Cost of Living).

Our school does not have any lunch time or afterschool clubs.  We want to lead on lunch time and afterschool activities and with the help of our teachers and parent council who can help by volunteering their time and help us bring in funding for resources.  We would like money from PB to purchase 2 new adjustable basketball stands so the big and wee ones can play.  We asked our houses what we needed and went a walk around our school playground.  We only have 1 basketball net and its older than Mr Faulds so the JANNIE SAID.  We did our research and found these for 249.99 each and we need 2.

Project 2 - Our Wellbeing Corner (Theme - Health & Wellbeing, Community Spirit, Cost of Living and Green Projects)

Part of our walk around we noticed that there is not anywhere for young people to sit together outdoors.  We would like to turn a corner of our playground into a wellbeing corner.  We would like money for picnic benches and planters.  We called a local men's shed.  They said if we got the PB money they would make them for us and would only charge us for the wood - We thought this was an absolute BARGAIN!!! The space we looked at you can see the fields behind us and the cows - we thought this area would make the ideal spot.  We as Mayfields House Captains want to introduce FUN, FRIENDLY FRIDAYS where pupils will give at least 1 comliment to someone during our lunch time activity.  We would also like to use the space when we are volunteering as buddy's and mentors as this is an ideal space to put our planters and we can help the wee people grow vegetable and their confidence.  This space would allow us as House Captains to develop our leadership skills using a space that is not used and hopefully recruit more wellbeing wizzards as part of our fun and friendly Friday's.

Basketball Stands 249.99 x 2 = 499.98

3 x Picnic Benches 2 x Planters = 580

Total = 1039.98 (We planning on fundraising for the rest if successful)

The Pantomime with Livingstone Players has really grown this year and we have doubled the number of young people involved since we reopened after Covid shutdown. The microphones will ensure that actors and singers are heard by everyone in the audience. We have the technology to control the feedback and audio interference but ideally the more microphones we have the less are shared and it avoids errors that can happen when one is shared with a few people as may have different functions for each user which puts stress on sound team so ideally we need more so that we can be as professional as possible. 

We have added another performance to offering so 6 shows this year rather than 5 so equipment used more and we want to be the first choice of Pantomime for local people.

Microphones are called Sennheiser XSW 2-ME2 GB Band lapel set at £333 including VAT. We want to have 3

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.

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.

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

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.