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.

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.

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