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 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

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

3TFM was launched in 2008 to provide a local health and wellbeing and music radio offering to the people of the 3 Towns.  It broadcasts on 103.1FM to the local area, and to the rest of the world on the Radio Garden app.  As well as broadcasting every day, the station offers training in radio presentation and production to local young people. Our music library is stored on a laptop.  Our current laptop is slow and outdated.  £500 would allow us to purchase a new laptop which would offer faster, more secure storage for our library.  It would also allow us to store more tunes, broadening the range of music that we play to our listeners. 

More information about the station can be found at www.3tfm.org.uk/about

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