Our aim is to ensure every family in our school community has a safe place to meet for support and to provide a healthy meal or snack to combat the cost of living crisis.

We aim to promote health and wellbeing by running after school workshops for our families. The workshops will run over a 6 month period from January 2025 - June 2025. Each workshop will run for around an hour and a healthy snack or light meal will also be provided. 

We have collated responses from our parents and children which highlighted the following:

• parents want to feel more included in the school environment and with their child's learning
• children would like their parent/caregiver to have more involvement with their learning and for the learning to be ‘more fun’
• families would like to meet for support (from each other and from professionals)
• families would like to be more active
• children would like to learn how to cook healthy meals
• parents and children expressed an interest in attending a regular after-school club

We feel our plan for an after-school family hub would help meet the needs highlighted, we would be able to support family learning in a fun and engaging way. As well as providing a healthy snack or light meal, to help families during the current cost of living crisis.

We would work with the local community builder, the NHS, Local charities and Parent Council Volunteers to ensure a wide range of needs are met. Each ‘workshop’ at our new Family hub would have a theme, such as:

• Homework Help/ Supported Study (supporting family learning)
• Health and Wellbeing (promoting physical and mental wellbeing)

• Equality and Equity (outside agency delivering a workshop on this, with fun family games)
• Health and Fitness (physical games and activities for all ages and abilities)
• Cooking Healthy meals on a budget (community cook-a-long)
• Caring for our Community (community litter picks)

We would use the money secured from the bid to get our ‘Family Hub’ up and running.  Our predicted expenditure is £40 to buy equipment such as plates, cutlery and cooking utensils. Then a further £40 per session (for 24 sessions) to purchase the ingredients for the included healthy meal/snack.

We have created an inclusive environment for all involved in our group. Whilst completeing the challenges involved in the awards our group give back to the community through chosen volunteering opportunities. Our group has provided a social lifeline for many members and it gives us the chance to visit different places throughout Scotland and connect with local history. This is turn positively impacts the health and wellbeing of our group memebers to help promote an active and healthy lifestyle by offering challenges that both stimulate and motivate. We have been able to access free opportunities and museums through the national trust this has not impacted our members finanically. However, we would love to be able to go further afield and access new experiences together as a group. This money would allow us us to continue to provide an inclusive environment for all our members by covering the costs and allowing equal access to aopportunities wavering financial limitations. We hope to use this money to continue to work together as a group providing key support and care to each other with the benefit of sharing new and exciting experiences togther. 

We hope to access different places such as Dumfries house, this is a place where many of our members have wanted to visit but due to financial limitations, we have been unable to do so. We would also like to go over to Millport to share a day trip together and celebrating completeing different parts of our discovery awards and have an end trip bedore the group break up for summer. 

We would also like to celebrate burns day as many of our group have an interest in the local history of burns and his poetry. We would like to come together and share this day as a group. We would also like to support or local community pantomime and attend this together; this will allow us the confidence to attend in the evening and increase our social inclusion as well as experiencing the nostaligia of a Christmas pantomime. 

As a group we have really gelled, and we enjoy spending time togethe. The friendships that have formed through the Discovery award have spilled into the private lives of our members who regularly meet up out with the group environment creating a bigger support network for everyone involved. This award group has opened social opportunties for all involved having such a positive effect on the mental health and wellbeing of the group 

Dumfries House £260

Pantomime £120

Millport Ferry £65

Millport Lunch £200

Burns supper/Location and Food £325

We would spend the funding on the lunch. We expect 100 guests and the venue requires £22 per head so the £1000 would soon be swallowed up.In addition we also have to pay for invitations, postage, gifts ect which we hold funds for from our raffle at last years Senior Citizens Christmas Lunch.

We are a constituted voluntary body that has been providing outings and Christmas lunches for 50 years promoting local life and community wellbeing.

Honey extraction, although a rewarding process, is also physically demanding and often leads beginner beekeepers to give up the hobby after just a few seasons.

Mechanical means of extraction are available in the form of electrically powered spinners, however, they are an expensive investment beyond the means of most amateur beekeepers.

Arran Bee Group members are non-commercial beekeepers who, although they may sell their harvested honey, this is more often than not at a financial loss. Any monies recouped may even be donated to charity, for example, one of our North End members supports the charity Mary's Meals.

A grant for the purchase of an electric spinner would increase the supply of affordable, locally produced honey to the island community and beyond, delivering the health benefits of this delicious natural superfood, while contributing to the health and wellbeing of this growing group with all its environmental benefits.

Our group is so unique. We have people from all walks of life, retired folks, people who suffer from mental health issues, veterans, young teens from povierty who we mentor and try and use nature to distract them from the issue they have, people with addiction issues. We have other groups come and use our woodlands to teach about nature. Scouts and restbite office staff. Lots and lots of folks 

We have been doing lots of projects to help with climate change and habit restoration and creation. Aspin tree planting, fruit tree planting, tree maintenance and control of invasive species, wild flower planting. Water course maintenance. So much going on I could go on and on. 

The funding we need is mostly PPE funding. We desperately need safety equipment like gloves, waterproofs, safety wellingtons, safety glasses, highviz tops, safety helmets with viziers, ear defenders, 

Pricing from Amazon as an estimated price of these things. 

Hi Viz tops = £6.49 each x14

Safety helmets with viziers = £23.99 each X2

Ear defenders = £13.99 each x 4

Safety wellingtons sizes from 7 to 11 = £22.39 to £23.39 each x9

Safety gloves = £8.99 pack of twelve 

Safety gloves anti thorn = £9.99 each x4

Waterproof top and bottoms varise sizes = £19.99 each x15

Safety glasses pack of 12 = £14.99

We have also thought about our circumstances in the winter. We currently don't have a proper place to keep warm and boil the kettle. A small stove was our thoughts as it would provide heat to dry off and heat a kettle. We also make a pot of stew in the winter to help warm all the volunteers. Cooking has been a bit difficult but a little log stove would improve that immensely. 

Stove to cook on = £117.95

Total for all above is £998.97 

Please consider us for this funding. It would be a massive help to our group and the community.

Expansion of the facilities of the Community Corner - £200

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

To reinforce the annual school visits it is intended to produce a workbook for each pupil take away with them as a reminder of their visit.

In relation to the verse speaking “Champion of Champion” event funding is sought to provide trophies for those pupils nominated to represent their schools and performing their chosen poem.

It is intended that there will be three categories, Primaries 1-2, Primaries 3-4 and Primaries 5-7.

There are 11/12 Primary Schools in the Irvine Area, and it is hoped that all would participate.

Those nominated by their schools are also eligible to compete in the Ayrshire Association of Burns Clubs Schools’ Competition held later in the year.

We seek funding towards the printing costs of the workbooks (£500) and the purchase of 36 trophies at a cost of £20 each (£720) a total of £1220.