We meet once weekly and incur no costs from the hall, we currently have pallettes of watercolour paints and brushes that were left over from the summer program so we are very limited in our learning choices. We would greatly benefit from having a supply of resources including sketch books and different meduims to fully get the benefits from this course and our development and understanding of this creative group. We are aiming to put on a display of all our learning/work next summer once we have a good range of finished pieces to display and we are very excited about this considering on one has any experience in the Arts.

We would also like to go on a field trip to the kelvin grove art gallery in the new year, this will be an insirational trip and we will begin to explore different ways to express ourselfs which will hopefully be shown in our art work.

breakdown of costs are;-The range for supplies costings,

Watercoulor & acrylic  brushes pack of 50: £8.99 x 2 - £17.98

A3 sketch books: £10 x 10 - £100

A4 sketch books: £5 x 10 - £50

Paint by number resources: £5 x 19 - £95

roll of tracing paper: £57

drawing made simple kit/ pencils: £3 x 10 - £30

A3 card: £9.99 x 5 - £49.95

Canvas's set: £20 x 10 - £200

Acrylic paint set graduate set 48: £39.99 x 5 - £199.95

Artiste Watercolour paint set 24: £19.98 x 10 - £199.80

Total £999.68

Arran Dogs (SC053020) is a newly formed Scottish Registered Charity (registered in Dec 2023) with the aim of promoting responsible dog ownership, training and education. We are focused on ensuring that our facilities and training are accessible to all, regardless of age or  abilities so that all can benefit from the positive impact dog ownership has on physical and mental well being.

While Arran is rich in open areas such as countryside, forest paths and beaches for exercising dogs, these are generally not suitable for people with impaired mobility (or sight/ senses) or dogs that cannot be exercised off-lead or mix with other dogs.  As a consequence, both these owners and dogs miss out on valuable bonding and exercise opportunities, with the mental health and well-being benefits this brings.

We have just opened Arran’s only secure dog field which is free to use, and bookable online for hourly use.

Our field is open to residents and visitors. We estimate that there are 2000 owned dogs resident on Arran and approximately 3795 visiting dogs. (Source: Arran Vets and Auchrannie).  Initial bookings and feedback since opening a month ago have already shown this to be an in-demand and appreciated resource with 27 residents and 8 visitors booking in our first week. 

This has enhanced the facilities available to the Arran dog community and visitors to the island. This is ideal for owners with elderly or reactive dogs, poor recall or just need to recover from injury in a safe space.

The field is also used for Arran Dogs’ lifeskills dog training classes which will help with building a sense of community involvement and so reducing social isolation by encouraging dog owners to meet likeminded people.

The field is now open to the public. Our aim is to make it more inclusive by adding accessible paths which will facilitate movement around the field for those with impaired mobility. This will then provide an opportunity to exercise their dogs in a secure place or to be able to participate in our weekly training classes along with the wider Arran dog training community.  

 The anticipated cost of the paths is £5700. We propose funding this by:

  - applying for £1000 from the Local Participatory Budget Fund

 – match funding with an application for £4000 from the Community Benefit Fund

  – match funding of £700 (and any extra required) from our own fundraising and donations.

We are applying for funding to allow us to promote and increase group membership and to help increase ways for participants to share their art. The art of photography is a skill that can be learned and  applied by nearly everyone. The group has already undertaken a successful exhibition, and produced postcards to raise funds. We want to have a further exhibition, to produce more postcards of members photography and sell these to raise funds for local charities.  We feel that participants sharing their photography will raise their confidence and promote wellness and postive mental health. The postcard and exhibition aspect of the project will showcase what is good about the Three Towns rather than 'buy into' negative views and opinions, thereby promoting community spirit and appreciation. costs will be as follows, print cartridges - £200, Mounting Boards - £80, Postcard printing £100, Banner/flag £200, Craft knifes/tape/backing card £100, travel costs £200.

The group ls looking to order 25 litter pickers to re stock the groups collection of litter pickers that get loaned to groups or to borrow for groups at Kilwinning sports club.  or organised nights by groups like the scouts and guides etc. 

This will restock the groups supplies that are shared out across the community. This also allows the long term loan to individuals to adopt a spot.   

The Group operates with the support of North Ayrshire Council and Klwinning Community Events. 

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.

Barrfield Community Garden is a new space located in Largs. Though only created in the winter of 2023, already volunteers have brought in raised beds, planted a large varity of vegetables, fruits, and flowers, and harvested vegetables which were  donated to the Largs Food Bank. We have served as a site for local small projects as well as a well-being space allowing local people with varying levels of ability to work with plants. We hope to expand this site in the coming years to grow more food and create a space for local people of all ages and ability to engage with, as well as of course continue to grow tasty food and beautiful flowers to share with Largs and those who presently do not have access to healthy, locally-grown food.

At present, the site has water but no electricity. We'd love to keep a few plants growing well into the autumn and need to procure solar-powered grow lights to do so. This involves the purchase of two sets of grow lights with attached solar panels to keep our melon, pepper, lettuce and tomato harvests going into the late autumn.

Our water pipes are at present not protected from the colder temperatures that come with Scottish winter. We are seeking to insulate the water pipes and employ a local plumber to install this insulation. 

In the interest of increasing the environmental sustainability of the Barrfield Community Garden space, we would like to install drain pipes and water butts. This will allow the garden to collect and utilise rainwater for watering the garden's beds and indoor plants.

People in Largs may be aware we recently experienced vandalism to the garden. After this event, we would like to  install a motion-activated camera, as well as solar- powered, motion-activated lights for the main path into the garden.

Adequate amounts of compost will be needed for planting over the winter, including but not limited to the growing of garlic and seed potatoes.

We would in future hope to create a tiered garden on the hilly portion at the east side of the garden. The area is at present covered with thistles and weeds, so we would to cover this area with weed-killing membrane as the first step of this project.

10 Meter weed membrane roll (x10) @ £6.95 = £69.50

10w led Solar grow light (x2) @ 68.50 = £137.00

Motion sensor lights for pathway lighting (x6) @ £6.99 = £41.94

SolarCam Kit with night vision and SDCard = £85

Builders bag Compost  = £52 

Insulation for water pipes, materials and labor = £200

Water butts and guttering for rainwater collection = £400

Garnock valley community concert band ( GVCCB Charity number  SCO43326)) is a striving and inclusive community band-  continuing  to grow and reconnect  musicians throughout the garnock valley.

GVCCB  gives public performances throughout the community such as St Margarets church in Dalry in which included a local choir, string ensemble and the children’s choirs from local schools. GVCCB also perform at the Scottish and the National concert band festivals each year ( SCBF and NCBF), being highly successful in both – lifting platinum awards each year.

This is only accomplishable with a hard working committee, fundraising throughout the year and funding made available to us.

We keep our subscriptions as low as feasibly possible, to encourage as many players wishing to return to music.

For many, music is a vital (sometimes - only) social interaction available for them – helping their mental wellness, mental agility through reading music and actively encouraging them to interact with like minded people.

We hire local practice space within the Garnock valley community campus once a week,  maintain a musical library ( costing approx £1000-£1500 per year) to keep our concerts and competition performances fresh, challenging and interesting, and hire our musical director  at £3500 per annum

We should like to put ourselves forward for the full amount possible (£1000)to go towards the cost of our musical  library .

Considering the output for so many, we can make this money go a very long way.