Our karate club is based in Irvine is well established and open to all. We practice in the Redburn and Castlepark community centres on Mondays, Wednesday and Saturdays. We have c. 150 members that benefit from our classes and we support physical and mental health. Our members are in all age groups and many are from deprived areas and challenged by the cost of living. Many of our members attend competitions all over the UK and we try to keep our costs low and support people so that everyone can take part. For example we already subsidise karate suits, competition entry fees etc. We’d be grateful for any funding and money would go towards equipment and suit subsidies, subsidising entry costs and occasional travel to competitions.

Estimated breakdown would be:

-        Equipment (mats, punchbags, T-shirts, etc) - £400

-        Suit subsidies – 40 suits x £10 subsidy = £400

-        Entrance fees subsidies, we pay £1600 roughly in entrance fees  – £200 

Description:   Our CWAS Chapter in Largs provides outings of between 20 and 90 minutes along the Promenade for residents in care homes, and individuals at home, giving them spells of fresh air and conversation, plus seeing life along the shore.  The visual stimulation and conversations along the way are hugely beneficial to their physical and emotional wellbeing.

The outings (jaunts) take place on our ‘trishaw’ (see photo) which is powered by one of our volunteer pilots (assisted by a battery) and carries a deserving passenger plus a carer or relative.  We are also happy to take out disabled people of all ages, special schools and children’s and adults’ hospices.

Benefits to Volunteers: The volunteers, once trained and qualified, get a chance to be part of something that makes a real difference to the lives of those in their community. They form friendships and, from the stories they hear on the rides, learn more about their locale. Plus they develop important social skills and their own health will benefit from the exercise and fresh air.  All our volunteers find it a hugely rewarding activity.

Benefits to Passengers:  Our service helps address loneliness and isolation for the elderly and those of all ages less mobile in the local community but it can also be a lifeline to able-bodied people who may have experienced mental health challenges. This unique befriending service is often the highlight of a passenger’s week and something they look forward to.

With an unrestricted view and interested, lively company, fresh air, a slow pace and the chance to interact with passersby (old friends and new), the rides are a highly stimulating experience for many who spend much of their time indoors and on their own. The CWAS Trishaws provide a sustainable form of recreation providing access to the fantastic scenery to those who would otherwise be unable to enjoy those routes. In addition, the opportunity for rides will allow community events to be more inclusive and accessible.

Seeing other people and places stimulates both the mind and the body and leaves the person feeling happy and even those who have memory impairment are left with feelings of elation.

Breakdown of Costs:  We are seeking funding to cover the cost of operating our booking system for the next two years.  This is made up of:

1. Mobile Phone pay-as-you go costs of £10 per month for 24 months => £240
2. Online TeamUp Calendar at £9 per month => £216

Any funding received will help to purchase overheads, ensuring that we can deliver the best She Shed possible, whilst supporting mental health and wellbeing. This will enable us to continue to provide a safe space, with the opportunity for our members to get involved in group activities.   

- Crafting materials £350

- Branded items £50

- Food and drink £100

- Mindfulness class £150

- Room Hire £350

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.

It has been proven that engaging with photography can have a dramatic and positive impact on one's mental health.  It encourages mindfullness and fulfilment.  It can be a solitary activity but it can also be practised in the company of others in a social setting.

Irvine Camera Club (ICC) has a proven record of working with vulnerable people to deliver positive mental health outcomes.  Our latest initiative was a collaboration with Ayrshire & Arran NHS to provide photography workshops for patients in recovery in order to give them a new focus in their lives.  This was very successful.  We are also an active contributor to the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival.  We work closely with NAC Arts & Culture Team team to support their wider activities and to provide photography services for their activities. Our proposal is that ICC will host a series of photowalks during the summer of 2025, on weekday evenings and at weekends.  These walks will be free for anyone to attend and will mainly take place North Ayrshire.  We intend to advertise the walks on social media.  We will use our regular pages in the Irvine Herald to advertise the photowalks, again at no cost.

The club has the facilities to gather the submissions and to evalutate them.  ICC will self fund modest prizes for their chosen overall winner and runners up.  

The costs of this project will be in the production of gallery edge-to-edge prints to be displayed at the HAC.  We estimate that this will be in the region of £20 for printed artwork on A2 foamex board.  We would aim to curate and exhibit 50 images at the HAC.

The overal funding required is therefore £1000. 

Once the exhibition at the HAC has finished the art work will be available to be exhibited at other venues across North Ayrshire.

Trindlemoss Day Opportunities is based in Irvine. Trindlemoss aims to transform community attitudes to better support and promote opportunities for people with learning disabilities and address mental health. We will help individuals share their strengths and skills with the community and encourage recognition for their input.

Throughout all our work, we stay focused on our customers, and the relationships that support and enrich them.

The group would like to organise social events in the evenings to utilise the building in the evening and invite parents, carers, family and friends to participate monthly to begin with to meet up with a long-term goal of making it a weekly meet up depending on how many family and friends would like to support this .

This would encourage a peer support group where the adults with learning disabilities would have the opportunity to meet up with their friends and socialise in the evening. The group would also give parents and carers, family and other care supports the opportunity to make friends and meet up with other parents and carers and support workers who support people with learning disabilities.

Trindlemoss also have residents who would also benefit from social events it would give them the opportunity to meet their neighbours.

The criteria we meet is Health and Wellbeing as Friends of Trindlemoss would promote physical and mental wellbeing the project would address social isolation, bring the community together.

The people who reside in the houses have mental health and learning disabilities so we also hit the criteria for building community spirits as we want to create a venue that is also an environment that they know. We also have other groups who use our building like Healing Hearts who have also shown an interest in volunteering, befriending, and helping  at Friends of Trindlemoss community events.

We would like to hold social events in the evening as winter is nearly here our Focus group have asked if we can put in for funding for the following items. With the following items we can have the oppertunity to fund raise ourselves and have games nights, bingo nights and fun nights. 

 Wireless  PA System - £200

pool table - £420

Curryoke Night - £260  Social event for 80 people (Curry, poppodoms, Rice) Pizza's for non curry lovers & refreshments for Tikka Bar

Entertainment  DJ - £100

We as a group support ech other and our children to explore our emotions and feelings. Many of our group members share collective experiences, this has made it easier to be honest with each other and creaate relationships. This allows us to build toolkits that support each indiviual family. This group hs become a safe space for many of us and has had such a positive impact on our mental health and wellbeing. This group supports people from all over North Ayrshire to come together, meet likeminded individuals and support mental health whilst focussing on topics such as anxiety and resilience.  We have been able to bring alot of people in to speak to our group members that include First Aid, Nest and other information sessions. This has allowed us to build our own knowledge in promoting positive mental health for people within our community.

We hope to use this money to continue to support our group members by providing added resources that will benefit the families within our group. We hope to buy more visual representations of emotions that will allow us to create a more inclusive environment meaning all children will learn more about their own wellbeing.

We also hope to use this money to allow us to celebrate our groups and provide opportunities to share new experiences. We hope to be able to go on a group trip where we can have fun and spend time with each other outwith our usual environment. This money would help us minimse costs and again encourage inclusivity. We hope that this money wil cover the cost so everyone in the group can get involved and no one is left behind due to finiancial constraints.

This group has been a lifeline to many people, and we have successfully run over the last two years. Applying for funding will allow us to enrich the experience of our members and continue to build the knowledge of our families.

Break down of costs -

£400 trip - venue tbc

£300 - resources

£200 - visitors

£100 - food

Our group provides a crucial role in reducing social isolation by providing a friendly welcome to those who enjoy physical exercise in an outdoor environment.  We attract members from Kilbirnie, Beith and as far afield as Saltcoats.  We are proud of our contribution to the regeneration of the park which is located on the site of the Glengarnock Iron and Steel Works, remnants of which can be seen to this day.  Our weekly workdays are opportunities for volunteers who share a love of the outdoors to connect with one another and strengthen community bonds; tasks have included planting trees, coppicing, creating paths and wildlife projects.

Lochshore Park is a newly created country park with a 5-kilometre tarred and hard-core path, designed for eventual use as a Saturday morning park run venue.  Our current project is to create a woodland trail through our “Enchanted Forest”.  To attract greater numbers to the park we would like to make this a magical experience for younger children with models and sculptures en route to a woodland glade with tree stump seats.

Over the winter months we intend to build bird and bat boxes and craft willow sculptures.  This will require the services of a willow weaving artist.  These activities will be open to the public with anything created by them free to be taken away.

We have secured funding to build a habitat for ground nesting bees, which will be a labour-intensive exercise.  However, many of the other projects we would like to tackle require expertise which none of us possess.  If awarded a Proportional Budgeting grant we would like to buy in support and training for our members.

Estimated Costs

Creation of Enchanted Forest    £197

Timber for bird boxes  £236

Free Public Classes  £325

Advertising  £240

Beith and District Community Council want to make it a night to remember and not just for the award winners but also for the nominees and their families. To be given recognition by the community for the many hours of dedication, loyalty and hard work by volunteers is worth its weight in gold. For volunteers to be appreciated publicly gives them a sense of great positive wellbeing by knowing their skills and resilience are valued and making a positive change to themselves, others and their community. Our event will bring a sense of pride and community cohesion through the discovery of sharing their experiences with other winners and nominees and of course the whole community. We want to provide free travel to support attendees access the event to reduce isolation.  Delivering Citizen of the Year event is an important milestone for BDCC in bringing people together to celebrate, reduce isolation and to make new connections and friendships. In the absence of Beith and District Community Council from 2012 until 2017 this activity was delivered by Beith Community Association from 2015 until 2022 however Beith Community Association have now requested that it be returned to BDCC. We are delighted to take this opportunity to  reinstate such an important event for our volunteers.

For our event to be successful we require funding for the following:

Venue costs - £250

Catering costs - £700

Table decorations - £100

Entertainment costs - £400

Bus hire costs - £400

Award Purchases - £300

Printing – Forms, Promotional material & Certificates - £180

Total costs £2330