We are the management committee of Dooncraig Community Centre, which we've owned outright since last February, when we successfully completed the Community Asset Transfer process. We've been managing the centre since 2001, when the Council cut back staffing in centres, and we stepped up to ensure our community didn't lose the resource. We're a busy centre, with over 20 different groups regularly using our lettable spaces each week, in addition to other events we host at the centre.

We knew that getting a handle on the centre's running costs was going to be a significant priority for us, not least because its in a state of some disrepair in places and in urgent need of upgrading to a higher and more energy efficient standard. We missed out on Scottish Government energy efficiency advice due to the timing of the transfer of ownership, and now that this funding has closed, we're hopeful that the Climate Fund could help us to undertake this much needed work. 

Our main areas of focus would be:

Insulation - we know this will not be up to modern standards, and in the winter our back room is particularly cold

Boiler - this was an ongoing issue while the Council were still responsible for it, and we are keen to get it upgraded to something more fit for purpose, and more energy and cost efficient. This would also allow us to make some adjustments to rent costs in the winter as we're paying a fortune to try and keep the building warm but to little effect!

Opportunities for renewable energy development to support the building - our roof was recently repaired using external funding, and we think we could benefit from solar panels. We are also interested to see if there are other potential options available to us due to the ground available at the back of the centre, e.g. ground source heat pumps or a small turbine, which could help us to bring costs and emissions down in tandem

After all the work we've put into getting the centre into community ownership, the last thing we want is to see it lost due to the challenge of keeping it wind and watertight in the Scottish weather. A thorough feasibility study - we have identified a consultant who would be well-placed to do this on our behalf - would give us a path forward to improve our current situation, as well as providing an invaluable reosurce to include in funding bids and fundraising campaigs to realise our vision of a sustainable centre for the future.

Burns Estate TARA was formed 10 years ago to give the people living in the estate a way to come together and make sure that our voices were heard. We have achieved a lot since then, and now run a range of activities and events for our members and their families, including monthly visits from Citizens Advice and Money Matters, parent and toddler groups and parties and themed events throughout the year. Last year we finally completed our biggest project to date, a Community Asset Transfer on some derelict land just behind the estate, which we have big plans for. 

As many of us live in flats or 4 in a block houses with limited outdoor space, one of the most common requests at our monthly member meetings has been some kind of outdoor space for families to use, particularly during the school holidays when children are at home. Many of the people living on the Burns Estate are on low incomes and can't afford to go away on big trips over the holidays, so having a nice place to take their children or go and enjoy themselves in the good weather will really improve mental health and wellbeing. We would like to create seating with nice planting around it and a picnic area, as well as a small play area on a permeable surface so that children have somewhere safe to go that's clean, tidy and surrounded by greenery.

We've also been talking with our local community larder about working in partnership to create some raised beds for growing staple food items like potatoes, carrots and onions, which will be available for us to use ourselves and then any surplus donated to them for their members, many of whom live on the estate. This will also be a great way for us to show people where their food comes from and hopefully encourage people to try some different things once the raised beds are up and running. We have discussed forming a sub-group of the TARA committee to manage the garden and make sure it's being looked after, and we would like to include some youth members on this group to give young people ownership of it and hopefully reduce the likelihood of vandalism. The garden will also really improve the look of the area, as the current site is a real eyesore and full of weeds, so we will also be improving nature locally by getting a garden in place.

Sprout Social Kitchen is a social enterprise with a mission to bring people together over good food and good conversation. We're radical about our values, working through food to connect with people who are often excluded from opportunities due to challenges in their life, barriers to accessing support and stigma around asking for help. We believe that big things can come from a small beginning and we're here to make that happen by investing the profits from our cafe, catering and workshops into employability programmes and wraparound support for the people who need it the most.

We are a sustainability-focused business in all senses of the word, with a plant-based menu as standard in our cafe and strong connections to local producers in a 30 mile radius who supply us with 90% of our seasonal produce. Our catering arm has enabled us to add an electric van to our team, and you'll see Sprout 1 heading out to events across Ayrshire with locally-sourced, healthy and tasty food for weddings, corporate events and pop ups. Our Little Sprout food growing and cooking pilot with local schools is going from strength to strength, and we're excited to welcome our first hospitality and catering Modern Apprentice later this year.

We've recently completed the renovation of an outbuilding at our site, transforming it into a bright training kitchen space, where we'll move our popular cooking workshops. Our workshops are led by New Scots who bring a variety of experiences - and cuisines - with them, and our cooking workshops not only allow them to gain important work experience in the UK and develop their networks and confidence, but also are an opportunity for local people to engage with someone who has come to North Ayrshire in very challenging circumstances, and have the space to build a connection with a person, not a headline.

The final stage of our renovation is to install solar panels on our workshop space, which will enable us to keep our workshops affordable, generating a percentage of the energy we are using during our classes, and selling any surplus to the grid to offset other costs. We're seeking match funding from the Climate Fund towards the cost of the solar panels, with our crowdfunding campaign contributing the remaining 50% of the cost. We want to continue to lead the way for what 'good business' means in North Ayrshire, and the solar panels on our teaching space are another example of how the sustainable choice is often the right one, both ethically and financially.

Bankside Community Orchard was previously a market garden, and has been maintained by a small staff time and an army of local volunteers since 1985, when the market garden business closed. Keen to ensure that the orchard, which contains many heritage species of fruit, was not lost, local people came together to keep it properly looked after, and we now host an annual cider pressing event where we also sell jams, chutneys and other produce from the site. 

We have seen the impact of the last few years on our orchard community's collective wellbeing, as people deal with the impact of the pandemic and ongoing cost of living crisis. This has been particularly challenging for our Rooted At Bankside group, which is for 16-25 year olds with additional support needs, and works with them to develop their confidence and employability skills as they make the transition between education and further study or the world of work. The familiar structures and routines these young people had in place pre-pandemic have completely changed, and the importance of routine, consistency and community has never been greater as they navigate stepping into adulthood and increased independence. 

The group have been working together over the last few months to look at some potential new projects, and after a talk from a local beekeeper, their interest in the potential of an apiary was ignited! With climate change impacting the pollinators who are so important to our orchard, introducing hives into the space will be a welcome boost to bee numbers in the area. In addition, some of the Rooted at Bankside members have previous experience of working with bees while at school, and are keen to share their knowledge and get the opportunity to put their skills to good use while also generating some money through the sale of honey and beeswax products, which can be reinvested into the group's development moving forwards. We have been cultivating a wildflower meadow at one end of the site and researching seasonal food sources for honeybees, which we are developing as part of our ongoing work at the site.

To help us get the project - which we're calling 'Honey Makes The World Go Round' - off the ground, we're looking for support to set up a community apiary, including:

• 3 hives
• Safety equipment for our young people and staff
• Membership costs for the local beekeeping association
• Honey extractor equipment
• Some basic equipment to produce honey and other products e.g. moulds and jars 

Kilwinning Biodiversity Volunteers are a group of local people representing a range of nature-based projects across the town, coming together to look at how we can boost community interaction with nature and encourage more people to get growing in their local area. 

We've mapped the walking route between Almswall Park and Eglinton Park in Kiwlinning, including pedestrian surveys over the course of the summar months, and have estimated that around 2,500 people trips would be made along the route each week. This is a brilliant opportunity for us to reach a wide cross-section of the population, as the route passes not only housing, but bus stops, community growing space and a care home, presenting us the opportunity to work in partnership with other groups and find interesting ways to encourage people to get involved.

We are looking at a variety of planters, including hanging baskets, troughs, flower pots, upcycled containers and fence-hung planters to contain a range of seasonal produce, meaning there will be something available along the route from around April (salad leaves and early strawberries) to October (squash and potatoes). The Climate Fund's investment will enable us to grow the plants from seed, and cover the start up costs (compost, seed, feed and some of the planters), as well as QR code signage that will let people know what's available in each location every month, with a harvest available at honesty boxes throughout the route. We also plan to mix in native wildflower mixes and look at companion planting in the larger containers to encourage pollinators and bring colour and vibrancy to the project. Plants that go to seed through sudden changes in the weather will be allowed to do so, and we'll collect the seeds to donate to local growing projects and the North Ayrshire Seed Library.

Volunteers from our network will maintain the planters and harvest the produce on a daily basis, as we live along the route and can easily walk along it to check progress daily. We're really excited about the potential of a small project to create increased community cohesion in Kilwinning, and if successful, hope to link in with others across North Ayrshire to develop future projects elsewhere.

Auchenshoogle Community Development Trust is a rural community development trust on Arran, established over 20 years ago to address the unique challenges of rural island life by putting people at the centre of our community's future. Since then, we've taken significant land into local ownership and created a vibrant community hub and events space in a rual location, which is used for everything from destination weddings to local village meetings. We host a range of organisations in our hub who meet throughout the week to learn, chat and keep the community spirit alive: whether it's yoga, art, befriending or practical skills like mechanics or woodturning, there's probably a group here that will meet your needs!

We have recently completed a year-long pilot of a bike hire scheme, initially using bikes donated on the island and repaired through one of our workshop groups. We monitored uptake over the year through surveys and feedback, and were surprised to find that it wasn't just tourists picking up a bike on a good day: local people without cars were also making the most of the bikes to run short errands around the village, and it's this local interest that's made us keen to invest in active travel on a permanent basis. We've already got significant renewable energy development on site, meaning that the bikes can be charged off grid using clean energy, which is important to us and to the people living in the village. Bus services on the island can be challenging, and while we can't overhaul the island's infrastructure on our own, an e-bike hire scheme would enable us to improve it at a microlevel.

Based on demand from our pilot, we'd like to invest in 10 e-bikes initially, along with 5 trailers for children (or shopping, or dogs!), which will make them a practical and viable alternative for people without a car. The bikes will be maintained through our workshops, which have just completed an e-bike repair course, and hire packages will be available for day, week and month-long periods.