Estimated Price

£1,000

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Project Summary

Children 1st staff member is applying on behalf of our group. Our Coffee and Connect group was created in 2023 and is aimed at supporting parents and carers within the local community. Over that past few years the group has grown and has consistently met weekly during term time within the Children First space in Bourtreehill. Meeting here has allowed us to build strong relationships and offer peer support to one another.

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Project Description

Our group meets weekly during term time, where we enjoy a cuppa and a blether and share our stories from the previous week. We also enjoy taking part in activities such as seasonal arts and crafts, planting, colouring and painting as well as games and other activities. We have been grateful to be able to connect with organisations such as Megan's Space, NEST, Breathing Space and The Prevention and Service Support Team, giving us the tools to be able to support each other, our families and our community.

We benefited greatly from the locality PB fund this year and would be grateful for the opportunity to do so again in 2026. We would like to be able to fund activities that would bring our families together during school holiday periods. This would ease the financial starin at this time of year and would also reduce isolation by encouraging us to meet up and mix with other families.

During our sessions in the Children First Hub, we would like to be able to fund two wellbeing, therapeutic sessions provided by college students. By using students to conduct these sessions we can keep costs low and also support our local community college. These sessions would provide us with health and wellbeing support that we would not be able to fund on our own.

We enjoy arts and crafts at our sessions as these ease the everyday stresses our families experience. The increase in costs have made in more difficult to fund this. We would therefore like to purchase arts and craft supplies for our space, in particular cross stitch and painting by numbers. We have benefited from cthe therapeutic affects that arts and crafts can provide, and we would like to continue to experience this.

Again, to help combat the rise in the cost of living, we would loke to be able to fund a breakfast and lunch session for parents and carers prior to the end of school terms. We have experienced how these events can breakdown isolation  and support our mental health and in turn this gives us the tools to be able to support our families.

Finally, the skills gained by planning and managing a budget of this scale will up-skill us all and provide us with the confidence to support our local community while also improving our health and wellbeing.

 

Weekly Coffee and Connect Sessions

Arts and Crafts Supplies £150

Therapeutic Sessions £240

Breakfast Sessions £60

Lunch Sessions £250

Family Easter Trip

Bounce Station Trip £300