Our Festival of Light parade is a fantastic community event, aimed at bringing light & sound to the streets of Irvine ahead of our fireworks display. We would like to give free light up merchansie for all of the community. Previously we have had external trader  turning up and selling ligiht ups at a much higher rate ( £10 per light up). We would like all of the community and young people to take part of the festival of light and make this an inclusive event.  We aim to have a station to give out our light ups at the towns house where the parade departs. We will continue to give the light ups and merchansie through the parade and at the moor. This means we will be able to cover as many young people and families within the community. This will save community members a cost if they'd like a light up and they are able to join in on the festivities.

Foam light ups - £0.50 x 1904 individual light ups = £952

Light up lanterns -  £4 x 12 lantens for parade = £48

We currently run sessions in Irvine and Kilwinning, as a club we are looking to build and branch out over North Ayrshire having more sessions across the local authority. We currently stuggle with storage at our sites. We'd like to purchase two storage units where we can store all our equipment. This would prevent us losing any of our equipment or equipment getting mixed into other groups resources. We are always looking to promote our club at community events and need some merchaniseing materials such as banners, poster pop ups, tshirts and flyers with our logo and information. This would help us get our publicity out and reach the wider community.  At the moment we are a mens and over 18 club. We are currently aiming to diversify our club by holding more sessions and having womens basketball, under 18, under 16 & under 14 basketball. 

 2 Storage Cages - £640 x 2 = £1280

4 New Basketballs - £80 x 4= £320

New Marketing material (Pop up banners,Posters, Merchandise) - £150

One off hall hires for new pilots (womens basketball, under 18, under 16 & under 14 basketball) - £250

We are looking for £1000 to contribute towards these costs.

Our sewing and craft group - The Canny Crafters, offers a welcoming space where people of all ages and abilities can come together every week to learn new skills, share knowledge, and enjoy creative activities. The group helps improve wellbeing by providing a relaxing outlet that reduces stress and gives members a sense of purpose and achievement. It also builds confidence as people develop new skills or mentor and help others and take pride in completing their own or group projects. Just as importantly, it reduces social isolation by bringing people together, helping them form friendships and feel more connected to their community. The group encourages intergenerational learning, with younger and older members exchanging skills and experiences, and creates opportunities for people to give back through handmade items that can be kept, donated or sold by the group. The group improves members mental health, strengthens community ties, and provides a supportive environment where people of all ages can thrive.

At the moment there are around 10 members registered who come along weekly or on an ad hoc basis.

To enable the group to offer a wide range of projects throughout the year and be able to invite different crafters the group would like to apply for funding to allow them to buy new resources and some machines which can be used multiple times throughout the life of the project and invite external crafters to come in and demonstrate new crafting experiences for the group to try.

Breakdown of costs

Sewing machines x 2/3   = £300.00

Hand held knitting machines x 4 = £100.00

Threads / Wool / knitting & crochet materials - £150.00

Arts / Craft resources - £100.00

External groups coming to demonstrate and offer new experinces - £300

The group meet every 2nd Fri in Woodlands Centre, Irvine 2.30pm-4pm.Thry  support each other,  they do this by listening to each other and researching ways to live with Long Covid.  They plan a programme and aim to bring in a variety of:-  Holistic health practitioners/ health professionals, financial information, nutritionists, councellors, physios,sound bath, massage.

The group design and make their own posters and plan to design and print t.shirts to spread the fact that Long Covid gets very little support and also to promote the group.

This ranges from £60 -£100 per session depending on practitioners fees and materials. Estimated cost for 1 yearly session = £450

T.shirt printing /materials -£200

If our application is successful, we propose to buy a Nova Viking 16" DVR-83700 at a cost of £1194.70 including VAT. Delivery will be extra but we will fund anything over £1000 from our own resources.