Project Aims:

1.  Empower local youths:  Offer students aged 14 - 25 the opportunity to volunteer in a safe, structured early years environment, enhancing their educational and career propects in childcare.

2.  Support Families:  Enhance mother and toddler group activities by providing additional helping hands, enriching the experience for both parents and children.

3.  Build Community Wealth:  Foster intergenerational connections and community ownership through volunteering, skills development and support for local families.

Activities:  Partner with local schools and colleges to recruit and train youth volunteers.  Run weekly mother and toddler sessions with structured roles for volunteers.  Deliver basic safeguarding and child development workshops to volunteers.  Provide mentorship and certificates of participation to support future career / college applications.

Outcomes:  Youths gain experience, comfidence and insight into childcare careers.  Local families benefit from more engaging and supported toddler group sessions.  Developing a volunteering model that supports early years development.

Budget Breakdown:

Volunteer Training (Safeguarding, basic childcare) £500

Toddler Activities £430

Refreshments £300

Volunteer Recognition £200

Irvine and Dreghorn Brass is a Scottish Charitable Organisation and open to all community brass band. In a normal year many thousands of people see our bands perform in concerts, gala days, band competitions and other community events. We also provide after school brass and percussion lessons for young people and provide instruments to enable the lessons. 

We obtained the Dunlop Memorial Hall in 2020 via a Community Asset Transfer from North Ayrshire Council and have created a music centre and small concert venue. Our premises are used most days for band rehearsals or music lessons.

Since purchasing the hall we have upgraded electrics, alarms, audio visual, installed flooring, decorated and now we are planning to refurbish other areas including the kitchen and toilets. Toilets have not been upgraded since the building was constructed in the 1960s.

We plan to upgrade both the Gents and Ladies toilets. The total cost of this is c. £26,000. Both toilet areas are a similar configuration and it will cost £13,000 to upgrade the Gents and another £13,000 to upgrade the Ladies (c. £26,000 in total). Note we have quotes from 3 local busineses for the works. 

We plan to do the work in stages i.e. do the Gents toilets first and then Ladies toilet upgrade towards the middle to end of 2026. We have almost raised enough to enable the first phase (the Gents) to progress and we should be able to make a start this year. We are therefore seeking support for upgrade of the Ladies toilets in 2026.

Work involved would include :

- removal and disposal of existing 1960's units

- removal and disposal of asbestos if required

- procurement and installation of cubicals, wash-hand basins, new urinals, driers

- flooring and wall covering e.g. wet-wall or similar 

- all plumbing and electrical works required for improvements.

We already have made other grant applications for part funding.  We will also be able to commit some of our reserves to the project. We are confident of raising funding required by early 2026. As mentioned above, work would not commence until 2026.

This project improved the fabric of the building for the future and benefits several hundred people in our community including the (male) players and members of the band and the audience members who come to the hall for activities and concerts. 

The Architects cost breakdown to submit planning application is £7350  + vat.  This includes site investigation required by planning authority and carried out by specialist contractor 

planning approval is required prior to The SFA considering funding for the whole project. Please see image below for detailed cost breakdown

If successful, the CWB funding would allow us to bring in a consultant to strengthen our branding and marketing. As a charity, we have grown significantly in both our size and the support we provide, and we want to make sure we can fully showcase the breadth of our work in ways that are clear, accessible, and inclusive, ensuring no one is left out.

As a not-for-profit organisation, every penny we earn/raise goes straight back into the charity, the communities, and the people we support. Our charity is a a social care chairty and the teams go above and beyond every day to meet increasing demand. At present, they create resources using the tools available to them, but this takes up valuable time. With this funding, we would be able to produce professional, accessible materials that reach a much wider audience, easing pressure on our teams while ensuring our information and support are inclusive for all.

By voting for us, you’re helping us continue to grow, remain accessible, and make a bigger difference for the people and communities who need us most.

A Film Club would provide opportunities for the commuity to come together, for cutural and educational benefits.  What was once the old cinema could once again deliver many different genres of film.  As the new building is totally accessible everybody will be able to participate.  There could be screenings individually for children, for those suffering with dementia, for those who would revel in the old stories of the Clyde and the tales of Para Handy, for families. These are just a few examples.

A consultant would research this local innovation to provide a clear strategy and guidelines to be developed for future use by those taking the project foward.

A self employed consultant at 8 hours per week for ten weeks at £15 per hour would cost £1,080 - see role profile below for further information.

The Garden Haven will be a purpose-built community space within the Community Roots Garden in West Kilbride – a once-derelict site reclaimed by local people four years ago and steadily developed into a thriving community asset. The Haven is a stand-alone project that will provide a base to connect our Community Garden and Village Larder with wider holistic aims of wellbeing, sustainability, and education.  

This welcoming, sustainable building will build on the community’s success in transforming neglected land and place it into fuller use, directly supporting North Ayrshire’s Community Wealth Building strategy. It will create opportunities for skills, learning, and local enterprise while ensuring that wellbeing services are accessible to everyone, regardless of income.  

From the Haven we will deliver workshops on sustainable growing practices, nutrition, and the use of herbs for health, alongside stress management and complementary therapies. These activities promote healthier lifestyles, reduce environmental impact, and help people adopt low-cost, sustainable choices. Sessions will be offered free or on a pay-what-you-can basis, tackling inequalities in access to wellbeing. Through partnerships with the local college’s complementary therapy courses and local holistic practitioners, the project will also support education, fair work experience, and local expertise.  

Costs and Funding  

• Phase 1 – Core Build: £59,849. Due to commence end of October 2025. Funding secured: £50,000 (National Lottery Community Led Fund). £5000 Communities Mental Health & Wellbeing Fund Shortfall: £4849

• Phase 2 – Finishing & Sustainability (decking, fencing, landscaping, solar panels, battery storage, decorating and furnishing): £18900

With support, the Garden Haven will complete the transformation of a once-neglected site into a sustainable, community-owned hub for wellbeing, learning, and environmental resilience 

The Community Wealth Building award will go towards the outlined costs and we are seeking out other sources of funding for the remainder. We aim to be completed by Spring 2025