Lunches £450

Tea & Coffee £50

Buscuits £50

Hall hire £450

Through creative activities, wellbeing classes and positive social connections, the She Shed strives to achieve a sense of belonging, where women feel valued, supported and better equipt for life's challenges. We want to build confidence and resilience in women, helping them to step out of their comfort zone, meet new people and try new things. 

Funding will allow us to stay at no cost to our members, keeping us inclusive for all by removing financial barriers to participation. As a result, we can strengthen the growth and sustainability of our group, ensuring that it continues to be a supportive and welcoming place. 

Breakdown of project costs:

- Branding/advertisement £200 

- Food, drink and catering suppplies £100

- Mindfulness and relaxation activities £300

- Art and craft supplies £400

Purpose of Funding:

1. Health and Wellbeing:  Organise weekly movement-based activity sessions such as baby yoga, toddler music and dance sessions and outdoor nature walks to support physical activity and mental wellbeing for both parents and children.  Provide healthy snacks and refreshments to encourage nutrition education and community mealtimes.

2.  Community Building:  Host monthly "stay and play" sessions with rotaing themes to build connections among local families.  Creating a welcoming and supportive environment that reduces isolation and strengthens community ties, particularly for new or struggling parents.

3.  Cost of Living Support:  Run a "swap shop" for clothes, toys and essentials to support sustainable living and reduce financial pressure on families.  Offer free to all group sessions, ensuring economic hardship is never a barrier to participation.

4.  Green Projects:  Launch a "Mini Gardener" initiative where toddlers and parents can grow herbs and veg learning about sustainability and food growing.  Using eco-friendly materials for crafts and encourage recycling and waste reduction during all activities.

This funding will help create a nurturing space where parents and toddlers can connect, grow and thrive together.  The activities will not only address immediate needs caused by the cost-of-living crisis but also foster long-term wellbeing, resillience and environmental responsibility.

Estimated Costs:

Facilitators (wellbeing activities)  4 sessions - yoga, music & movement, mindfullness) £200

Craft & Green project initiative - eco-friendly supplies for crafts, mini gardening (compost, seeds, pots and gardening tools) £150

Healthy snack & refreshments 48 week sessions fruit, crackers, drinks, cups and plates £480

Swap shop set up - bins, signage, clothing rails £70

Toys and sensory play resources £100

Kilwinning Community Shed (the Shed) was established just over a year ago with the purpose of bringing the community (our members) together in a space where they can collectively or separately interact and discuss what's important to them; whether it's work, family, hobbies, or skills, they can learn to be creative by participating in a variety of crafts and activities. More importantly, reducing solical isolation and being part of the wider community is key to our ethos which is aligned to the Scottish Men's Shed Association of which we are a member. Belonging to our community group gives people purpose and a sense of belonging because the 'Shed' is collectively the people, not the building.

Since it was established we've been housed in a temporary accommodation while we await the decision of the asset transfer in December. When awarded a permanent home we understand the responsibilities that come with it relating to legislative requirements and compliance. We must ensure the building is safe for our members and we meet all requirements for both compliance and regulations. This funding application is to help us meet the costs for surveys and reports relating to health & safety, fire risk assessments, electric and gas equipment and services as well as the overarching assessment of the intended function of the internal space and the external land space.

We estimate the spend to be as follows:

Site survey for fire risk assessment - £500

Site survey for extinguishers and signage - £250/day

Fire warden training - £60/person (minimum 4 persons)

Health & Safety Assessment - £500/day

Pre assessment survey and advice - £500

In the past year we have experienced membership growth and wider engagement with the local community, e.g. we work closely with Choose Kilwinning and will be actively involved in creating and building the Christmas trees for the town centre as part of Choose Kilwinning's sustainability plan. Our male to female ratio is 1:3 and we have an active membership who regularly attend our twice weekly meetings which we anticipate to increase in a permanent home. Our members benefit from a space to come together and be creative, or simply to be with people and chat. Our activities include but are not limited to woodworking in our workshop and a variety of crafting activities such as sewing, pottery, crochet, knitting, paper crafting and model railway building.  Essentially we are a member led organisation, a self funded charity which generates a lot of interest in Kilwinning, and while perhaps some people may not feel they are ready to join us right now, we want to create a community that will be here and ready for people of all ages in their future, young or old, from all walks of life, with or without a skill they just haven't discovered yet.

Agreement from application review: as the group are currently undergoing the CAT process, and the funds would cover work to be completed if they take on the asset being applied for, funding (if the group are successful at the public vote) would only be released once the asset transfer has been completed. If this has not been concluded by the end of the 2025/26 financial year, the funding will be offered to the project with the next highest number of votes. 

NATC was formed to give Vision Impaired people in our community, and beyond, the opportunity to be able to cycle with the aid of a fully sighted Pilot. The age range of our members is 30yrs – 83yrs. NATC is not only for the Vision Impaired, we accept applications from the wider community over the age of 18yrs, ie, people that has mental health issues, people that are isolated at home on their own. NATC gives these people a sense of belonging and Inclusion, Cycling improves physical fitness and mental health, the social aspect of our group alone brings people out of the Isolation that many in our community suffer from. NATC makes use of the many Cycle Paths in and around Ayrshire which makes for a safe riding experience for our members.

Tandem bikes are an expensive commodity to upkeep. Spares such as Tyres, Spare Tubes, Puncture repair kits and associated tools, Secure Parking Locks can be a constant drain on our limited resources for our 14 Tandems.

Tyres at….£28 each…7 required = £196

Tubes at £5.40 each…28 required = £ 151

Puncture repair kits a £7.50 each…14 Required = £105

Tool Kits at £12.50 each…14 Required = £175 

Secure Parking Locks at £27 each...14 Required = £378

The Autumn Club meets fortnightly in Ardrossan Parish Church from Sept-June and provides those in the 'Autumn Years' of their lives with the opportunity to get together for companionship and entertainment. We provide a speaker or performer at most of our meetings and also arrange a Christmas Lunch, a Tea Party, and an afternoon outing. We regularly get 40+ members attending each meeting and had almost 100 people registered last year.

This application is to cover the cost of coach hire for an outing, which is estimated at £500, and the cost of catering for a Tea Party, which is estimated at £250.

This funding request would allow us to subsidise the costs for up to 50 people at each event.