We are Lok Oi, a Hong Kong Cantonese community group – our name means bliss or happiness in English. Our project will bring elderly Cantonese speakers and the wider community together through shared lunches. These events will reduce social isolation, give people a chance to meet new friends, and celebrate Cantonese and Chinese culture with others in North Ayrshire. Each session will include traditional food, music, and karaoke to encourage fun, relaxation, and participation. We aim to create welcoming spaces where cultures are shared, connections are built, and wellbeing is improved.

• Venue hire: £300

• Food ingredients and preparation: £700

With your vote, we can make these lunches a reality and bring joy, friendship, and culture to our community.

Baby sensory classes promote communication and language skills in babies.  The sessions are lead by a person qualified in childcare and specialising in Baby sensory activities.

The cost is £100 per session 

We are looking to install a bench at the Memorial..as a group we feel this would be the finishing touch. 

On the day of the memorial unveiling..18th April 2025..four direct relatives of those souls who perished that day 100 years ago attented.

We feel a bench would offer a place to linger in quiet contemplation and remembrance.

The residents of our village are so positive about this space said bench would offer them the chance to pay their respects..to sit..enjoy the view and the plants too.

As in previous years we have approached Kevin Hutchinson who works locally..Largs.

Kevin has furnished us with fabulous benches for the Community Garden..we have approached him and asked for a version of the previous bench design with the addition of a planter at either end..finished in black.

He has estimated a cost of £165.

The Millport Town Hall charity is about to complete the regeneration of Millport Town Hall into a vibrant, self-sustaining community space with activities, self-help groups and community events to address social isolation and loneliness in our vulnerable elderly population, stress and anxiety in our younger people and with indoor sports, creative and performing arts and recreational facilities to improve the mental and physical well-being of our whole community. Well-planned disabled access throughout the building will ensure everyone has access to all the facilities, with 22 community groups ranging from the Boys' Brigade to Millport Pipe Band planning to regularly use the building. We want to buy an evacuation chair to ensure that anyone with reduced mobility can be safely evacuated from the building in the case of fire, power loss or other emergency. The equipment will help prevent delays and injuries should the building need to be evacuated by providing a safe stable method for moving people who can't use stairs. 

Crossing Together Toddlers was formed in March 2024 following the project being approached by two local new parents who felt there was a need for a group locally in Bourtreehill. Both mums, along with another four mums who joined the scaffolding core team last year, are the lead participant, along with our Mission Pioneer in running the weekly sessions on Tuesday mornings for 2 hours at the Relief Mission Centre. The group lost 9 children at the end of last session to nursery and 4 families where the mum returned to work, but since advertising during the summer we quickly reached capacity of 40 babies/toddlers again, who attend with a least one adult per child. The sessions are free to ensure it is accessible to all.

At Crossing Together Toddlers we aim to provide a fun, warm, safe, welcoming and accessible space for babies and toddlers to come along with their grown-ups from Bourtreehill and the surrounding areas of Irvine. In setting up the group we initially looked at accessing funding to purchase equipment and toys however a toddler group in Troon had recently folded and they gifted us items that meant we could launch the group immediately. The group is free of charge to families to access and weekly snacks and craft materials are provided through donations and fundraising. It is important for us to maintain a no charge policy to maximise accessibility due to the cost of living crisis and our locality being significantly impacted with regards poverty. Weekly snacks provided are balanced with items like fruit, toast and juice/water being provided for the children and a warm drink and biscuits/cakes for the grown-ups. As well as the weekly sessions we want to continue to provide the families with new experiences that can include their older children and partners which will extend the community spirit that is being built in and around the group already. These new experiences include family fun days, parties, trips and days out locally and further afield. 

Many of the families who attend the group rarely travel outwith Irvine and it would be great to improve the health and wellbeing through a summer trip to a farm park, which would provide a new experience by seeing the animals we sing about and read about at our weekly song and story time. A Christmas Party with entertainment, hospitality and a visit from Santa would also encourage positive mental health during the festive time that brings much stress with extra financial outgoing in winter. A weekend family fun day using the local park space would enable us to include working parents and older children and through hospitality/food and fun activities create a positive aspect to a park area that carries much saddness in the community and encourage resislience and new owership of the local space. In addition we supported the local community to attend all ages art sessions this year and to host a day just for the toddler families to engage and empower them to see how art together can aid mental health wellbeing and be a positive bonding experience we plan to offer this at Easter this year.

For Crossing Together to provide these experiences at no cost to the families in our locality we would be applying for the PB Locality Funding to help meet these costs as well as doing additional fundraising and seeking donations.

Examples of costings to provide such experiences are:-

Farm park admission (approx 80 people includes under 2s free) = £650

Childrens Party Entertainer = £125

Family Art for the Soul Session with Art Therapist and art/craft materials = £150

Hospitality Party/Funday = £130

Additional costings for items like craft materials and additional hospitality would be sought through donations and fundraising.

Everyone an Artist has been running from the North Ayrshire Foodbank in Ardrossan for two years. Our group aims to offer a safe, judgment free space to be creative, learn new skills and combat social isolation by offering community. Facilitated by a local participatory artist and the Trussell Trust's North Ayrshire Community Campaigner, participants will unlock and develop new skills, such as printmaking, textiles, sculpture, drawing etc alongside having the opportunity to use these skills to address local issues that matter to them. We know from research that taking part in arts based activities has numerous benefits including that on mental and physical health and wellbeing. This funding would allow our group to continue running that little bit longer. 

costs: £540 artist fee (3hrs a week for 12 weeks , £360 materials, £100 food and drinks budget)

Bypass Art is passionate about Dalry's history and heritage, and over the years we have been involved in numerous community projects aimed at telling Dalry's story - Community Recital of John Hodgarts Hilltap Toon, The 'Our Town Heritage Board',  Auld Men's Shelter Mural and loads more - but Bessie On The Bypass is a bit different.

The Bessie sculpture will stand tall near the Dalry Bypass,provide a historical gateway into our town, be seen by huge amounts of passing motorists and provide a unique opportunity for the Garnock Valley to highlight and promote the area and encourage footfall into our towns.

To effectively promote this project we are seeking to buy a gazebo so we can set up at community outdoor events and consult with the public about Bessie On The Bypass. We wish to purchase branded fleeces that will demonstrate a visible commitment to our project as we interact with the public. Additionally we aim to acquire promotional items that will spotlight and publicise the Bessie On The Bypass initiative. These items will help us reach a wider audience, spark conversations about the project and inspire community involvement.

Gazebo £300, Branded Fleeces £180, Paper £15, Ink £70, Collection Cans £25, Promotional Items £400 = £990

We come from all backgrounds and walk of life, but we have a common goal, a determination to gain independance, to strive for success both in the group and in our personal lives and build our confidence in learning new skills, making meaningful connections and building our confidence. The DISC Award is an adaptation of the over 50's Discovery Award where we will try new things through the "hobbies & interestes" section, give back to the local community through "service in the community" and explore new people and places through our "journey of discovery". 

What started as a weekly cooking group is now a planned and structured environment of which we have big plans for. We currently meet within the Ardrossan Youth Centre and would like to aim our first project towards helping the young people who use the centre. 

With this, we would like to upcycle the unused telephone box within the centre grounds and make this a well being space for the centre. Allowing us and the young people to have a space to seek information, access fidget toys and just have a quiet space to calm down or reflect if they want. 

We would also like to go on quarterly trips as part of our award, giving people the opportunity to explore new places and cultures. 

Depending on circumstances, not everyone is in the habit of eating a nutritious breakfast. We would love to be able to offer a small bite to eat at the start of our sessions to make sure everyones starting off with a full tummy. 

Although the group only started in January, so much progress has already been made. We would like to continue to grow and this grant would help us make a good start. 

Cricket Machine with materials (Glass in telephone box) - £319

3D Printer & materials (to make fidgets) - £243

Breakfast items for 1 year (Bread, tea/coffee, milk, butter - £562

In Summer 2025 we planted up twelve raised beds and our indoor gorwing space with a wide variety of vegetables, held open days and invited members of the community of all ages and abilities to join in and learn, shared knowledge and food with visitors and donated fresh vegetable harvest to the Largs Food Larder, Clark Memorial Food Bank and directly with residents.

We have created our own social media page with over fifty members, where we share our public events and photographs of recent happenings at the community garden. We have hosted a local nursery on multiple occasions and the children excitedly helped with potato harvest, learned to sow seeds and how to transplant plants, and were able to enjoy peas right out of the pod (many for the first time!) We have opened the space to primary and secondary school classes and invite groups and individuals to visit the garden area to relax in nature and learn more about our community project. The garden volunteers have shared tomatoes, beans, chard, peas, herbs and other vegetables directly with visitors for them to enjoy at home.

We hope to make 2026 even more exciting and bountiful by expanding our community engagement and volunteer network through more local events and open days. We intend to expand the number of local charities we donate to, plant fruit trees and continue growing and sharing local food with Largs.

Five one-ton bags of compost at £50 = £250

Fifteen 50l bags soil at £12 = £180

Materials, like gloves, netting, pots, tools and trellises = £80

Seeds, seedlings, bulbs = £100

Three dwarf fruit trees at £30 each = £90

Three large barrels for trees at £50 = £150

Two blueberry bushes at £20 = £40

Drinks, snacks, themos and cooler for Community Pop Along Days = £50

Arbor frame = £60