Considering that a large proportion (at least 50%) of our learners are drawn from communities which are feature on the bottom 20%, 10%, or 5% of the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, our Band is a lifeline in preserving the often-expensive art of Highland Bagpiping and Drumming the community.

We see our greatest achievements to date as being the achievements that our young members have attained through the years. Our young learners have gone on to a range of positive destinations in the piping community including study at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and many have gone on to play in Grade 1 corps including Inveraray and District, Shotts and Dykehead, The Glasgow Skye Association, and Greater Glasgow Police Scotland Pipe Band.

Specific Project

Notwithstanding the success of our free tuition programme in producing high caliber pipers, drumming tuition in our community has significantly trailed behind. Drumming tuition in the wider area has been inconsistent both in terms of provision and quality. This has led to a shortage of young, innovative, high-quality players within the community which, over time, has become a key factor in restraining the local piping and drumming ‘scene’ from reaching its full potential.

To resolve this problem, we have recently launched a new drumming tuition initiative. We have acquired three Grade One drumming instructors (two side drummers and one tenor drummer) from outwith our community to revitalise drumming tuition in the area. These instructors are young (all under 30) and are delivering first rate tuition in a forward-thinking manner that cuts through to our young learners. We shall equip these learners with the skills they need to take their drumming to the next level and we intend to facilitate them acquiring qualifications through the Piping and Drumming Qualifications Board.

Total Amount Requested: £1000

Total uniform cost £300

Transport - £250

Day to day running expenses: £450

Total Project Cost £1000

We have a reserve account that will be able to accomodate the other £4,000.00

For video's etc, please see https://www.facebook.com/share/1Ca2wKgeau/

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

£500 Colour Laser Printer 

£430 Pin Badges

£70 Sundries 

The Three Towns Discovery Award Group is aimed at all people over 50 years of age, to help promote an active and healthy lifestyle by offering challenges to both stimulate and motivate.

The Discovery Award is a personal challenge, through a programme of your chosen leisure activities with no exam at the end. You need no special qualifications, just a willingness to have a go and the determination to do the very best that you personally achieve. 

As part of this, we bring in other services to educate and draw awareness to local and national topics that impact us and the wider community. We aim to help combat social isloation and lonliness in the community by hosting open events like coffee mornings for those who are not able to join the group for various reasons. 

We are applying for money to help towards the cost of a group trip, buy resources to continue making crafts that we sell to help generate a small income and  donate monies to local charities and host an Easter coffee morning for all Discovery Award Groups (Irvine, GV, Kilwinning & Ukranian Group) and the wider community. 

We are asking for the following costs to be considered:

1. Edinburgh Bus Trip Tour (x10) = £ 230

2. Lunch on Trip (x10) = £200

3. Resin Kit = £70

4. Multicoloured Felt Fabric Rolls (x3) = £30

5. 3D Printer = £230

6. Coffee Morning Supplies (Including, coffee, tea, milk, sandwiches, cakes & decorations) = £240

We wish to build a community/memorial garden in a vacant area of land within the community recreation ground. The garden will include a memorial wall and will be a profound way to acknowledge and honour the life of a loved one, a historical event, or a significant achievement. These plaques will also play a crucial role in preserving history and act as a bridge between the past and the present, providing a tangible link to our heritage. By commemorating individuals or events, they help us understand our local roots and the journey taken.

The garden will also serve as a space for personal reflection and for educating the public about the person or event being commemorated whilst being a general meeting place for community members.  Our community Partners Ardrossan Community Sports Hub will add a page to their website and we will direct people to it, the page will include a bio for every plaque on the wall. The design/planning and building of the garden will involve both the Local Communtiy Shed, AWR Extra Time Crew, AWR CIC, and Ardrossan Communtiy Sports Hub. We will also partner with The Three Town Growers who will provide asisstance with planting.

We will charge an additional amount to cost of plaque and that will be used to maintain and improve the garden. It will also improve joint working as the Community Shed and AWR/ACSH Extra Time Crew will maintian the garden/

Cost:

Wood for seating/plant beds/boundary  £900, lean to wood & roof sheeting £ 450, stone base £200, plants £150, solar lighting £100, total £1,800.00

ACHS would like to purchase a colour laser printer, ink, paper, and laminating pouches. ACHS are in process of trying to get a Heritage hub built on castle hill. This would provide much needed toilets, indoor shelter, and exhibition/education space. As part of our feasibility study we need to engage with the community. To do this we need posters, flyers, surveys printed off as well as printing of plans and building specifications to share with public. We hold many outdoor events on the hill and often need laminated information and signage on display. The requested items would enable us to do this.

• Printer £480
• Ink £385
• Sundries £135

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