Access to the toilet compartment at the rear of the Groundhog involves stepping up/down a distance of approx 25cm and closing the metal door behind you.

 This is further complicated by the Groundhog welfare unit lying on a slightly downward facing slope.

Our museum visitors and walkers/cyclists passing by on stage 12 of the Ayrshire coastal path have free access to our Groundhog toilet compartment during our opening times from April to September and this covers all age ranges and from individuals to families.

We have attempted to reduce any access difficulty to the toilet compartment by the temporary positioning of two wooden pallets to act as an intermediate step, however due to the exposed nature of the site and wooden material these now require replacement.

We have approached a long established blacksmith based in Largs and they can design, manufacture and install a steel frame covered by an aluminium durbar sheet which has a raised pattern feature to form a non-slip surface in any direction and which will form a platform with the same dimensions as the existing pallet area for £960 including vat..

This will act as a permanent solution making access/egress easier, while spending the money within the North Coast to the benefit of the business and its employees.

We are hoping to develop in the coming year an approach to those individuals or groups looking to improve their physical fitness and mental health by providing a free resource rest and/or turn round stop at our site which is 3 miles north of Largs on what was previously known as the red road from Routenburn Golf course to the Meigle.

Our free admission museum is available for visits from those with mobility issues and both our museum and welfare unit are powered using  PV solar panels for lighting and communications equipmen as part of our drive to minimise the use of fossil fuels due to not having a mains connection to our museum site..

The Skelmorlie Community Garden Group took over the running and maintenance of the space outside Skelmorlie Library from North Ayrshire Council in Spring of 2023. The local community have put a lot of work and love into making the space beautiful and relaxing, and would like to add a little lending library to further enhance the garden's aims to promote wellbeing, sustainability and community spirit.

We think that this speaks to the goals of this round of participatory budgeting; building community, looking after the environment (re-using books), cost of living and health and wellbeing. The garden has been set up to be a contemplative space and a little library would foster this.

We have spoken with the staff of Skelmorlie Library, who fully support the project.

We have spoken with the North Coast and Cumbraes Men's Shed who could build this for us for around £100. We have uploaded a picture to show you the type of little library we are intending to install.

To book the mobile cinema for one session - £250

Purchase of food for a meal for 120 individuals  at £3.50 per head - £420

Snacks for during the film for 120 at £1.50 per head - £180

Selections boxes for  children - £150

We are applying for funding to enable our over 60's club to hold a special Burns Supper.  This event would provide a beacon of light in the dark winter months when social isolation and the cost of living crisis have an even greater impact on people's health and wellbeing.  This event would bring the club together with celebration and fun.  With this funding we would be able to organise food and entertainment for this event which would make it a special day for all group members to enjoy.   Our club plays a vital role in combatting loneliness and encourages members to come along weekly to connect with others and share enjoyable experiences.  The club means so much to its members and has a real impact on people's lives in a positive way.  Any additional funding would help us to pay for the ongoing weekly letting cost of £50.  

Burns Supper: including food, toasts, entertainment and hall hire-£600

Hall letting fees for 8 weeks- £400

Cancer has touched every family wether its someone we know, or one of our own loved ones.

To show a little kindness and let them know we are thinking of them, we would like to involve the community in sewing Christmas Cushions and stockings for donations to The Ayrshire Hospice and The Beatson Hospital.

We will host 3 half day sewing sessions for local people to come along and volunteer their time to create christmas cushions and stocking for the christmas project.

We dont have a laptop or internet access in our workspace and use our own mobile data. To show tutorials at workshops and communicate information of the workshops and the achivements would help us promote what we do.

To help us achieve this project we ask for:

Laptop-£ 339.00

Christmas Fabric -£200.00

Cushion inserts-£150.00 

We hope to run another social trip to the parkhead forge and market. The funding would pay for the bus journey and lunches for our members.

Bus Cost £480

Lunches £410

BABCA who are a group of volunteers elected to run the Towerlands community Centre with assistance from the local authority have run family events in the area which have been very sucessful. This year BABCA wish to encourage adults and older people back into the centre for a free social event in the evening. The committee want to hold a Saturday evening event turn the centre into the wild west. We had a monkey survey and Country music won over the sixties seventies and eighties. The event date would be the 24th of February 2024 the live country band would be Stateline a local band which usually packs out local venues in the Irvine locality. The committe wish to have a free chuck wagon giving away pies and beans or mushy peas. The bar would also be run by Towerlands Bowling club who are another local club run by volunteers who are situated next to the Centre. We want people through the doors in February as we are trying to organise a Community and memorial Garden situated next to the centre and wish the Country and western evening event to promote the garden project and see if we can get volunteers to assist in the garden which we are in the process of trying to secure funding for. BABCA want to grow fruit and vegetables in the garden for their Community food larder the Farm Basket. We will also do some fund raising on the night for the larder  with raffles, cowboy bingo and a silver dollar so all the events feed into each other. The cost of our event is as follows

Stateline Country band £450   Pies Beans and peas paperplates knifes and forks tablecovers £200    Hall decoration Flags, bunting £150   hall let £94   tickets x100 flyers leaflets/posters £106

Auchengate, and in particular Dundonald Crescent, is home to an abundance of wildlife, beautiful views, and families with young children. Our committee members, with the help of those families, contribute a very diverse mix of skills and experience, and are coming together to help our residents by volunteering time, services and knowledge to improve and enhance the look of our estate, whilst building relationships and community spirit. Due to the cost-of-living crisis and the cost of garden maintenance equipment, such as lawnmowers, many of our residents cannot afford the extra expense that comes with garden maintenance, or simply do not have the time due to working whilst supporting young children, or the knowledge to use such equipment safely. This is where DCERA can help.

We would like to purchase two items for our community.

1. Currently, a member of our committee volunteers his time to cut the grass on the front and rear gardens for 25 out of 76 properties within the estate. He generously does this with his personal old mower which is not reliable or fit for purpose for this capacity of work on a weekly basis. We are looking to buy a new mower from a local company that will provide us with great aftercare and a service plan, to be used by two members of the committee to share the responsibility and workload. DCERA will also be covered with liabilty insurance.

2. We intend to buy a good quality, heavy duty gazebo, that will be bespoke made with our DCERA logo. This will be used regularly at events within our estate and further afield for fundraising, drop-in sessions, community barbecues, boot sales, sports and games, and a whole host of other uses.

Cost of Lawnmower - £450

Cost of Gazebo - £600