<p><strong>We are a newly esablished Tandem Cycling Group, set up to allow Vision Impaired people like myself, to get<br /> out and about on a Tandem Bike, together with a fully qualified Pilot. Being Vision Impaired does&#39;nt mean&nbsp;<br /> that you cant ride a bike. We are a relitivly new group base in Kilwinning, but are very open to members from&nbsp;<br /> the All North Ayrshire area&#39;s. We are at the stage where we have a Constitution, proposed and seconded at our &nbsp;first&nbsp;<br /> AGM held on Tuesday 15th August 2023 where we openly elected a committee from 18 members.&nbsp;</strong></p> <p><br /> &nbsp;</p>

<p style="margin-bottom:11px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Our project is a volunteering opportunity for anyone to take part in, providing a&nbsp;rare chance to help record a long lost part of Kilwinning&rsquo;s history. The project currently has around 10 volunteers and we are always welcome to&nbsp;have more!</span></span></span></p>

<p>Our aim is to allow people from our community to access food with dignity. We are looking to support 250 households access food with dignity through our community larder, This will no doubt be a relief to many working households who are struggling with the rising cost of living and who many do not qualify for extra help. The community larder has no criteria, so anyone can use it when struggling, we help those most in need through referrals from housing associations, CHAP, money matters, social services and community link workers.&nbsp;We offer a range of food that all members can access and choose what they need the most as a top up on their weekly shop. This can make the difference of eating themselves, feeding their children or even providing the basic hygiene products. As the winter months start to creep in we also find that people are having to choose between heating and eating, This puts a huge strain on any household and we endevour to help those members by allowing them to free up money they save from accessing the larder and being able top up gas and electricity.</p>

<p style="margin-bottom:11px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">St Winin&rsquo;s Over 60&rsquo;S &nbsp;Club meets each Thursday throughout the year to allow older people to connect with others and enjoy a whole range of engaging and fun activities. &nbsp;The club aims to reduce social isolation and provide a safe and welcoming space where older people feel included and valued. &nbsp;Our club encourages group members to meet new people, enjoy a chat in the&nbsp;good company of others. The club is open to anyone over the age of 60 and has a long standing commitment to supporting older people in the local community that spans over 30 years. &nbsp;The club recently celebrated our 30th anniversary in March 2023. &nbsp;<br /> Our weekly meetings take in St Winnins church hall and this incurs a weekly letting fee of &pound;50. Due to the cost living crisis, we are unable to ask any more than a minimal weekly fee from our group members. &nbsp;These weekly fees help pay for tea/coffee/ biscuits which are offered each week. We are looking for funding to help us pay for the ongoing costs of this weekly letting fees.<br /> &nbsp;In addition, our group particularly enjoys hosting a variety of seasonal celebrations. These&nbsp;promote the positive health and wellbeing of our group members, raise&nbsp;spirits and provide lots of good fun. &nbsp;We would like to seek funding to enable us to hold a Burns Supper in the New Year. &nbsp;This would include the cost of catering, decorations, music and hall let.</span></span></span></p>

<p>After the covid crisis and during the current cost of living crisis, voluntary groups in Scotland have found it difficult to engage with young volunteers, This could be because young people want a paid position to they can take care of their own expenses and releave the pressure on parents, or simply do not know what it is that&#39;s required. We at Ayrshire Communities Education and Sport and Woodwynd community association and many other groups, and clubs have&nbsp;&nbsp;struggled in the past trying to engage with young volunteers many asked for part time work however to employ workers is both difficult due to funding and also brings in so many other issues. We feel that by showing what&#39;s required and having the time to do so would benefit young people, and groups, especially like ACES and woodwynd community Association. the priciple idea would be to train young volunteers at a speed where they are comfortable then when they have confidence in the training and guided by a qualified member of ACES they can begin to volunteer.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Applying for funds to continue to offer the Healing Hearts North Ayrshire Bereavement Support Group, based at Kilwinning Library on a Friday from 12.30pm - 2.30pm (exc public holidays).</p> <p>The group was established as part of the Connecting Communities&nbsp;Project, a partnership with Cruse, Cruse Scotland and Co-op, however with funding ending in December 2023, the group are at threat of closure. A number of the group&#39;s participants are keen to transfer the group to a constituted&nbsp;group, volunteering&nbsp;for roles in the committee.&nbsp; These participants have relevant experience in these roles and have created their constitution and are in the process of opening a bank account.&nbsp;</p>

<p>We wish to purchase waterproof&nbsp;suits and footwear for all children in our Early Years&nbsp;as we want every child to have access to outdoors in all weathers.&nbsp; Outdoor Learning&nbsp;enhances&nbsp;health and wellbeing and educational experiences.&nbsp; It supports&nbsp;mental, emotional, physical and&nbsp;social development and allows children to thrive in a stimulating and natural environment.&nbsp; Furthermore, accessing the outdoors supports the development of&nbsp;literacy and numeracy skills and enables them to be practised in a real and meaningful context.&nbsp;&nbsp;To ensure all children have the opportunity to learn outdoors throughout the year,&nbsp;and that families are not impacted by the cost of wellies or waterproofs, we wish to provide these within the EYC.</p>

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