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

Irvine Burns Club are seeking funding to provide trophies and book prizes for those pupils nominated to represent their schools at a “Champion of Champion” event held in Wellwood Burns Centre and Museum and demonstrate their skill in presenting their chosen poem. It is intended that there will be three categories, Primaries 1-2; Primaries 3-4 and Primaries 5-7.

Those nominated by their schools are also eligible to compete in the Ayrshire Association of Burns Clubs Schools’ Competition held later in the year.

If successful there they can go forward to perform at the Robert Burns World Federation National Festival. In the recent past several of our young people have been successful at this stage.

There are 11 Primary Schools in the Irvine Area and it is hoped that all would participate.

We seek funding to purchase 36 trophies at a cost of £20 each (£720) and 36 book prizes at a cost of £7.50 each (£270) a total of £990.

Any unused trophies and book prizes purchased would be held for use in following years.

20 x tracksuits average £40 each 

5 x winter jackets average £40 each 

Total £1000

We are applying for funding to enable our group members to plan and experience a trip to the theatre and afternoon tea up in Glasgow in the new year.

Social activities such as this can have a genuinely positive impact of the health and wellbeing of older people.  This is especially true in the winter months when the cost of living and social isolation can have a significantly negative impact on people’s lives, especially for older members of the community.  This would be an opportunity for our group members to experience a special outing which many would not be able to access independently due challenges faced through physical health and mental wellbeing.

To enable us to do this we would use any funding we received for:

Transport to Glasgow: £160

Theatre tickets: £560

Afternoon Tea: £280

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

Musical instruments - £630.  Scanner / printer - £370  Total - £1000

Project supports health and well-being

Irvine and Dreghorn Brass has been in existence for c. 45 years and is a registered charity. We have 3 brass bands in our organisation and we provide opportunities for community members to learn music, play in a group and be entertained by music which has major health and well-being benefits for participants and audiences alike.

We perform at over 30 concerts and gala days each year and are seen by thousands of people. We also provide free music lessons and access to brass and percussion instruments for young people and adults. 

Part of the funding would be spent on instruments that enable more people to play. While we will require to spend more than £630 on buying new / nearly new instruments, we will look to fund this additioal spend via other sources. 

We would also like to buy a good quality printer / scanner. We often need to copy sheet music for our musicians to play and practice. Also we have a large library of sheet music, around 900 arrangements collected over our 40+ year existence, that we would like to digitise (scan). Parts of the sheet music often get lost or damaged and creating on-line copies would protect the music and enable us to print parts as required for our band rehearsals and classes.

Demand for our services is growing and our membership has grown 50% in the last year. Many people want to play in bands and community groups have us play at events.

About 2 months ago we started manually burning signs onto wood, which has proven to be a sucess with the community and we now wish to purchase a wood burning machine (PyroprinterX) to do a more professional job in a much quicker time, we will also need a laptop/ computer to run the softwear.

PyroprinterX and softwear £629.00 (including postage) plus £118 expected Inport Duty, as it is manufactured in Ukraine - £747.00

Laptop/ Computer approx £500

Total expected costs £1,247

laguna 14/12 bandsaw bundle including bandsaw, 4 blades, mobility wheel kit and sliding mitre. Total cost incl delivery £1581.88, the excess being paid from Shed funds.