This project aims to create a community carousel in partnership with HSCP Carers Team, Youth Services, and KA Leisure to create opportunities within each locality. This will provide a family respite opportunity for unpaid carers accessing the service, or for individuals who may require support in benefit advice, education support, funding, carer support plans or a listening ear as we understand how demanding being an unpaid carer can be. This project will initially be rolled out in seldom-heard communities such as Garnock Valley and North Coast where we aim to provide support within our capacity to unpaid carers along with a fun day out for families to access activities and information based on their needs and abilities. This project will provide an opportunity to tackle isolation, food poverty, and fuel poverty by giving carers a safe, warm space to use for the day where they can bring their cared for, and also access a meal and refreshments along with the company of Carers Centre staff and partners.

North Coast Locality cost breakdown: (250), arts and crafts supplies for young and adult carers - 100, food provisions - 150

Three Town Locality cost breakdown: (250), arts and crafts supplies for young and adult carers - 100, food provisions - 150

Garnock Valley Locality cost breakdown: (250), arts and crafts supplies for young and adult carers - 100, food provisions - 150

Irvine Locality cost breakdown: (250), arts and crafts supplies for young and adult carers - 100, food provisions - 150

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

Our recipe book will be a collection of simple recipes aimed at reducing waste, saving money and encouraging families to cook together. We aim to partner with other local groups within Irvine and Christmas initiatives to give this book as a gift and inspire families to make exciting food with a minimal budget. We believe it is possible to have healthy great tasting food and not pay a fortune for it and we want to excite people about making more with what they have. We can also combine the cookbook with a video or it can be used as part of an in person class and for the partners we work with on this can offer a set of seasonings to build on cooking knowledge and skills. These classes will be held in the new year when money is even tighter and can be done in conjunction with the existing warm spaces and local community groups. Good food can benefit families in numerous ways, promoting both physical and emotional well-being. Incorporating good food into family life involves not only choosing nutritious ingredients but also creating a positive food environment that emphasises balance, variety, and moderation. We hope that this cook book and classes will foster a healthy relationship with food and promoting its role in family unity and well-being.

Project Costs - £700 Publication Costs – 200 x A5, Spiral bound, 32 Pages Full colour £120 - 20 x Seasoning Packs – 3 packs of 40g - £2 each  £100 - 20 X £5 – Food for cooking classes.£20 – Recyclable bags

20 x tracksuits average £40 each 

5 x winter jackets average £40 each 

Total £1000

Choices Community Shop currently has over 500+ households registered to access a food with dignity approach to addressing food insecurity in the local area. With an equal divide of families, couples and single people, the cost of cooking food is a worry for everyone. With winter approaching and the cost of living ongoing, many households have told us that they are worried about whether they will be able to heat and cook this year. 

Choices Community Shop would therefore like to purchase food and containers to be able to prepare healthy, nutricious "ready meals" that households can take as part of the offer within the food larder. These meals will be suitable for heating in a microwave thus reducing the households cooking costs.

Food for meals: £800

Food Safe Containers: £200

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

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

New communal instruments i.e. drums - £500 Hall let hire - £100 Uniforms for young people - £250 Tutoring from professionals - £150 Total - £1000

Having new equipment would allow the band to take on more beginners and give more young people the opportunity to take part in the band. We have some New Scots in the band and would love to be able to take on more to share the culture of Scottish music. People from all over North Ayrshire come to the band and its an opportunity for people to link up and get to know new people and make friends. In terms of mental health and wellbeing, we have some people in the band who suffer from PTSD, elderly people and some who are socially isolated.

The pipe band is really beneficial for the volunteers who build their confidence running the band and getting this funding would mean a lot to us in terms of increasing capacity and learning how to do more things with the band. We work with other voluntary organisations across Irvine to provide pipers for special events at a discounted rate and also refer people to the band who want to learn a new instrument.

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