<p>After leading Arran to be the first Scottish Community to gain&nbsp;&#39;plastic free&#39; status by reducing plastic entering our sea&nbsp;TAP now seek to engage a wider community&nbsp;and those new to Arran to join together to reduce unnecessary plastic.</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>After the success of the fun day in July 2023 we thought it would be great to be able to replicate and add to this for 2024 whilst trying to keep everything as low cost as possible. From Pony rides to misbehaving donkeys, and the cutest alpacas around there will be something for all the family to enjoy. We are applying for this funding towards the cost of activities for next year.</p>

<p style="margin-bottom:11px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The newly created Skelmorlie Community Garden space is looking beautiful. We would like to install a little library for book sharing in the community, to increase use of the garden.</span></span></span></p>

<p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">We want to extend the paved area in Cumbrae Community Garden to make a number of raised beds more accessible to users of wheelchairs, mobility scooters and walking aids. </span></span></p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;The Flying Start Toddler Group is a registerd charity and is for families with children under three years, we operate&nbsp;<span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">in a safe and comfortable environment which &nbsp;can&nbsp; be accesed&nbsp;easily. We provide parent and child sessions to promote friendships and a sharing of experiences among adults, and activities to promote the wellbeing of babies and children. The group members have the opportunity to engage in activities that might not be available to them. The members benefit from companionship, support and social interaction and the opportunity to form new friendships.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom:13px"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;">The group is open three mornings per week, we use a large hall for active play and snack,&nbsp;small hall for activities and an early years room for baby activities and art and craft. We hold parties at&nbsp; Easter, Halloween and Christmas and any special occassions. The cost for our members is &pound;2 per family including a snack of tea, coffee, juice, crisps and&nbsp; biscuits.&nbsp; All our activities are free, this is possible through grants and awards to cover our core costs and activities.</span></font></p>

<p>The Community Garden was established during lockdown when we were able to work outdoors and socialy distance.</p> <p>Over the last 3 years we have welcomed many visitors, gained new trustees, work&nbsp;with various groups including the schools, hosting and organising events.</p> <p>We grow produce which goes back to the community helping with the cost of living.</p> <p>We offer teas and coffees and&nbsp;plenty chat as the last three years have had a devastating &nbsp;effect on people&#39;s mental heath and wellbeing.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Largs Museum has a wonderful collection of Art, Artifacts, Photographs and Postcards, many of which are over 100 years old.&nbsp; &nbsp;<br /> <br /> It is important that these collections be digitized&nbsp;so&nbsp;they&nbsp;can be made readily available to the local community without placing any undue stress on the originals many of which are fragile.&nbsp;<br /> <br /> All of&nbsp;the musuem&#39;s collections relate to our local heritage such as artifacts, events, people and&nbsp;places.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>As an independent museum run by volunteers we are funded mainly by donations from visitors to the museum.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</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>