<p>Stevenston North Community Assocation would like to offer all residents the opportunity to come together as a community and celebrate the joy and fun of Christmas without the worry of expense.&nbsp;</p> <p>To achieve this we would like to offer a Christmas movie night with a meal prior to the film and snacks and drinks during the film.&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>

<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>Wee Mac Arran 2024 is a children&#39;s book festival.</p> <p>There is already a buzz of anticipation and excitement within&nbsp;our island community that some of&nbsp;Scotland&#39;s finest children&#39;s authors will be coming to the Isle of Arran.&nbsp;</p> <p>Travel to and from Book Festivals on the mainland is both cost and time prohibitive for many&nbsp;families on Arran.</p> <p>Bringing authors to the island&nbsp; for a festival breaks down social barriers with the joy of live literature accessible to all.</p> <p>Following on from our successful pilot in 2022, Wee Mac 2024 events will be hosted in the Garden Room and marquees in the grounds of the&nbsp;Isle of Arran Heritage Museum.&nbsp;</p> <p>The enclosed safe setting&nbsp;offers a relaxed and inviting environment for children and families. It provides&nbsp;a&nbsp;fabulous informal&nbsp;festival feel and&nbsp;free for all to enjoy.&nbsp;</p> <p>Having met and interacted with our invited guest authors, we hope&nbsp;our young people will be enthused to read for pleasure and encouraged about the possibility of becoming writers themselves.</p>

<p>The Garnock Valley Allotment Association ( GVAA ) was established in 2009 to allow local people to start up a plot for the purpose of growing their own food and improving their life through horticulture.The cost of living crisis and increased focus on healthy lives means it is more improtant than ever to grow your own. Our membership of over 80 people is made up from Garnock Valley residents and we actively encourage and advertise for others to join. Our committee is made up of members volunteering their time to maintain and improve the site.</p> <p>The GVAA has strong links with the local community. Communal growing space is provided for local community groups such as Cafe Solace and Spike Wheat Scots. Additionaly local schools such as St Bridgets Primary and Garnock Academy are regular visitors to the site growing fruit and vedge, learning about horticulture and completing maintenance tasks. All members are encouraged to donate excess stock such as potatoes, onions, carrots, rhubabrb, herbs, lettuce, turnips etc etc&nbsp; to the local community. We would like to extend this service by producing and distributing honey made from our recently introduced bee colony.</p>

<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>