<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>We have established a steering group made up of friends and family of residents, we hope to provide chances for residents get out of their houses make new firends and decrease social isolation.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Uniting diverse communities through Syrian cuisine, music, and culture. Building bonds and fostering understanding</p> <p><button></button></p> <p><button></button><button></button></p>

<p style="margin-bottom:11px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">We would like to use this funding to purchase a suitable sized Polly tunnel, to erect within our garden, for our service users and the community to reap the benefits.&nbsp;There is limited ground in the Garnock Valley for this and we feel that this is something that we could offer. </span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">&nbsp;Costings for this would include &ndash; The Polly tunnel and groundwork.&nbsp;</span></span></span></p>

<p>Sensory gardens include features, surfaces, objects and plants that stimulate our senses through touch, sight, scent, taste and hearing.</p> <p>They are places that can be designed with many different purposes in mind. They can be calming with scented plants and restful seating, an area for growing tasty food and for wildlife friendly plants, a therapeutic space for children and a learning zone full of exciting things to touch and smell.</p> <p>Sensory gardens are of great benefit to children&#39;s health and well-being, the seasonal aspect of growing is educational and the validation in seeing your hard work come to fruition is wonderful. Starting children on their ecologically friendly through life.</p>

<p>We are looking to redevelop our outdoor space into a community garden area with seating and raised beds to grow fruit and vegetables.</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>We would like to continue to offer Tai-Chi classes to people living with Dementia in our local Community. Funding a qualified Tai-Chi Instructor and hiring an appropriate Hall, to undertake the classes for the local Community. Research Studies showed that in people with mild cognitive impairment Tai-Chi slowed the progression to Dementia more than other types of exercise and improved cognitive function in a comparable fashion to other types of exercise or cognitive training. Tai-chi is a safe effective activity that improves physical balance and emotional wellbeing in older adults.</p>