<p>Corsehill Retirement Club meet weekly throughout the year and help older people come together to enjoy many activities, including celebrating national events and holidays. We are a club which is open to anyone over 55 and retired from employment. We have educational activities, along with games and fun activities. This ensures that older people are not isolated, helping to combat loneliness and keeping them connected to their communities. One of the events particularly enjoyed by the members is celebrating Burns Day, with haggis, neeps and tatties, speeches and toasting the Bard with a dram, usually involving a piper and a wee dance. We are looking for funding to help us put this event on and try to have as many people as want to come. This funding would be used to pay for the meals, toasts, and venue. We also need a new laptop, which helps with the functioning of the club and allows our older members have access to the internet if required, keeping them connected with modern day living. We rely on our weekly fees to pay for events, etc so cannot manage to do many in the year. Additional funding will help to allow us to celebrate Burns Day.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Springside Community Association would like to hold 2 special events for all of the children in the community to enjoy, free of charge. One event will be a haunted mansion at Halloween and the other will be a Christmas party. We want to bring a sense of fun and excitement that everyone can be involved in, particularly at a time when the cost of living crisis is affecting everyone.&nbsp;</p>

<p>There is light is a group of individuals for people who has lost someone and people with mental health, the group runs every Tuesday at whitlees centre , with group therapy ( relki) the group has been going now for 2 years which the centre has supported, the group is constituted group with there first agm on sept 4 2023 , the group is going well , we asking for 1 year&nbsp; therapy sessions for group or individuals.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;One of the many activities is an outing to a place of interest and this is highly regarded as an opportunity to meet socially and share a visit to a cultural event or Scottish landmark.</p>

<p>After confirming a demand we would like to create a community facility to help combat loneliness and isolation which is most prevalent in our older community. We would like to improve social interaction through an informal drop-in venue hosted in our Community Centre and run by volunteers in conjunction with the Community Association. The desire is to provide a weekly meeting place with soup and refreshments. The availability of such a facility becomes known quickly and encorages those more isolated to participate and develop new friendships.It also gives people the opportunity to better understand and hopefully participate in the other activities available in the centre, library and community. Also to help create any new and needed facilities. In a rural community people can become isolated because often travel is needed to participate in many activities in other facilities. Our aim is to tackle this inhibition by at least providing a local basic meeting facility that can be tailored to increase participation as demand is understood. Using this Village Hub approach we will try to encourage participation with the hope of providing other social, recreational, well-being and educational opportunities. This will provide the Community Association with a better understanding of the needs of the community to be used in our ongoing interaction with the North Ayrshire Council Officers.</p>

<p>West Kilbride Yuletide is an annual event that brings members of the local Community together to celebrate the Christmas.&nbsp; <font color="#00000a" face="Calibri, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 16px;">Yuletide 2022 was a great success and brought back a sense of Community togetherness following COVID.</span></font></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="line-height:103%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="color:#00000a">All activities are free therefore everyone can participate and feel included.&nbsp;&nbsp;By providing free activities, it addresses poverty and inequality by making it accessible for everyone, which is important as we are going through a Cost of Living Crisis.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="text-indent:0cm; margin-bottom:7px"><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="line-height:103%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="color:#00000a">The activities in this event will help to bring back the joy and happiness it brought to all members of the Community.&nbsp; The knock-on effect of this will enhance the Health and Wellbeing of all generations.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="text-indent:0cm; margin-bottom:7px"><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="line-height:103%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="color:#00000a">West Kilbride Yuletide is an excellent example of inter-generational working and breaks down several barriers that exist between generations and brings a sense of Community Cohesion and Community Spirit.</span></span></span></span></p>