Our project will be to purchase a new defibrillator which our community volunteers will use to provide lifesaving treatment to anyone who needs it on Irvine beach and as part of our community outreach projects. Volunteers will be trained how to use the defibrillator, increasing their existing skillset around first aid, increasing resilience and building their confidence to use the lifesaving piece of equipment.

Our volunteers benefit from reduced social isolation by volunteering at Coastwatch through the day and at weekends, benefiting their health and wellbeing. Having equipment such as the defibrillator is essential to providing that service for volunteers and the public. All our volunteers learn from each other’s varying experience and Coastwatch has a sense of community spirit among the volunteers, building positive relationships within the community.

Breakdown of costs:

Mindray C1A Semi-Automatic defibrillator - £1100

Coastwatch will subsidise the additional £100 from our own funds.

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.

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

Our Synergy Broadcast unit needs an upgrade to enable us to interview guests and to host groups of people in the studio. The upgrade will cost about £100. We'd also like to get some better seating for presenters and guests, which will cost £560. The seating would allow presenters better access to the controls and allow more people to be seated around the broadcast unit. 

Life Lines is a group that supports and promotes Suicide awareness. The group have been runing for a number of years and have made information packs. With the change over the last few years organisations in the information pack have changed. Life lines have now become Digital. They launched this new tool on Suicide Awareness day this year. 

This group works closely with organisations to add them to the resource. Being digital they can add and remove numbers and details so the the resource is kept up to date. 

The group would like to apply for: Pop up banners x 2 £150 each, Gazebo  £350, and promotional materials £350. Having the QR code on these items could be the life line that the person needs. 

This will allow the group to attend information days and have pop up stalls promoting  positive mental health awareness. 

Access to the toilet compartment at the rear of the Groundhog involves stepping up/down a distance of approx 25cm and closing the metal door behind you.

 This is further complicated by the Groundhog welfare unit lying on a slightly downward facing slope.

Our museum visitors and walkers/cyclists passing by on stage 12 of the Ayrshire coastal path have free access to our Groundhog toilet compartment during our opening times from April to September and this covers all age ranges and from individuals to families.

We have attempted to reduce any access difficulty to the toilet compartment by the temporary positioning of two wooden pallets to act as an intermediate step, however due to the exposed nature of the site and wooden material these now require replacement.

We have approached a long established blacksmith based in Largs and they can design, manufacture and install a steel frame covered by an aluminium durbar sheet which has a raised pattern feature to form a non-slip surface in any direction and which will form a platform with the same dimensions as the existing pallet area for £960 including vat..

This will act as a permanent solution making access/egress easier, while spending the money within the North Coast to the benefit of the business and its employees.

We are hoping to develop in the coming year an approach to those individuals or groups looking to improve their physical fitness and mental health by providing a free resource rest and/or turn round stop at our site which is 3 miles north of Largs on what was previously known as the red road from Routenburn Golf course to the Meigle.

Our free admission museum is available for visits from those with mobility issues and both our museum and welfare unit are powered using  PV solar panels for lighting and communications equipmen as part of our drive to minimise the use of fossil fuels due to not having a mains connection to our museum site..

Dalry Community Sports Club, will be working in partnership with both, Dalry Community Development Hub and Dalry Action Group to reintroduce a proposed yearly gala event, to be held in Dalry Public Park. All groups have within them, the previous experience and knowledge required to progress this, where we will pull our resources together to ensure this is successfully progressed. Dalry Community Sports Club currently has a temporary occupational licence for the sports pavilion within the park, and is in the final stages of an asset transfer of these premises – this pavilion is an excellent focal point from which to stage this event, where we have recently refurbished welfare and toilet facilities for use on the day. This year`s King`s Coronation event was a great success and was managed by Dalry Action Group with a number of local groups in support including DCSC. We see these events as an extension of some of the work that we are involved in, where we are looking to help address some of the key issues in our community, including, social isolation, food deprivation, mental health & wellbeing and the impact of the current cost of living crisis. We would look for this event to encourage people to come out, and make use of this great outdoor space that the park offers, minimise the cost of participation, especially for families where we would look to have as many free / low cost activities as possible, and also offer free food, previously this has been burgers / hot dogs. Dalry Community Development Hub will also be promoting the Community Garden.  Their stall will also have supplies and tools to enable people to come and try to “grow their own” eg compost, pots, plants, Hints & Tips etc.  Dalry Community Sports Club will also have a stall promoting their latest project - the creation of Community Allotments, which will include, Community gardens, Educational Area and Allotment Letting opportunities.  They will take this opportunity to consult those present as to what else they would like to see adjacent to the allotment area and use the event to promote their continuing projects – Sports Pavilion,  Parklives, Community Larder, Warm Space  etc.  Hopefully this will lead to some volunteers.  Volunteers from the Sports Club will also be circulating on the day asking people to complete surveys for upcoming events and projects.  This could also include, initiatives by Partner groups, including,  Christmas Lights, which is run in partnership with Dalry Action Group. These have all worked very well in previous events where we have seen generous donations by those in attendance. We do see this type of event, as a key driver to help bring people together and help to build a better, more inclusive and stronger community for us all to live in.

Costing Notes

Insurance – already covered by DCSC Insurance policy

Gala Tents x 2 = £1470

DJ / Compere –  £400

Bouncy Castles – £550

Burgers / Hotdogs / rolls / sauces /napkins –  £600

BBQ Gas ( re-fills ) x 3 –  £72

Face Painting – £100

Gardening / Allotments Community awareness & participation stall - £200

Traditional stalls ( including equipment for, eg wet sponge, coconut shy, prize hoopla, beat the goalie, knock the cans, hook a duck, prizes etc )  - £700

Advertising / posters etc - £150

Misc -£758 ( this will be determined more if funding agreed and groups coming together will help generate further activities and requirements )