<p>&nbsp;I would like to set up a social group for adults that meets regularly at the Ardrossan Church of the Nazarene. This will provide a space and time for people to relax, socialise and have a bit of fun.</p>

<p style="margin-bottom:11px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">We aim to elevate and expand our Adult Drama group centred in the Three Towns, offering participants the opportunity to perform a devised performance in a local arts venue. </span></span></span></p>

<p style="text-align:start; text-indent:0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width:0px"><span style="font-size:medium"><span style="font-family:Calibri, sans-serif"><span style="caret-color:#000000"><span style="color:#000000"><span style="font-style:normal"><span style="font-variant-caps:normal"><span style="font-weight:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:normal"><span style="orphans:auto"><span style="text-transform:none"><span style="white-space:normal"><span style="widows:auto"><span style="word-spacing:0px"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust:auto"><span style="text-decoration:none">Mindful Makers reduces social isolation and builds emotional resilience and wellness via a trusted support network where people benefit from mindfulness and a shared enjoyment of creative activities.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>

<p style="margin-bottom:11px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="background:#fdfdfd"><span style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:13.0pt"><span style="font-family:&quot;Lato&quot;,sans-serif"><span style="color:#222222">The Vennel Friends Discovery Group meet weekly in the Vennel Gardens Community Engagement Hub and helps older people come together to meet new people and try a whole host of activities.&nbsp; </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="background:#fdfdfd"><span style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:13.0pt"><span style="font-family:&quot;Lato&quot;,sans-serif"><span style="color:#222222">Our group is open to anyone over the age of 50. &nbsp;We participate in a wide range of activities that promote the health and wellbeing of our group members. The group provides a safe and welcoming place for older people to connect socially which helps to combat loneliness and isolation.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="background:#fdfdfd"><span style="line-height:normal"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:13.0pt"><span style="font-family:&quot;Lato&quot;,sans-serif"><span style="color:#222222">We are applying for funding to enable our group members to experience the positive mental health and social benefits of going to the theatre and having afternoon tea in Glasgow.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></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>

<p>At North Ayrshire Carers Centre we provide a tailored service for unpaid young and adult carers across the locality, we support individuals and families through their caring roles and provide a listening ear, support services, advice, and peer support groups. Not only this, we aim to support all unpaid carers within each locality within North Ayrshire, through locality events and drop-in support groups for carers. Within our service, we recognise the unseen roles and responsibilities unpaid carers take on for&nbsp;a relative, friend, or neighbor. Care can be provided in more simplistic ways such as helping with the weekly shop to cooking meals. Support is not restricted to physical care but can be also emotional support ranging from just giving a listening ear or taking care of their financial affairs or their own health.&nbsp;This project aims to create a community carousel in partnership with HSCP Carers Team, Youth Services, and KA Leisure to create opportunities within each locality. This will provide a family respite opportunity for unpaid carers accessing the service, or for individuals who may require support in benefit advice, education support, funding, carer support plans or a listening ear as we understand how demanding being an unpaid carer can be. This project will initially be rolled out in seldom-heard communities such as Garnock Valley and North Coast where we aim to provide support within our capacity to unpaid carers along with a fun day out for families to access activities and information based on their needs and abilities.&nbsp;This project will provide an opportunity to tackle isolation, food poverty, and fuel poverty by giving carers a safe, warm space to use for the day where they can bring their cared for, and also access a meal and refreshments along with the company of Carers Centre staff and partners.</p>

<p>SHED is part of Community Roots in West Kilbride which also runs the Village Larder, a subsidised food with dignity project. We have a community garden in the center of West Kilbride and host a drop-in social gardening day once a week there. We have been developing this garden for fruit and vegetable growing so that we can learn how to grow food whilst recognising the mental and physical health benefits of gardening together. Most of what we produce goes to our Village Larder to be accessed for free by our customers there, and some of it is a healthy reward for our hard working volunteers. Our aims are to make healthy food more accessible and create a buzz in the area about the benefits to our health and environment by growing our own food.&nbsp; In the upcoming year we want to further develop our Community Garden and facilitate food growing in people&#39;s own gardens by providing materials, plants and practical support. We trialed offering some plants to our Village Larder customers this summer with great success and think that we can advertise and distribute well from there, with additional advertising of the project on our social media platforms and contacts. We think this will build our connections with people in WK and be the start of a rolling project over the seasons with continual support and materials offered. People will be asked when signing up f they prefer large trugs, 15litre potted veg gardens, or pop up fabric planters and what plants they want to grow from a list. We will have cards to give out with info on growing each plant, fertiliser for the season, canes and ties etc. They will be invited to sow the seeds in our polytunnel on drop in days to see where it all begins and this will introduce people to our growing community. This project will be especially useful for people who aspire to grow but don&#39;t know where to start, people who can&#39;t afford things like soil and fertiliser to sustain crops once established (which is expensive, expanding education on food and its origins, and people who are not able to access the drop in sessions that are keen to connect and grow.&nbsp;</p>

<p style="margin-bottom:11px"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">An aged 50+&nbsp;&nbsp;group offering a place for people to meet,&nbsp;discover&nbsp;new interest, new friends share/learn skills while working towards an award. The group reduces social isolation, improves wellness, mental health, keeps people active.</span></span></span></p>