<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>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>We wish to purchase waterproof&nbsp;suits and footwear for all children in our Early Years&nbsp;as we want every child to have access to outdoors in all weathers.&nbsp; Outdoor Learning&nbsp;enhances&nbsp;health and wellbeing and educational experiences.&nbsp; It supports&nbsp;mental, emotional, physical and&nbsp;social development and allows children to thrive in a stimulating and natural environment.&nbsp; Furthermore, accessing the outdoors supports the development of&nbsp;literacy and numeracy skills and enables them to be practised in a real and meaningful context.&nbsp;&nbsp;To ensure all children have the opportunity to learn outdoors throughout the year,&nbsp;and that families are not impacted by the cost of wellies or waterproofs, we wish to provide these within the EYC.</p>

<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif">LMC offers an informal setting for amateur musicians to meet on a regular basis and encourage one another to improve their skill level on their preferred musical instrument.</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 class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The HTAR are a group of voluteers who help promote&nbsp;the interests of residents in the area on matters concerning housing, the environment and the social and community life in the Hayocks area.</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>The She Shed is a safe, friendly place to make friends, share and learn new activities, or just pop in for a cuppa and a chat. Here to support and enhance the well-being of the women in our community.</p>

<p>As a community organisation and registered charity we provide facilities for men over the age of 18 years where they can socialise and take up new /continue with old hobbies. This helps with social isolation and also enables us to help the local community by making planters etc for local schools and private gardens. All of our products are much cheaper than commercial products as we do not charge for labour. Some of our power tools which were donated second hand are now coming to the end of their working life and we need to replace them bit by bit to continue with our projects.</p>