Dalry Community Sports Club have a number of key priorities which were originally based on increasing the health and wellbeing of our community through various sports and leisure activities. Prior to the pandemic we were also looking at opportunities to help address, both social isolation and food deprivation issues, aligning ourselves with some of the key priorities of North Ayrshire Council and Scottish Government. As part of these priorities we have been operating our Community Larder since Nov 2020, initially as a foodbank during the pandemic, but now aligned with NAC`s Community Larder model, where customers pay £4, for a selection of items, and also a variety of free short dated / best before items. To complement this, we opened our warm space throughout the winter period, but have actually kept this going all year now. Once people have visited the larder, they can then have a hot / cold drink and a filled roll / biscuit. Both the Community Larder and the Warm Space have allowed both individuals and families the opportunity to meet and socialise with other members of the community previously unknown to them. We operate both the Community Larder and the Warm Space on a Wednesday night and a Saturday morning. Since the cost of living crises started, we have seen the numbers of people attending our Community Larder steadily increase. We are now seeing more families attending these, and more people who are working. To support these activities, it has put a strain on the commitment of our volunteers, but also on the stress and strain of constantly looking for funding opportunities to support these. Local businesses have been great here, where we work in partnership with Tesco, ASDA, Bookers, Co-op, Irvine`s Bakery, Lidl and Reid`s Food Services, who supply us with a combination, of either free short dated / best before items, or items at discounted prices. Unfortunately over the last 12 months, we have seen how the rising costs have impacted on our funding, where it doesn`t buy as much. To help us get the best value for money, and bulk buy when the prices are good, we require the purchase of an addition upright freezer and pastries storage. We further require a labelling machine so that we can mark up items of food that we pick up free, and aprons / fleeces which would help give our volunteers a feeling of identity.

Costings

Polar G-Series Upright Display Fridge 218Ltr Black - £599.98, Lacor Countertop Ambient Food Display 554mm - £239.99, NIIMBOT B1 Label Maker Machine plus additional role - £29.99 + £8.99 = £38.98 &  Aprons / Fleece / Print – cc £120

Brass band: £700

Hall hire: £200 (Geilsland Hall)

Choirs (youth): £150 donation schools

Refreshments: £350 (guests, audience and performers)

Parking stewards: £50

First aiders: £50

Admin: £50

Total est: £1550

We will alo have a display relating to green issues from NAC waste management team.

Mindful Makers supports Health and Wellbeing in the Three Towns. Our mantra is ‘Be Kind to Your Mind’ (see Descriptive Image attached), and we will build on our successful previous projects (see Document 1 attached, Saltcoats Mindful Makers Report July 2023). We are a non-registered not-for-profit group and are applying for funding to continue teaching and nurturing creative textile skills in the context of mindfulness and social connection. Our aim is to combat loneliness, so we bring people together in a positive and safe environment while building confidence through the acquisition and practice of new skills. We also aim to enhance emotional resilience, by encouraging and challenging people to adapt to new techniques; for instance, in August we explored how being outdoors in nature can heighten the stress-reducing benefits of mindfulness, and the success of this exercise meant that we intend to repeat it annually. To meet the increased demand for Mindful Makers activities over this past year we doubled engagement opportunities for participants who come from all across the Three Towns. Please see the Box below for a description of how we organise our activities.  Funding goes to the provision of materials, and workshops and tutoring are provided free of charge to ensure there is no financial barrier to participation amongst vulnerable and/or disadvantaged communities (see Document 2 attached for a few examples of Mindful Makers activities). Mindful Makers will provide a warm welcome throughout the winter at Saltcoats Library, and through our outreach work at CLASP HOPE in Stevenston, while a link has been established for outreach work in Ardrossan where we plan to hold an Introductory Workshop at the Library in January 2024. Additional activities already planned for the next few months include:  A further 6-week outreach textile project at CLASP HOPE in Stevenston starting on 19 September; we will be supporting the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival in October by holding an extended workshop focussing on the benefits of mindfulness and shared experiences for mental well-being, and also involve Saltcoats Book Group using carefully selected reading materials; we will support a collaborative community fund-raising event in conjunction with CLASP HOPE in October where we will sell items produced using participants’ new skills to raise additional funds to support our sustainability. Through a link with Ardrossan Castle Heritage Society made at the North Ayrshire Participatory Budgeting and Chit Chat event we are proposing to hold a field trip as the basis for a creative project.

We are applying for funding of £600, to reflect the enormously increased costs of materials in recent months and our greater number of participants. £550 will be for materials, and £50 for awareness-raising and hand-outs.

Our project aims to save an at-risk collection of documents donated to Kilwinning Heritage from the former Hugh King & Sons solicitor's office on Howgate. The building was also formerly a bank, and the collection contains around 20,000 documents from the bank and solicitors offices. The documents have been very poorly kept and require intensive cleaning to save them and record any information we can gather. We will clean and record these archive documents which will be available for future research into the people of Kilwinning.

The project will be led by a team of volunteers and will be trained by staff from Ayrshire Archives on how to safely and accurately clean and record these documents. The volunteers will benefit from the project on a personal level as there is a good cohesion in our volunteer team and any new volunteers will be welcomed. Some of our volunteers benefit from the project as it gets them out the house and taking part in an activity which is very beneficial for them due to the relaxing nature of the project and repetitiveness of the tasks. This reduces their risk of social isolation and increases their skills by getting training and brings people together.

Building community spirit is also a key part of the project as the information gathered from the archive could provide a new insight to the history of Kilwinning and some of the unique individuals who once lived in the town. We intend to make the archive available for any future members of Kilwinning Heritage and the public where appropriate to inform research and future projects involving the history of the town. We hope that all the volunteers involved in the project will work collaboratively and we will provide social opportunities for them to network and make new friends/ develop relationships in the community.

Breakdown of costs;

£250 - scan tent  £300 - archive boxes £400 - mobile phone for scanning £50 - external hard drive 

To book the mobile cinema for one session - £250

Purchase of food for a meal for 120 individuals  at £3.50 per head - £420

Snacks for during the film for 120 at £1.50 per head - £180

Selections boxes for  children - £150

We love to give our girls great opportunities and experiences. the money will go towards our annual sleepover, crafts, our christmas trip and a science evening provided by silly science..

Sleepover - £300 Christmas trip - £300 Silly Science - £200 Crafts - £200