Over 50 young people from across all 7 primaries on the island come together to participate on a Wednesday afternoon at a P5-P7 multi-sports club, where pupils participate in a variety of sports. It’s important for youngsters in smaller schools to engage with peers of a similar age, which is something that doesn’t always happen. This is a chance for youngsters to build relationships from different villages, which also prepares the young people for transition into secondary school.

There are a number of costs to make this possible –

Transport costs (taxi for pupils from further afield) - £500

Equipment (balls, bibs, cones, fun games) - £250

Our group seeks to help foster skills in 12-25 year olds by growing soft literacy and numeracy skills, as well as creative storytelling, critical thinking, social interaction, and brainstorming.

Our group compromises dedicated players and dungeon masters who share a common belief in the transformative power of tabletop role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons. Ranging from 12 to 25, we come together to create an inclusive and welcoming environment that fosters personal growth, social interaction, and skill development.

We operate out of the Ardeer Community Centre in Stevenston and meet up once a week to play through engaging scenarios that involve a lot of team work, brainstorming, and critical problem solving.

Our Objectives

• Enhancing Social Interaction: D&D is a collaborative game that promotes teamwork, communication, and empathy. Through role-playing and problem solving, participants learn to work together, respect diverse perspectives inspired from real world cultures across the globe, and building friendships that last outside of the game.
• Critical Thinking: Dungeons & Dragons is a game of strategy and decision making. Players face complex scenarios, forcing them to think critically, plan, and adapt to unexpected challenges. These skills are transferable to academic and other real-life situations.
• Soft Skills: D&D involves basic arithmetic, probability, and reading comprehension skills. By engaging in storytelling, participants improve their literacy, numeracy, and analytical abilities in a fun and engaging manner.

We believe that through these three objectives, we are able to give people a creative space and a voice for youth to grow socially, intellectually, and emotionally.

The need for funding

To continue our mission effectively, we require funding to acquire more rulebooks, modules, and supplementary materials. These resources will allow us to:

• Expand our reach: With additional materials, we can accommodate more participants, reaching youth who may not have access to such opportunities otherwise.
• Customise Experiences: D&D is versatile, and having a diverse collection of books enables us to tailor our sessions to the specific interests and needs of our participants, making learning more engaging and relevant.

The impact of this funding goes beyond the gaming table, as it helps participants develop critical life skills, gain confidence, and foster a love for learning. Lessons learned in our D&D sessions positively influence the academic and personal success of our participants.

Pricing Breakdown

• Supplement books: £400 (approx) to get 10 additional source books
• Tabletop 3D models: £150 (approx) to acquire 6 custom figures for our current players, and £100 to purchase a plethora of more generic models to give to future players.

AYF provides lunchtime drop-in at the high school & weekly clubs. These include lacrosse, music jam, guitar tuition, art psychotherapy, girls football, P7 club & youth club. We also provide activities in school holidays including go-karting, paintball, Flip Out, Alton Towers. Funding would support this & ensure our activities remain free to young people. As young people involvement is such a key part of AYF, young people engaged in the project will have a say on how funds would be spent, but costs might include c. £500 on equipment (new Xbox/Switch/Playstation games, board/card games, lacrosse gear, etc) and c. £500 on activities (trips to football matches, cooking ingredients, hall/astro hire for Friday nights etc)

6 wooden tresele tables cost = £101.94 each Total £611.64 for all youths in the group to do arts and crafts and cooking in the scout hall and any other activities like parties and board games

2 x6 man tents for wild camping for the Cubs Scouts Explores to sample wild camping outsway Tipi £116.99 each Total £233.98

4 x Portable Gas Burners for kids to learn to cook in the scout hall ready for camping in the wild cost £22.93 Total £91.72 includes gas

6 x wooden chopping Boards for cooking in scout hall and wild camping cost £10.93 each Total  £65.58

All kids in the group can learn new skills and have fun doing it safely with the items requested above 

52nd Ayrshire are organising a group camp for all our young people (both male and female) who attend all three of our scout sections - 50 young people plus 

The camp will take place in June 2024  from a Friday afternoon to late Sunday afternoon

During this time the group will participate in indoor and outdoor activities . Some young people will camp outdoors while others will stay inside in dormitories or hobbit huts

The activities included are:

• Caving
• Archery
• Low ropes
• Orienteering/geocaching
• Indoor curling
• Giant board games
• Crafts
• Backwoods cooking
• Den building
• Late night Hike and Camp Fire

During camp we will provide everyone with three 2 course hot nutritious meals as well as snacks including fruit and hot and cold drinks through the day

• The girls are beginning to represent their community at wider events and we would like a unit flag which costs £91 for these events.
• The current hall cost is £88 a year 
• End-of-year badge cost per girl £20
• Craft budget £150

We would also like to seek funding to organise a camping trip for the girls. Due to the small nature of the group, we have not had the funding opportunity to arrange an end-of-year trip. The cost per girl would be £50, this would be a total cost of £600 to stay at the Blair activity centre with 3 leaders. This is the minimum cost as we would need funding for food £150, resources £200 and badges £30. 

We are asking for £1,000 to help cover the costs of our budget for our small local unit to the end of the year.