18 Projects Funded

London Musical Theatre Trip June 2025

Hermitage Academy

Educational trip (23-26 June 2025) taking 35 pupils to London for various West End musicals, workshops, and sightseeing. Specifically seeking support so two vulnerable pupils can attend despite extreme home circumstances/financial difficulties. Both pupils are heavily involved in Music/Drama.

£1,040

Supporting 2 beneficiaries

Canoe training in Luss

Kirkmichael Community Development Group

Two evening canoeing sessions in June 2025 for 7 youngsters and 1 adult from Kirkmichael, delivered by Paddlepower and Adventure in Helensburgh. Provides a new experience for participants who may not otherwise access water sports.

£520

Supporting 14 beneficiaries

Elderly

Club Summer Outing, June 2025

Helensburgh & District Chest, Heart and Stroke Club

Established 33 years ago, run by volunteers, self-funded for people who have had strokes or heart/lung conditions. Aims to reduce isolation and build confidence. The requested funding covers an annual group outing (Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre in Glasgow + lunch at IKEA). Total cost: ~£495.

£495

Supporting 25 beneficiaries

Development of outdoor infant playground

St Joseph's Primary School

Improve the outdoor space for Primary 1 children (and eventually the whole school) by adding mud kitchens, picnic tables, and a seating/teaching area. School is in an area of deprivation; fundraising is slow. Seeking £1,000 to help accelerate the project.

Supporting 200 beneficiaries

Sports

Junior Coaches Kit Replacement

Helensburgh Amateur Athletic Club

HAAC seeks to replace kit for 12 volunteer coaches who train children ages 9-16. The club tries to keep membership fees low and has limited revenue from races. Total kit cost ~£1,500.

£750

Supporting 100 beneficiaries

Contraflow

Contraflow Youth Project

Christian Youth Project in Helensburgh running school holiday clubs (Easter Code, Christmas Unwrapped, Seaside Special) aimed at P7s and broader local youth. Plans to introduce an eco-friendly approach and a breakfast club to reduce stigma for families struggling with food insecurity. Seeking £1,000 to maintain or enhance these activities.

Supporting 450 beneficiaries

Health

Your Space

Helensburgh & Lomond Carers SCIO

Provides 12-week blocks of Tai Chi, Yoga, and gym sessions for unpaid adult carers. Prior support from Shared Care Scotland ended; the group seeks continuing funding to run these health/wellbeing classes. This benefits ~92 people (in total across the blocks). The group also invests in local venues/businesses for these sessions.

£1,190

Supporting 92 beneficiaries

'Our Hometown'

Helensburgh and District Branch of Enable

The Helensburgh and District Branch of Enable is a community based club for adults with learning disabilities. The club aims to reduce social isolation and loneliness by providing opportunities for people to connect with each other and build trusted relationships in a safe and supportive environment. The sessions also provide 4 hours respite per week for families and carers in Helensburgh and surrounding areas. A lot of these members are vulnerable and isolated in the community as well as living in poor socioeconomic circumstances. The proposals below would promote more integration in the town; build and enhance relationships; whilst at the same time support small businesses. The club is run by volunteers who organise a range of activities on a twice weekly basis. The activities include crafts, music, games nights, keep fit etc. members also enjoy input from visiting groups and individuals such as music and sports groups. We would like to expand the range of activities we can offer our members whilst working with local small businesses. We have had some input over the years from small businesses but accept that we require funding to offset costs. Suggestions include: • Crafts - Pitter Patter Potter • Healthy Eating Plates - Nature's Harvest • Pamper/Grooming sessions - Various local businesses • Fabric crafts - Fabric and Finery (specifically safe draught excluders to follow on from our Warm Home Scotland session) In addition to this we would like to support our members to enjoy other activities and events in the town. These include: • Cultural events at Victoria Halls • Visit to Hillhouse/Geilston Gardens (we can access this free but require transport) • Meals out at local establishments • Cinema visits (When Tower Cinema reopens) • Attendance at local events such as The Winter Festival and Fireworks night The above activities require funding for transport and services. Any monies awarded would allow us to continue to enhance the lives of the members of Helensburgh and District Branch of Enable.

Supporting 49 beneficiaries

Session leaders tablets

Fun First

Fun First was founded over 20 years ago and during that time, has been a consistent 'go to' organisation for local parents of children aged 0 to 5. Our service operates around 37 weeks each year typically in line with the school year delivering a range of sessions each week from various community venues. Some of our venues are in the heart of the Helensburgh community and others based in settings slightly further afield to reach rural families who find travel into Helensburgh a challenge. We also operate a number of sessions during school holidays and special events. We aim to not only provide fun sessions for children aiding the development of communication and motor skills, but encourage adult life skills and social connections. Our sessions are donation only; we believe that all children should have the best start in life, not just those who can afford it. We have on average 150 Helensburgh families using our service each year. We recently surveyed our families and 96% of adults said that Fun First was important to help maintain/improve their mental health and well-being. 98% of our families said that their children benefit from attending Fun First sessions for social, emotional, physical or language development. 40% of our families reported that due to the cost of living crisis, they cannot access children's classes and services that charge. It is therefore vital that Fun First continues in our community for these families, especially as there are sessions every day of the week. We would like to buy 6 Chromebooks for session leaders to use for sessions. We register all Fun First families at their first session and at each session a register is taken. At present this is all done on paper and inputted by our service coordinator. Not only is this not cost efficient as our service coordinator is paid hourly, but also is not the most environmentally friendly due to all the paper and printing (as well as associated costs). We will also use them to get feedback to help shape our sessions and ensure we are meeting the needs of our service users. The landscape of funding applications is increasingly competitive and we need to ensure that we are getting regular and up to date data to improve our chances of being awarded funding. Our service users are busy parents and carers, who need fast and efficient ways of responding. We feel that a tablet at sessions will significantly help us to achieve this aim, as well as allow session leaders to take photos for evidence and promotion.

£1,200

Supporting 500 beneficiaries

Elderly

Helensburgh Lunch Club Christmas lunch and replacement of the lunch club freezer

The Helensburgh Lunch Club

A highlight of the calendar is the Club's Christmas lunch, provided free of charge to all members. Almost all members are widows or widowers, mostly living on their own, often isolated in the community, and very often unable to cook for themselves. About a quarter of members are over ninety years of age, and two members are registered blind. All members look forward to socialising at the club at lunchtimes, and especially look forward to the Christmas lunch. Members overwhelmingly rate the opportunity for socialising and 'getting out' as the most important aspects of the lunch club, highlighting both social and mental health benefits. Many directly reference how it 'combats isolation', 'combats loneliness' and say that 'people care about me here'. Expected Christmas lunch cost is £500. An additional part of this project is the need to replace the club's antiquated and failing freezer, important to the continued functioning of the club. Beko UFF4584W Frost Free Under Counter Freezer costing £260.

£760

Supporting 60 beneficiaries

Sports

Regeneration of Helensburgh Rugby Club Training Area and 3rd Playing Pitch with LED Floodlights

Helensburgh Cricket & Rugby Football Club

Helensburgh Rugby Club proposes the regeneration of its 3rd playing pitch and training area by installing new LED floodlights and upgrading existing ones which a majority of which are broken/not working. This initiative aims to improve energy efficiency and enable year-round training and matches, crucial during winter. The enhanced lighting will support the development of women's and girls' rugby teams, promoting inclusivity and diversity providing a better environment that is more welcoming and inclusive for adults, boys' and girls' training. Community groups will also benefit from improved evening access, with associated public health benefits. Aligned with Scottish Government priorities, the project will boost the local economy by improving access to community sports facilities and address the climate emergency through the introduction of energy-efficient lighting replacing inefficient sodium lighting with LED lights. The total project cost is estimated at £22,376, and we are seeking £3000 or a contribution. Key activities include: 1. Enabling Night-Time Grass Pitch Sport Facilities: Providing evening sports opportunities. 2. Expanding Sports Facilities: Opening access to community and local sports groups, and enhancing pathways from under 4s to adults, promoting health and well-being. 3. Promoting Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion: Ensuring the facility is inclusive. Project timeline: Due to the scale of the project, completion is dependent on funding, of which we have commenced the project in Aug 24, due to club fundraising of £1000 and a grant received by the Friends of Scottish Rugby £2000. The project allows for an extended timeframe pending funding and we are able to complete the project in stages.

£2,250

Supporting 1,000 beneficiaries

Arts

Save the Tower

The Venue @ St Columba ltd

The Tower Cinema was in operation from 2014 - 2023 as a cinema and arts venue. It has been widely used by Helensburgh and surrounding area residents over the years. We now hope to purchase part of the building for the community and are in the process of completing stage 2 of our Scottish Land Fund application. Once we have secured the purchase of the building we intend to re-establish the provision of cinema for the community, showing latest releases, film festivals and live theatre streaming. We will also provide live performance in the main auditorium, including bands, theatre and talks. We plan to have a community enrichment programme focussing on the many groups that are routinely excluded and marginalised from cinema and arts entertainment. Helensburgh has a wealth of voluntary organisations that support such groups and we will partner with them. We feel very strongly that in providing a location for the community to experience live cinema and events, we save many hundred of journeys to facilities in Glasgow and beyond. This in turn will bring people to Helensburgh that will spend in other businesses in the town. We are looking to host a live event with a high quality band that would have wide appeal. The typical cost of this ranges from £1,500 - £2000. The McCommitments (the commitments tribute) is an example of the standard we would be looking to book. If successful with our grant from Heart we would hope that this fundraising event would generate between £3k - £3,500 for our project.

£1,500

Supporting 30,000 beneficiaries

Helensburgh Book Festival - a weekend of wellbeing through books and reading

Helensburgh Community Hub

Helensburgh Book Festival was born out of conversations between book groups and volunteers from Helensburgh Community Hub's Book Nook, Jean's Bothy mental health hub and Helensburgh and Lomond Carers Centre. We all recognised the benefits to our health and wellbeing from reading so we wanted to find ways to share our love of books and to encourage more people to read for pleasure. There is a wealth of research showing the importance of reading for pleasure: - A Yale University study found people who read for 30 minutes a day lived on average 23 months longer than those who did not - Reading is as important in terms of children's life chances as their parents' socio-economic status (OECD) - Children who read for pleasure are three times more likely to have better mental health than those who don't (National Literacy Trust) Our event is a community-focused book festival that's inclusive and accessible so that people can come together over books. Connecting our community is at the heart of the book festival, which is why the events also involve time for a chat over a cuppa and cake or glass of wine. More than 400 people of all ages were involved in this year's festival weekend and we are planning an increased number of events including school events and one in the fantastic setting of the drawing room of Hill House. Our ethos of community and inclusivity means that we offer the majority of events at low or no cost. To improve our accessibility, this year we want to also offer those who do not feel able to attend in person the opportunity to be involved by recording several of the sessions. We try to curate a mixture of topics from nature to crime to interest different people and ages, and we have both bigger sessions to allow more people to attend and smaller workshops that are more comfortable for some. We also support local writers through hosting pitching sessions and showcasing the work of the Jean's Bothy writing group among other local writers.

£500

Supporting 400 beneficiaries

JLBTV100

Baird TV Centenary Trust

JLBTV100 is a programme of events commencing in September 2025 and running to May 2026 to celebrate the centenary of the invention of television by John Logie Baird. The programme aims to be as inclusive as possible with as many Helensburgh community organisations as possible (including HEART) participating in the programme of events culminating in a week long festival at the end of April 2026, to tie in with the cherry blossom on West Argyle Street, where JLB was born. The theme of the celebration is 100 years of television, invention and innovation. The programme will include a STEM programme with schools in partnership with the Royal Navy STEM team, concerts and art, theatre, projections, an exhibition, animation and film making projects and a host of other things. The Steering Group takes the view that if local organisations do what they normally do but adopt the themes mentioned above for their activities and events the overall festival programme will be successful and reach all corners of the community. We will be submitting some large funding bids and will shortly be sending out a call for costed project ideas to include in the overall bids to the Lottery Fund etc. The celebration of JLB and 100 Years of television in his home town will benefit all residents and be an attraction for visitors. We hope the legacy for our young people will be that they will go out into the world knowing that even though they come from a small town they too can change the world. We want this to be an event enjoyed by everyone in the community of all ages and abilities and it will engender community cohesion, partnership working, broad participation and pride in the town, as well as be enjoyable and helping to promote Helensburgh for the special place it is. JLB is our most famous son and on the centenary of the invention of television, an invention that changed the world, it is important that Helensburgh celebrates him, his invention and the town itself.

£400

Supporting 20,000 beneficiaries

Helensburgh Christmas Lights

Helensburgh Festive Lighting Charitable Trust

Helensburgh's Christmas lights spectacle consists of 140 features on lampposts, two overstreet features, a magnificent thirty foot tree in the square along with sixteen living trees lit with fairy lights and a very popular 'heritage' crib. The lights are switched on 23rd November and stay on until the second week in January. The sixteen trees in the square remain lit until the end of March. This display benefits residents, visitors, businesses in fact anyone who comes into Helensburgh town centre in the darkest of winter months. The display is the envy of many small towns and is known as 'The Best in the West'. It gives the town a tremendous economic boost and creates a sense of community and feel good factor for all our residents who can enjoy being part of a successful project totally run and financed by voluntary input. We want to keep repeating sense of well being for the foreseeable future but it is becoming quite challenging to raise public donations because household budgets are tight. Our guiding principle is to provide Christmas lights for the town with a switch on event which is free to everyone, no child of any age should be denied seeing Santa and the lights because of lack of funds, so we continue to be ticket free with everyone welcome. The Switch On event is now self financing attracting over 9000 people last year. We just need to raise the annual funds needed for the lights installation such as cherry picker hire, insurance, fuel and associated costs. All our team are volunteers and donate thousands of man hours to the project over the year, for example meeting once a week to do repairs on the features.

£1,500

Supporting 50,000 beneficiaries

Supporting others

Helensburgh and Lochside Helping Others

The group supports struggling and vulnerable families, pensioners with winter warmer packs, Food, Toiletries, Household items, New tenancies, Baby starter packs, and at Christmas over 350 families with gifts and several families with meals, Now starting the toys and treats appeal. I cover all areas from Coulport to Dumbarton, Arrochar, Luss and in between 365 days a year. Helensburgh and Lochside Helping Others. Can be found on Facebook

£500

Supporting 250 beneficiaries

Elderly

KEEPING ACTIVE

Grey Matters Active Ageing

We run 3 fitness classes per week for older people, to improve strength and balance and reduce falls, slips and trips, to improve physical and mental health and also reducing loneliness and isolation. We hire trained professionals to facilitate these classes. Feedback from attendees is collated regularly and the groups have made a huge difference to the mobility and flexibility of members. One member reported that the classes helped her to recover from a hip operation another said its helped her to cope after a bereavement. Another has said the groups have given them a new outlook on life and they now have a circle of friends. (The Peer support in the group is wonderful) We have members with long term health conditions such as Parkinson's who attend the Tai Chi and they have reported many benefits too. Many people who attend are also Carers for a spouse and see these groups as 'Their Time' a chance to improve their health but also a chance to socialise and relax. We welcome self referrals and referrals from Health Professionals, family members and friends. We are a preventative measure and we see our groups and interventions reducing pressure on family and indeed the health services, that along with improving the life of the attendee we believe we make a huge impact our community. Our 3 groups including facilitation and hall hire would cost us around £5300 per year to run. We had applied to the Argyll and Bute Councils Supporting Community Fund Without any Success. We ask attendees for a small donation towards groups if they can afford it. Any funding we could get would be greatly appreciated and we are fully aware of all the wonderful causes in Helensburgh and Lomond that are equally worthy and needing funding.