14 Projects Funded
Browse all the community projects we've supported. Each one represents your contribution to making Helensburgh better.
Helensburgh Winter Festival
Helensburgh Winter Festival
The Helensburgh Winter Festival is a free inclusive event, designed to bring local residents together during the winter months, a time when opportunities for social connection can be limited. The Festival will celebrate community spirit and local culture through live music and performances, local food stalls, incorporating the Helensburgh Heart Santa Dash, creating a welcome atmosphere for people of all ages.
Supporting 8,000 beneficiaries
MenCareToo – Male Carers Monthly Support & Respite Programme (April 2026–April 2027)
Helensburgh & Lomond Carers SCIO
The MenCareToo project has grown significantly since launching in October 2023. We actively advertise, engage with, and identify male unpaid carers across Helensburgh and Lomond, supporting those who are traditionally reluctant to seek help. Through this targeted outreach, the group now has 15 regular members who attend monthly support and activity based sessions and continues to grow. Men often experience stigma when undertaking caring roles, as caring is still commonly viewed as a female responsibility. This can make it difficult for men to acknowledge stress or seek support. MenCareToo provides a safe, non judgemental, activity centred space where men can connect naturally and talk more openly. By embedding conversation within shared activities, the programme reduces stigma and increases comfort in accessing support. Since 2023, members have built strong peer relationships. They now spend time together outside the group, check in on each other during difficult periods, and offer ongoing support and genuine friendships. This strengthens wellbeing and reduces isolation. Each monthly session includes a group chosen activity, opportunities for informal peer support, listening based emotional support from staff, food, refreshments, and travel where needed. Staff time and venue hire at Lomond House are provided in kind. A breakdown of activities can be provided. The programme also includes an overnight residential at the Glynhill Hotel in October. We have delivered a residential before and carers found it extremely beneficial for their wellbeing, confidence, and peer connection. For this reason, October includes two sessions: the planned Halloween event and the Glynhill residential.
Supporting 15 beneficiaries
Castle Wood
Helensburgh Community Woodlands Group
We purchased Castle Wood (between lomond school gym and ardencaple quadrant) with overwhelming public support. We have addressed tree safety and flooding issues affecting local residents. We hold regular volunteering days for people to maintain and improve the wood, such as cutting and removal of invasive laurel and rhododendron. We need funds to pay for chipping and disposal of the cuttings, and we would like to rent motorised barrows and associated equipment to help remove the cut laurel over the soft ground. We also need funds to help us pay for the 3-yearly tree safety inspection and remedial action work (due in august this year).
Supporting 300 beneficiaries
Baby Bistro Babywearing
Baby Bistro
At Baby Bistro, we currently support pregnant and postpartum women and their families with free, qualified breastfeeding support. I, Eimear, the Chairperson, have been volunteering as a Breastfeeding Counsellor and Certified Breastfeeding Specialist for 6 years now and have completed internationally recognised certification. I believe that families need free-to-access support, a safe space to discuss their antenatal and postnatal experiences, and a place to meet other mothers and families and connect. We know that the UK has some of the lowest rates of breastfeeding in the world, and I am passionate about supporting mothers who want to breastfeed in their journey to do so. We also welcome mothers and families who formula feed and need support or guidance as mothers formula feeding generally do not receive a huge amount of support other, and often struggle with issues any feeding parent has around colic, reflux, sleep deprivation. At Baby Bistro, everyone is welcome and support is available for all. What we now hope to do is to expand our support. Myself and our Secretary, Elin, would like to undertake formal, recognised training to become Babywearing Consultants and offer free fourth trimester consultations to families. All families with a baby born in Scotland are entitled to a Baby Box, which contains a sling. However, there is only a sheet of paper with printed instructions inside and we have discovered over the last 14 months of Baby Bistro that many many families have been bringing their slings to us to ask if we can help them to use them. We are all aware of the incredibly heartbreaking stories in recent months of babies suffocating from incorrect babywearing and Elin and I feel very strongly that, as a country who offer slings to all families, we should be able to offer them safe, 1:1 support on how to wear the sling provided in our Government-issued box, but also support with the many other slings and carriers that parents buy or are gifted.
Supporting 100 beneficiaries
Helensburgh Community Garden
James Street Helensburgh Community Garden
The paths of the maze in the garden have been worn by constant use. These paths are now slippery and constitute a possible to the children playing in the maze. We plan to encircle the outer circumference with special roll-topped metal edging then infill the whole maze with wood chips.
Supporting 100 beneficiaries
Investment in Uniforms and instruments for juvenile and adult learners joining the band
Helensburgh Clan Colquhoun Pipe Band
We are a long established local charity based in Helensburgh with members across Lomond and Clyde area for the last 2 years we have played at the Helensburgh November Fireworks display but not charged an appearance fee. Instead we are applying for some modest funding towards the supply of uniforms and instruments. The money will go directly towards buying kilts, sporrans etc as well drum skins, bagpipe reeds and other sundries for learners joining the band. We receive some annual support from our sponsor the Colquhouns of Luss but the majority of our costs are recovered through appearance fees at local events. We also play regularly in the town through the summer to entertain the people of Helensburgh and visitors
Supporting 24 beneficiaries
Winter Food Support 2024
Helensburgh and Lomond Foodbank
Following our Santa Dash in December 2024, HEART donated £1,000 directly to Helensburgh and Lomond Foodbank to support local families during the winter period. The Santa Dash brings our community together each year, and we feel it is only right that the proceeds go towards helping those who need it most during the colder months. By donating in early December, we ensured the foodbank had additional resources in time for Christmas and the winter ahead, when demand for their services is at its highest.
Supporting 500 beneficiaries
Winter Food Support 2025
Helensburgh and Lomond Foodbank
For the second year running, HEART donated £1,000 to Helensburgh and Lomond Foodbank from the proceeds of our Santa Dash in December 2025. Our Santa Dash has become a much-loved community tradition, and we are proud that the funds raised go directly towards supporting local people when they need it most. Donating in early December means the foodbank can plan ahead and ensure families across Helensburgh and Lomond have access to essential food supplies throughout Christmas and the winter months.
Supporting 500 beneficiaries
Replacement Urns
RNLI Helensburgh Branch
Require 2 new manual-fill 10-15L water boilers to replace the current two that have broken. Used for charity fundraising (coffee mornings, New Year Swim) and also lent to HEART for the hot chocolate stand at fireworks. HEART to purchase these directly and donate them in kind rather than awarding a cash grant.
Supporting 1,000 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
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.
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.
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.
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
Supporting 250 beneficiaries
Have a Project That Needs Funding?
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