The WW2 Dunkirk little ship, the Skylark IX’s story of hope and resilience is what inspires all of our Community Engagement activity, alongside the people we work with. Weekly, five adults in recovery and one retired community member participate in our boatbuilding programme based in the Denny Tank Museum, Dumbarton.  We also have 14 members of the community who engage weekly in our textile group based in the Lennox Evangelical Church. Over the past few years we have continued to engage with young people in schools and local community centres, as well as running our own youth sessions outside, locally, all around West Dunbartonshire.  Our regular Community Engagement activities helps to reduce social isolation, and creates opportunities for skills building in a meaningful, inclusive, therapeutic and collaborative way, developing our Skylark IX Crew Culture, which makes everyone involved feel a part of something for their collective or individual goals and aspirations.   We intend to have Skylark IX Rowing School Summer sessions running twice weekly for 6 weeks through July and August 2023, specifically targeting young people ranging from ages 12-25. These sessions will be based out at Balloch on Loch Lomond and the River Leven at our base by the Maid of the Loch. We will utilise funding to bring in support and expertise from partnering organisations such as Royal West Amateur Rowing Club, alongside our own team of trained volunteers from our current programmes/rowing school members and employ a sessional youth worker to support the logistics and operational support of the project engaging with the young people too.  We will purchase any necessary extra water safety equipment (i.e. life jackets) and buy materials for our boatbuilders to produce smaller oars. We will also utilise a bit of contingency for any other potential amendments to our wooden boats or adjustments that may need to be resolved in the workshop, to ensure our boats are fully accessible for any young person wishing to be participate. This will be a free activity for young people, where they will be supported with safe travel where required, to and from our sessions, and we will help tackle holiday hunger by providing ample amounts of healthy breakfasts, lunches, water and snacks for all involved.  We will also purchase Crew T-shirts and beanies to gift to the young people involved, to evoke further becoming part of "The Skylark IX Crew".

In this club 8-16 year olds will learn in a fun space filled with cutting edge technology. Sometimes they will be working with visiting experts.  We’ll be offering youngsters in the area chance to learn new and exciting tech skills. We’re keen to start up a 3D printing club - but with much more to it. 8-16 yr olds in West Dunbartonshire will benefit from this project.

Working in schools, colleges and other organisations we work alongside young people the Autistic Spectrum who may not fit the We aren’t school, we aren’t church, we are somewhere in between.  We can help individuals, parents and those who work and live around folk on the Spectrum and if we can’t help we will point people in the direction of those that can. We will use the funding for Developing and paying for our website so people can access help and ideas, travel, equipment and getting this activity of the ground properly. This will benefit Individuals and their parents, as well as organisations such as schools, Churches and all those working with folk on the Spectrum.  Examples of our work can be found on our website.

Ben View Resource Centre is a charity based in Dumbarton. A weekly group for young people aged 8-15, providing a variety of sports and physical exercise. We will also be educating young people on the importance of physical movement for mental health. We will be offering a variety in the hope that each young person finds a sport which they enjoy and will continue out with the group. 

St Marys Primary School, Clydebank, G81 6DL. We, The Parent Council, are made up of 4 core elected members however parents/carers and automatically invited when their child is enroled in the school. We aim to raise funds to help enrich the childrens learning.We would improve one of our playgrounds which is delapitated and has a lack of resources to benefit the childrens social, emotional and physical well-being. Approx. 400 children in the school and attatched nursery will be able benefit from the improvements.

We run our Scout activities from the Scout Hall, Old Kilpatrick. We currently have 82 members within the group.The weekly meetings are structured to allow time for play and learning new skills through organised and approved badge work. If we were successful in our application, we would like to replace the current Xpelair fan heaters with a Mitsubishi Heavy Industry 10KW R32 multi-split air conditioner unit. This unit uses lower GWP refrigerant. Therefore, this new unit would substantially reduce our energy consumption, provide a cleaner air source as well as cutting our carbon footprint. In addition to the use by the whole of the Scout Group the facility is also used by other community groups including, a local theatre group, toddler's music group and a ballroom dancing group.

Dumbarton Shoto Budo is based out of the Concord Community Centre in Dumbarton. At present our group consists of approximately 30 members made up of people aged between 5 and 62. Our primary focus is Self-Defence and all of our sessions are developed around this. This funding will be used to cover the cost of renting the hall and our participants memberships and insurances which at present is our biggest expenditure.

The group is based in Concord CE Centre and has approx. 70-80 members. The group is based in Concord CE Centre and has approx. 70-80 members. The money will be used for the running of the group. Volunteer training, food for the pantry, expenses, activities, uniforms and team building activities.

We are based in Dalmuir at Golden friendships club. We have 500 + members. Our weekly activities include Arts and crafts, Drama, karaoke, Dinner clubs, Bingo clubs, Entertainment, Dancing, Singing. We also have a campaign tackling loneliness and are currently planning outdoor activities and bus trips. Gardening is one of our newest activities.We will use the money to make our new gardening plot accessible. For all. We want to make it wheelchair friendly put in raised bed and other necessary requirements to make gardening available to all. The funds will benefit the members and we will also use some of the money towards our outdoor activities where we will need to travel. 

Our Social Group brings together autistic people (aged 18-35) from across West Dunbartonshire. The group reduces social isolation among autistic people living locally, and supports them to become more active in the community. Our Social Group is run by a specialist support worker and 3 volunteers. The grant would cover the costs of the staff involved, plus a range of social group activities. This will benefit up to 15 autistic people aged between 18 – 35 years who live in West Dunbartonshire.