St Joseph’s Parent Council is a group of parent and carers who strive to support the local school in delivering their values, vision and aims. We have supported local members of the community in various ways by accessing funds to support physical activity, decrease isolation and decreasing health inequalities in the community. 

With any funding received the parent council would like to provide equipment for any group who would like to access the school facilities out with school operating times. There is a system in place for groups to ‘let’ the school out, but this funding would ensure that groups had access to health promoting and sporting equipment. This equipment would be based in the school to remove the barrier of storage for community groups. The equipment would be accessible to the groups to use to promote health and wellbeing via physical activity and healthy eating.

This project would be advertised as an opportunity for families to access a safe space whilst being active and healthy. This would be of particular use in the winter months when access to appropriate activity space is limited. This project would start in the 2024/25 school year.   

As we only have one Toilet Block at the Vale of Leven Football Club which doesn't have disabled access, a new disabled toilet will help us include disabled members, their familiy and the wider community who cannot currently attend events due to the lack of proper toilet facilities.

This project will help maintain their dignity, and allows the Football Club to be more inclusive for our community. We are also aiming to reach out to local care homes to allow their residents to come to The Millburn (our grounds) on match days. We want them to be able to watch the game, enjoy a free pie and bovril and feel part of their local community. 

Milton Village Community Group was formed in July 2022. Our initial activities related to the Village Hall which we are custodians of following the demise of the previous hall group. We now run community activities and events from the Hall and have been able to create a focus for village community life. Our activities have been very well received and well attended. The young people of the community designed and painted a mural within the hall during the October holidays and we feel that a sense of community ownership of the hall and the surrounding area is growing within the community. 

We completed the initial stage application for the Community and Renewable Energy Scheme through Local Energy Scotland. We were successful in this application which then allowed us to make a request for an Energy efficiency assessment. This is now completed and we have the evidence advising of the changes that would enhance the operation of the building and importantly cut the energy costs which are currently curtailing the use of the hall. More importantly it has been agreed in principle that we will receive 75% of the costs from the Government's SME Loan Scheme with the group required to support the remaining 25% of the costs, we will use the grant to cover these costs. 

The Hall which sits within King George V Field which is the only field in trust in West Dunbartonshire and is maintained by the Council on behalf of the Village. Our activities and the offer we make to the community is hampered by the energy inefficiency of the Hall. We cannot open as often as we would like in the winter months due to the cost of energy and heating the Hall. The work we are proposing will reduce the carbon footprint of the hall (in terms of energy) by up to 72% and reduce our energy costs by a similar amount.