Our ambition is to grow community participation in club swimming to 200+ which represents 1.3% of West Dunbartonshire’s child population.

This application is to support the training of our parent volunteers. This will lead to a reduction of costs and support growth of club swimming in our community

Increasing participation in club swimming can improve the quality of life of individuals and our community. It 100% promotes social inclusion as it improves health, & raises individual self-esteem and confidence that will generally widen the horizons of West Dunbartonshire’s young people.

In conjunction with other factors, swimming has the potential to contribute positively to society in general, such as reduce the risk of ill-health: physical & mental. The skills obtained by joining our swim club can help develop our young people’s independence and self-sufficiency. Our swim club activities also provide a social space where children can interact. This, in turn, decreases the risk of social isolation. We know that being active brings about positive changes beyond participation and can impact positively on young people in our community - being better connected and socially cohesive. WDASC uses swimming as a tool, to address wider individual and community needs such as social isolation and loneliness. The power of swimming and physical activity has the potential to bring about positive, often interrelated changes and its impact cannot be underestimated within our communities.

We know being active has a positive impact on mental health, including: improving mood, increasing self-esteem, lowers the risk of depression, improves sleep and reduces stress. Swimming has helped to reduce the symptoms of anxiety or depression for 1.4 million adults in Britain. Almost half a million British adults with mental health problems have stated swimming has helped to reduce the number of visits to a medical professional regarding their mental health.

The average training time of our young swimmers is approx. 3 hours of physical activity per week. The health benefits of swimming are ell known. The NHS recommend a minimum of 60 mins vigorous physical activity per week for our young people. Sadly, outside of football, gymnastics & dance schools, there are limitations for children in West Dunbartonshire to participate in such activity. It is our clubs goal to reach to as many of our young people as possible. It’s one of the few activities that attract both boys & girls

Total cost: £2750. Amount applied for is £2,500 with the remainder to be covered by club fund raising.

Tutoring course run by Scottish Swimming is £1,250. 3 x Parents trained to Level 2 accreditation is £500 x 3

The five day trips for 2025 will be as follows:

4th August - Clyde Valley Farm - £1,729.00

5th August - Blair Drummond Safari Park - £1,942.08

6th August - Kay park - Entry is free of charge

7th August - Heads of Ayr Farm Park - £1,548.00

8th August - M&D's Theme Park - £2656.00

The trip is priced based on 112 kids from P4-P7 from the three schools above and 28 adult volunteers. We require a registration area for each morning and evening for parents to drop and collect children, normally Dumbarton Academy, which was priced at £423.48 in 2024 but this also included the hire for Knoxland Primary on the first day as we had an activity day in the school last year rather than a day trip, but have changed that this year.

We also require buses each day travelling to and from the venues which cost £3,460 for four days in 2024 as we did not require buses on the first day due to the activities being local, so this price will increase in 2025.

Our Insurance to cover this was £223.79 in 2024 which I don't imagine will change much. We ask for a donation of £50.00 per child attending towards the cost.

It is a popular week and we always have a waiting list of kids who would like to attend but are unable to as 140 pax is our max capacity. 

Our project is to help anyone struggling with food poverty to be able to come in to Golden Friendships club and access either free freshly cooked meals or subsidised freshly coopked meals. We have projects ongoing throught the years that tackle social isolation where we bring people together with freshly cooked meals and some entertainment. We also host afternoons for families each month where we provide hot and cold drinks with hot and cold snacks. At the moment we are doing free freshly cooked meals October to end of March to help with the cost of living crisis.

What we would like to apply for funding for is new refrigeration. We are currently using domestic fridges and freezers and have been advised we should be using commercial items. 

3 x Fridge Foster Xtra 600l @1,803.75  Refrigeration  £5411.85

2 x Freezer Foster Xtra 600l @1803.75  Freezers        £3607.90

1 x Chest freezer 504l                             Freezer          £1679.98

1 x Hot plate Warmer                              Plate Warmer  £768.00

                                                              TOTAL COST    £ 11467.73

Last year we received funding for concrete raised beds. Following on from this to progress, we need a fresh supply of  2 tons of organic compost and 1 ton of organic Rocket Gro soil improver. We also need to treat the cast iron benches, and the shed. For ongoing harvests and events we need seeds and pots for people to trake away. Outreach visits to take groups into established community gardens to deliver educational workshops, e.g. Bellsmyre & Levengrove Park, along with the transportation of materials to events - promoting food production and empowering residents to grow organically. We also require suitable all-weather clothing and equipment for volunteers and hot drinks and food for them while they attend the garden.

The garden also offers a safe space for residents to access for a hot beverage and something to eat, addressing social isolation and promoting engagment through learning and activity.

Compost 2 x £190 = £380

Soil Improver 1 x £115

Benches and shed treatment - £200

Minibus hire and associated costs - £500

Food hygiene training 2 volunteers - £300

Outdoor stoves, fuel, mugs, folding chairs - 105

Waterproofs and protective clothing for volunteers - £600 

Access to tea, coffee, sandwiches for volunteers thoughout the year - £300

Total - £2500