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Ayr United Football Academy is a well-established Third Sector organisation in South Ayrshire, committed to improving health, wellbeing, and lifelong learning through football. Based primarily in Ayr North—one of the top 5% most deprived areas in Scotland—we deliver inclusive, community-led programmes that support people of all ages, from schoolchildren to older adults. With a dedicated team of over 100 staff and volunteers, we use the power of football to promote positive change and tackle deep-rooted social inequalities.

Our new Dementia Walking Football Programme is a community-based initiative offering tailored football sessions for individuals aged 50 and over who are living with dementia or related cognitive conditions. Building on our successful walking football provision, this programme directly responds to local community feedback calling for more dementia-friendly activities that support holistic wellbeing.Participants will attend two one-hour sessions per week, each followed by an informal social gathering with refreshments and occasional guest speakers. Sessions are designed to be inclusive, supportive, and enjoyable—providing a safe and welcoming environment for people to stay active, engaged, and connected.

Programme Objectives

• Enhancing physical health – improving mobility, cardiovascular fitness, and coordination in a way that is safe and adapted to participants’ needs

• Stimulating cognitive function – encouraging memory, focus, and decision-making through structured, enjoyable activity

• Fostering social interaction – reducing isolation and encouraging the building of friendships and support networks

• Promoting emotional wellbeing – providing participants with a sense of purpose, enjoyment, and belonging

Strategic Fit with UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) The Dementia Walking Football Programme strongly aligns with several key UKSPF investment priorities, particularly under the “Communities and Place” and “People and Skills” pillars:

✅ Health and Wellbeing This programme supports better health outcomes by promoting regular, adapted physical activity for older adults. It also aligns with the Scottish Government’s A Fairer Scotland for Older People strategy and South Ayrshire Health & Social Care Partnership’s Dementia Strategy.

✅ Social Inclusion and Reducing Inequalities The programme reaches a vulnerable and often overlooked group, providing accessible and inclusive support. By removing financial barriers, it directly addresses health and social inequalities and increases community participation.

✅ Pride in Place and Community Participation Using trusted local venues and engaging community volunteers, the programme fosters local pride, strengthens community ties, and increases opportunities for people to contribute meaningfully to civic life.

✅ Local Delivery, Local Benefit Firmly rooted in Ayr North and surrounding communities, the programme reflects the UKSPF’s commitment to place-based investment. It harnesses existing community assets—facilities, volunteers, and networks—to ensure sustainable, locally-driven impact. It also supports the South Ayrshire Council’s Local Place Plans and the strategic objectives of the Health & Social Care Partnership.

Conclusion The Charity's Dementia Walking Football Programme is about far more than football—it’s about dignity, connection, and supporting people to live well. The programme is a cost-effective, scalable, and compassionate response to a growing health and social care challenge. Through clear alignment with UKSPF priorities and a strong foundation of local delivery, it represents a strategic investment in healthier, more inclusive communities and provides a replicable model of best practice in dementia-friendly sport and wellbeing.

The purpose of Troon Men’s Shed is to provide recreational facilities and advance the social needs, health and well being of men of all ages and backgrounds living in Troon and surrounding areas.  

Troon Men’s Shed was established in April 2024 and has a growing membership with 75 members, and currently meet fornightly in a hired hall with guest speakers. Our members have volunteered to help out at community events in Troon at Wintertainment, Troon Round Table Fireworks and Santa Float, and we are currently assisting Ayrshire Cancer Support with practical DIY work in their new Ayr Centre.

Members benefit by meeting with other men in a safe environment, reducing their social isolation and providing mental stimulation, which also benefits their families. The acquisition of the Hosiery Park Pavilion will enable us to meet more regularly and undertake practical workshop activities which we are unable to do in a hired meeting hall. The establishment of workshop activities will enable men to utilise their practical skills, and to pass on their knowledge to others.

A Stage 1 Community Asset Transfer Request was submitted to South Ayrshire Council in November 2024, and the Stage 2 request is currently being prepared, with a target date to submit of 31 May 2025.

The Hosiery Park Pavilion building is in poor condition as it has been unused for several years, and once acquired would be repaired and converted into a suitable facility comprising of an activity workshop area where woodworking and other similar practical activities can be undertaken, and a separate multi-use social space.

This application is to support Vics In The Community with capital costs for our new Community Hub that is scheduled to open in June 2025. The application for funding would assist with costs to protect the building from anti social behaviour.

The new community hub located in North Ayr and will be the cornerstone of the community serving young people, adults and families. North Ayr is reconised as an area of deprivation and this facility will allow us to further enhance our support to the community and address challenges such as mental health and wellbeing, food insecurity and financial hardship.   

The Broadway Cinema is one of the greatest remaining examples of a small-town golden-age cinema in the country. Designed by renowned architect Alister Gladstone MacDonald, the Broadway opened on 29th April 1935 as Ayrshire’s new luxury super cinema. Seating 1,060 patrons, featuring a beautifully furnished tearoom, and with a full stage and dressing rooms for live performances, the Broadway thrived during the golden age of cinema and provided joy, respite, and vital charitable services for the community of Prestwick through the Second World War, and beyond to the 1960s.

The Broadway then began a slow transition to bingo, becoming a full-time bingo hall between 1966 and 1976, before a final attempt to bring back cinema ended on 20th November 1976. The building next became a leisure centre in 1981 with an amusement arcade to the front, and squash courts and fitness facilities to the rear, operating as Prestwick Leisure Centre until 2003, when the building would be sold to a private hospitality chain. Now in 2025, after 22 years of dereliction, the Broadway has entered community ownership for the first time with Friends of the Broadway Prestwick and celebrated its’ 90th anniversary with major milestones achieved in removing the squash courts and revealing the original cinema auditorium with a screen installed for the first time in almost half a century. Holding great significance for our community, the Broadway is fondly remembered by generations of local residents, with enormous support for the Friends of the Broadway project. Throughout every operational era of its history, the Broadway created a safe, warm, and comfortable space for its community. After decades away, we aim to restore those crucial services that the Broadway can provide for the people of Prestwick. Friends of the Broadway Prestwick want to operate the Broadway for and on behalf of the community for everyone. We want it to be a cinematic living room for the town. A socially inclusive community facility offering accessible, sustainable, and cultural opportunities for all of Prestwick’s citizens. The Broadway’s incredible surviving architecture and atmosphere will be beautifully restored to create an environment entirely unique and evocative of the golden age of cinema-going. Our original 1,000 capacity auditorium will return for cinema, and yet also theatre, music, comedy, conferences, and more. We will construct additional screens to the rear of the property for programming flexibility and additional rentable space for local groups. Our community hub at ground level as well as hosting our concessions and box office, will act as central hub for Main Street. A varied events programme will be complemented by local exhibits, heritage tours and presentations, and hireable meeting space. We aim to preserve not only the Broadway's history but the history of all cinemas across the country, in our nation's first ever Museum of Scottish Cinemas. Our heritage work will include extensive oral history projects, multiple interactive exhibits, and result in the first fully accredited museum in the town’s history. We will also incorporate Scottish Gaelic throughout the building, creating a leading culture and learning hub for the preservation of Gaelic in Ayrshire and Galloway and supporting South Ayrshire Council’s commitments to increasing awareness and usage of the language. In successfully bringing the Broadway into community ownership, we have undertaken additional responsibilities to care for our C-listed building and protect and preserve its current condition until our restoration work can begin. This includes core operating, utility, and maintenance costs that are crucial to our project’s sustainable development. We are now ready to commence Phase One of the building’s redevelopment, to deliver the re-opening of the Broadway in 2025. Phase One will restore the Broadway’s original auditorium to cinema use, with inaugural major events currently under development, and a new visitor experience created in the foyer with a pop-up museum and exhibit space that brings an immersive cultural learning environment.

To achieve this, additional health and safety works, facility upgrades, and accessibility improvements are necessary to grant public access and enable events and community use. We are asking for capital funding support from the Community Empowerment Fund to initiate essential safety works to the canopy at the Broadway’s front entrance to ensure safe public access to the building, improvements to a former toilet block in the Broadway’s auditorium to bring safe, accessible, and usable facilities necessary for events, and additional accessibility aids for the foyer including a ramp, secondary handrails, and signage, to ensure the Broadway becomes a fully accessible and navigable venue. Together, with additional health and safety measures we will implement with matched maintenance funding, we can deliver the re-opening of the Broadway with your support in 2025.