Peter Boyle Bowling Club want to play a part in addressing social isolation and loneliness and foster healthy, safe and inclusive communities within South Ayrshire. We want residents to come along to the club throughout the year and enjoy various activities, socialise and improve their health and wellbeing. In order to do that we want to have one of the best bowling clubs in Ayr. By addressing these areas we aim to attract residents in local communities, family and friends to the club. This in turn will encourage others to book parties, which is our lifeline as the membership fees alone do not cover the green maintenance costs.

In relation to the bowling green, we would like to put in artificial banking and purchase a sorrel roller for aerating the green. The roller provides a good drainage and is good way to get nutrients, water and air into roots for healthier grass. It is also less disruptive to the surface and carried out on a timelier basis.

At the side of the clubhouse, we have a new seating area outside for bowlers, social members and visitors to enjoy. We also chipped the seating area. This was all made possible due to the grant funding we received last year. However, there is still a large area that requires to be chipped. This would make the surrounding area aesthetically pleasing and will future proof the area, should we wish to extend the seating area in the future

In relation to the clubhouse, we recently painted the inside and replaced the bench seating thanks to the previous grant. However, the tables and chairs are over 30 year old and are in urgent need of replacement. This will make the function room more welcoming to members and visitors alike. The benefit being more functions and income generation to assist with every day running costs of the club. The dance floor also needs re-buffing and varnished as like the tables and chairs it is looking very tired and is in need of improvement. It has not been re-buffed since the floor went down over 30 years ago. We recently purchased speakers so that we can host our own entertainment but we need a laptop. This would mean we can host our own entertainment, thus reducing entertainment costs.

We are seeking funding to develop our community resilience project in order to ensure community safety in the event of poor/extreme weather. We have a very rural, sporadic and isolated ‘greying’ population, with a large 32.7% aged 65+; much greater than the national average of 20.1%. Furthermore, 8.6% of our community aged 55+ live alone (Census 2024) and we are aware that we have a large number of elderly and vulnerable residents.

We are fortunate to have achieved the community asset transfer of the former Pinwherry Primary School in April 2021 and we have since secured the capital funding to refurbish it into our community centre, which opened in June 2024. It is fast becoming the community hub our residents had asked for and provides a much needed resource for our community, which has no other indoor public facilities – no shop, café, pub, restaurant, library etc. However, after the recent bout of storms and severe weather we have quickly learned that we are not fully equipped to deal with power cuts. We want to increase our community resilience by providing power and a warm space in the community centre, plus provide torches, hot food and drinks for the community, including housebound residents who cannot be moved to the community centre.

We are seeking funding for a generator to power The Auld School Community Centre, plus torches, table lamps, phone charging station, long life batteries, large flasks, gas stoves and gas canisters to make the community more resilient to power cuts. and We are also requesting printing and postage costs to print and distribute two editions of our community newsletter to ensure that we maintain direct contact with every household and communicate our new community resilience project. In this way we will be able to reach out to those who do not have internet access, or are housebound. These individuals are also usually the most isolated and vulnerable. This communication stream will also hopefully increase our number of community resilience volunteers and further strengthen our project, negating the need for additional local authority resources in times of high demand.

funding for winter training

n/a