We are delighted to be welcoming more children's groups into the garden this year, including Tullos Primary children, Geronimo,and hopefully a group of local childminders and their young charges.  We want to enhance the garden to make it appealing to the children , part of these plans include replacing the old worn council fence with a wooden fence which will have marbles embedded in it to act as sun catchers.  The children would also have the opportunity to help paint and do pictures on the fence.

We also have our easter event coming up so would really appreciate some funding towards covering the costs of lunch, seeds, pots and childrens craft materials, ensuring that we can continue to provide all of this free of charge,  Finally we are excited to have a local artist come in, along with CIFINES HOPE team clients, and local volunteers, to paint a new nature themed mural to join the existing one on the depot wall.  To do this we need to buy a large amount of paint, brushes and paint trays.  We know that our visitors enjoy our existing mural, and hope that a new one can be enjoyed by all visitors ,regular and new,

JOG TORRY - keep on running! There is a proven link between fitness and both physical and mental health - which is why SAMH works in tandem with Jog Scotland to promote the couch to 5km programme in local communities. Our aim is to kickstart jogging in Torry with 2 blocks of coach-led sessions. The model is that from the 20 plus local participants, two will then go on to complete the Jog Scotland training so that they can then run the Torry group as volunteers. This will mean that Jog Torry will be self-sustaining. By having a community fitness celebration day this will encourage the wider community to get fit. It is envisaged that the fitness day will take place at St Fitticks Park and include a 5km round the park for the first couch to 5km course completers. The fitness day will also provide refreshments for the community and will host info stalls on various themes including community walking groups (paths for all), chair based aerobics, Sport Aberdeen’s offers and other fitness opportunities in the area. Local parents at Greyhope have already expressed an interest. Jog Scotland/SAMH are supporting this bid and will provide a letter of support. The Torry Health Matters group has identified this as one of its 4 core aims (adult fitness/mental health/diabetes prevention) and hence it is supportive of this bid. Sport Aberdeen is supporting the bid too.

We have a programme of three levels. All the schools start with the first level where we cover the essential and basics of first aid. We start with how to keep themselves safe, why we do first aid, calling for help, talking about how we can be the ones to help friends and family. Not only with people that we know but this can also be used in the wider community. We also cover asthma, choking, DRAB and recovery position. We have discussions, the children do group work, fill in booklets they can keep and hands on practice of DRAB and recovery position.

We plan to set up the centre ar least one morning a week to offer soup and a roll in a warm and friendly safe space with no cost to entry.  All our volunteers will have been trained in the rquirements of food hygiene (L2) legislation and will have PVG accreditation.  We will be building up a pool of volunteers and team leaders to ensure that we have a sustainable rota built in for ensuring local continuity once the project starts.  We will also be looking to collaborate with Lochside Academy and other community partners in the management and delivery of this project to assist young people gain experience in the running a model of a social enterprise community cafe with an offfer of friendship and hot soup and a roll, acommpanied by a welcome cuppie.  We will endeavour to source quality produce from CFINE, supermarkets and other suppliers at no cost wherever possible, and where needed we will seek external funding to support our operational costs.  We have also set aside a reserve within our business planning for operational costs to ensure we can achieve our charitable purposes and meet an un-met local need in Torry.

Kincorth is called the garden estate. Although the area has many green spaces the community doesn’t use this to its advantage, many of the areas are under developed or over grown particularly the trees. This project is about creating a safe and welcoming green spaces for the residents in the Gardner community. We want to take community action to develop the areas to provide green spaces that are used by all residents to socialise and enjoy nature. We want children to be able to feel safe and play in a positive clean environment. Our ideas include planting and growing flowers and cultivating vegetables using raised beds, seating for residents and equipment to support wildlife and biodiversity. We want to motivate people to take a personal pride in their area, clean encouraging owners to clean after their dogs.

The funding would help support with the costs associated with the Play schemes and September weekend to Craig Tara, therefore making it more affordable/low cost for the parents on a low income/single parent household.  This will also help with new resources for the children to play with while attending the junior clubs/toddler groups currently ran at the centre . 

The "Torry Clean & Green Initiative" is a transformative project aimed at revitalizing our beloved Torry Community through enhanced personal hygiene and environmental sanitation. With a focus on discouraging open-surface defecation and dog fouling, we will promote responsible dog ownership and foster clean, safe public spaces—parks, bus shelters, and open fields. Our partnership with Jesus House Torry will amplify our efforts, as we engage the community in meaningful activities that encourage gardening, green spaces, and aesthetic beautification.Through a series of engaging hygiene and sanitation roadshows at local schools, we will educate and inspire the younger generation, instilling lifelong habits of cleanliness and respect for our environment. By procuring essential resources such as litter and dog foul bins, cleaning tools, and publicizing our initiatives, we aim to create a cleaner, greener, and healthier Torry. Together, we can breathe fresher air, promote community well-being, and cultivate a vibrant neighborhood for all. Join us in making Torry a shining example of community pride and environmental stewardship!

To cover the costs of providing Christmas lights on the lamposts of Provost Watt Drive in Kincorth and to purchase beverages/snacks for our residents in the community to attend an event at Christmas to celebrate the switch-on of the lights. Over the years the Kincorth & Leggart Community Council have purchased Christmas Lights and now own a total of 18 individual lights. We would like to purchase a further 3 lights. The cost of one light is £195 and each lamppost must have a 16-amp socket installed on the lamppost to support the light at a cost of £85. We commission Scotia Animation Ltd to look after the lights on our behalf. This covers storage, maintenance, repair and erection of the lights at Christmas. Scotia also help KLCC with the submission of documentation to ACC for approval to instal the lights. The annual Invoice from Scotia for their services is approximately £1,500 depending on repairs etc. We spent £132 on beverages/snacks for the Christmas event which was held on 2nd December 2024 to celebrate last year’s lights switch-on. This event really brings the community together.  Including isolated people from all backgrounds

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We have been based in the Kincorth Community for over 30 years as an integral part of the community, previously we met in the church prior to its closure.  We then moved to KCC, initially we were not charged for meeting here as we were for the youth of the community.  However we have now been notified that we will be charged £30 a week due to their financial issues.  Due to the short notice of this change we have had to put up our fees from next term slightly.  As the group provides a safe girls only space for the members to be themselves, learn and develop.  Powered by volunteers the organisation aims to provide the girls, opportunities to laugh, learn and have fun within a creative space creating a wonderful world of adventure working together as individual as well as within groups.  As we meet in an area of deprivation we do not want to increase fees too much as this may cause girls to be unable to come due to parents not being able to afford as we would no longer be a low cost activity in relation to their income.  This would mean girls missing out on magic moments with their peers and creating a social gap.  We would also appreciate funding to buy some uniform to lend out so that girls whose parents struggle to afford the uniform, could borrow and have the same as the other girls in the group.

This project involves the creation of a children’s book about St Fittick’s Park to be distributed to schools, the library and children within Torry. The aim of the project is to engage local children in reading and connecting with nature and the outdoors,particularly in St Fittick’s Park. Writer and academic Orla Shortall (www.orlashortall.com) is currently working on a draft of the story called “Fern Fox and St Fitticks Friends”. The story follows the adventures of four animal friends: Fern the fox, Hannah the hedgehog, Dara the deer and Lucky the duck in St Fittick’s Park. We want to make the book engaging and appealing for children and we are applying for funding to work with a local artist to illustrate the book and local printers Peacock Visual Arts to produce copies for distribution. We will also workshop the story with local residents before its publication. The book includes dialogue in Doric, celebrating the North East’s unique linguistic heritage.There will be events organised around the book including a book launch in the St Fittick’s Park outdoor classroom with nature engagement activities for children and a writing workshop to encourage the children to write their own story about the park. The costs for this will be covered through existing funding for the outdoor classroom and volunteer time.