Crieff ConneXions Cafe is a social space in Crieff Connexions where people can meet,  chat and find support from volunteers and staff. We will be open 3 times on the week providing a safe,  accessible and warm environment for people from across the community to meet.   A range of people in Crieff experience social isolation due to their family circumstances,  age or condition. The community cafe provides a low-cost place to meet others,  get support and access services.  We would like to step up from offering tea, coffee and biscuits to delivering a warm plate of soup to those who come along. With this added value will reach more people and provide them with nourishment.  We will be able to utilise some of the surplus vegetables and bread, which we collect, to make an impact on food waste. Money will be spent on storecupboard ingredients, equipment and training. Some existing volunteers will be upskilled to make and serve soup, we have young volunteers working with us as well as volunteers with special needs and those who find it hard to get work.. Crieff ConneXions also provides a community pantry,  offering low-cost food,  a school uniform shop,  providing gently used school uniform, public WiFi, access to computers and printing and a low-cost second-hand shop.  We want to provide support for people whilst giving the dignity and choice.  For this part of the project we would like to reach out to local elderly people through an invitation leaflet, 

Our club has always demonstrated our values which are to provide a safe, fun and inclusive netball club. We have always ensured that our girls understand the benefits of how having an active lifestyle can only bring positive outcomes for their physical and mental health. It also helps our girls from the different schools across our area to make real connections and friendships away from the ever increasing dependency children have on social media. Perth City Juniors were re-established in 2021 and since then we have managed to obtain success in the form of twice winning the Netball Scotland Scottish Youth Cup along with many netball leagues throughout Scotland and across all of our age groups. We also have some girls who have gone on to represent Scotland. The costs involved in playing netball competitively can put a financial burden onto parents therefore our committee have always strived to fundraise so that we can keep our fees low. 

We have a culture of giving back at our club with many of our older girls volunteering their time to help coach sessions at the club as well as within their secondary schools. Many of them have obtained coaching qualifications along with becoming umpires. With this in mind, we'd like to continue this by giving back to our communities. 

We are hoping that with a successful funding application, we can deliver free netball sessions within local primary schools. We would like to coordinate with the headteachers and Active schools coordinators to offer 4 weekly sessions to be held either in school hours or as an after school club. 

Our hope is that by offering these sessions, we can encourage the children to subsequently be involved in playing netball at the many clubs in Perth & Kinross. Showing that no matter what their socioeconomic background is, there is accessible netball available to everyone. Following these free taster sessions, we'd hope to hold some holiday camps to benefit all netball players in the area. The funding would also allow us to upskill our coaches and equipment so that we could deliver a high quality holiday camp catering to girls of differing levels of netball ability.   

We have witnessed first hand the positive impact that being involved in this team sport, can allow our girls to thrive, be successful and boost their confidence. We hope that our application will be successful to allow us to include more girls who will benefit from our club.

Crieff Community Gardeners are a constituted community group based in Crieff Community Garden. 

Our current space offers numerous opportunities for community groups to take part, whether it’s growing vegetables in one of our many raised beds, or creating bee friendly zones in our wild meadow section, or hosting wellness meetings in our open green spaces. In order to maintain the garden, we need to purchase annual plants and bulbs together with compost and bark. 

Crieff Community Gardeners host free family events throughout the year- our first one of 2025 being an Easter celebration with an egg hunt and games. These events require catering, crafts and activities, as well as marquee hire and prizes. 

Letham Climate Challenge wish to develop our Furniture Store to create a community tool library. Just like a library for books, you can have access to things you sometimes need or want to use without spending lots of money and without having to find space for it in your home. Examples include tools for DIY projects or sewing machine; pressure washer, carpet cleaner, camping equipment, specialist cookware or even an electric bike. 

We currently sell second hand furniture and household electricals PAT tested by our volunteers. This project would allow us to extend the scope of our organisation by reducing our communities spending while contributing to our carbon net zero targets. By using our tool library, members would save money, save space, and save the planet.

We are currently in a cost-of-living crisis, and are based in an economically deprived area. Tool libraries across the UK are known to save their uses an average of £300 per user per year. We might all have a small basic tool kit in our homes, but when it comes to larger, more expensive items many people cannot justify the expense.     

Home-owners with limited resources could then maintain their homes, which helps to provide for housing security. We would like to encourage more of our customers to develop their DIY skills so that furniture can be upcycled to increase their longevity. As an organisation we pride ourselves on encouraging sustainable living and sustainable practices. With the production of a tool library, we can provide our community with access to hundreds of useful items for free. This will encourage our community to try out those upcycling projects, to mend their existing items rather than buying new. 

By sharing resources, we are making our community stronger and more resilient. By borrowing instead of buying we are reducing production and consumption of the same, infrequently used items. Our community would be reducing their carbon footprint and helping to transition towards a circular economy. By not buying new items, we reduce the amount of resources extracted from the Earth, save energy from production and reduce the amount of eventual waste.

We intend to track the amount of items borrowed to track the collective carbon saved by our community. We are promoting the importance of reducing, reusing, and recycling among people in Perth, demonstrating how small actions can address the climate emergency. 

We have the space, but now require the tools and equipment to build an inventory. We will seek as much second-hand as possible, but many items will need to be purchased from new. We also need to create an online inventory website to list items available, and allow registration for membership and members to book out items. We expect the tool library to be very popular, so would require a part time member of staff to manage it and itemise all of the items being borrowed and returned.

Your support with this funding would allow us to

Continue to rent a property on the High St which creates an accessible and visible community venue for everyone in North and Central Perth to be involved in making and mending.

To build on those connections that individuals have made in their community, and all the positive impacts that has on well-being by offering more workshops and groups.  

Offer free or very low cost access to an activity that has proven environmental, health and well-being credentials. 

To continue to put volunteering and peer mentoring at the heart of everything we do at On the Mend by upskilling and increasing opportunities. 

Expand what we currently offer over more days and to reach more people who cannot afford to enjoy lots of the leisure activities on offer in Perth.

Share the knowledge and skills of CATH outreach, housing support and literacy staff to as many in the community as we can and help those experiencing difficulties in housing, accessing benefits and the social isolation that poverty/lack of opportunity often brings.

On the Mend has been based on the High Street for just over a year having a positive impact on the Central and North Perth Community.  We would like to be able to open more days and offer more opportunities for individuals and local groups to be able to access our workshops.  This continuation funding would also enable current participants to build skills further as we have found peer mentoring has been a really successful way of engaging and is a gateway to more structured volunteer opportunities.

On the Mend currently operates Wednesday to Friday and the current core activities are;

Wednesday morning Textile Upcycle, which currently has 16 participants where attendees can come along and knit, crochet and sew all with donated materials and all free of charge.  Some participants come with a strong skill level and take great pleasure in sharing those skills, others are perhaps new to making.  For many in the group it would be prohibitively expensive to buy and learn to use a sewing machine but with the support of On the Mend staff and others in the group we have seen confidence and skills grow.  We currently do not have enough time to accommodate everyone wanting to use a sewing machine and would want to create a new group for this activity to develop and increase inclusion.

Wednesday afternoons is Furniture Upcycling.  To keep within space constraints and to adhere to health and safety best practice this group is kept to a maximum of 8 participants.  Again, this activity is free and we provide all materials with the pieces of furniture being saved from going into landfill.  This workshop has created a small income with upcycled items being displayed in the window and sold.  This creates a huge sense achievement,by working on something over a number of weeks, and seeing the finished piece going to someone’s home.  This group demonstrates, on a tight budget, the impact of repurposing rather than buying new.

On Thursdays we have had a community-driven crochet group, this developed from a tutored group with participants wanting to keep the group going themselves.

The Friday the Fun Crafternoon has been a huge success and we do not have the capacity for everyone who wants to attend.  During the Crafternoon participants are given the opportunity to make an upcycled item to take away, no special skills are required.  A huge part of this, as with all the groups at On the Mend, is the social aspect. Whilst being creative everyone is chatting, laughing and connecting with their community.  It has been extremely difficult to turn anyone away and we would very much like to be able to offer a second session of the Fun Crafternoon. 

We have run a number of volunteer led workshops in,for example, upholstery and needle felting and have worked with local organisations like Trauma Healing Together and would aim to build on collaborative projects with other organisations in Perth. Everyone who attends On the Mend groups has access to the expertise that CATH staff have in housing, benefits issues, literacy and building confidence and skills .  This is not the focus of any On the Mend activities but can serve as a gateway to anyone who may find themselves in need of support or advice.

After public consultation we know that there is demand for community allotments in the North Muirton area.

These will provide a huge range of benefits to those who are involved, including fresh, sustainable food, a real sense of community, exercise and fresh air, access to others’ knowledge and skills, and access to a tool library.

The increased cost of living is affecting everybody, and having somewhere local, cheap, and healthy to meet others will be of huge benefit. Allotments often become social hubs for those who engage, meaning people will not need to pay to travel into the city centre to meet friends. Tools are often a large expense in gardening and DIY, the library will alleviate this allowing people to make meaningful improvements to their home, garden, and life.

This is not a profit making exercise. We expect to charge at most £30 per year to cover the cost of general upkeep and stocking the tool library.

We are also in conversation with Riverside Primary School and if successful will provide them an allotment for free to help educate the next generation on food, nutrition, budgeting, and sustainability.

North Muirton Community Group is well established as a constituted group that works to support local people, running free lunches, multiple Community Fun Days which attract hundreds of people, maintaining the local Community Hall and providing that space at low rates for other groups to use.

There is a disused and graffiti covered pitch owned by the council that in principal they have agreed we can use for allotments when we have the funding in place. It is currently an eyesore between the community and the river, a common dog walking spot, so transforming it visually would also be an important benefit to the community.

This funding would get us started on the project but not finished. Securing the allotments from vandalism is vitally important and this funding would go towards that in the main. The next step would be building in the actual allotments and acquiring tools, before launching them for the community. 

Letham4All SCIO has been working with a variety of partners in across Perth and Kinross at a very local community level, a dignified and holistic route to reduce the impact of poverty.  As a result of this work, Letham4All has successfully piloted the use of the Pay Point Platform and extended to scope of Perth Cards, to provide small amounts of financial support, to help people in immediate financial crisis. Working with existing referral routes this project will provide an additional route for support for those who are not successful with a crisis grant or where a crisis grant is not an appropriate option. The Paypoint Platform enables the sending of utility voucher codes by text a message to a mobile phone that can be redeemed in the usual place people top up their utility cards/keys and the Perth Cards across Perth and Kinross can be used in a variety of shops to purchase food and utilities.

This referral-based support has been accessed by a range of public agencies and 3rd sector organisations who have had no other means of supporting people with financial support to offer a breathing space while longer-term solutions are set up. This has been particularly effective out with traditional working hours and at weekends and support can be organised and delivered within an hour.  We know from feedback from agencies that being able to offer this quick solution to those most in need enables is very beneficial to the household, encourages further discussion of longer-term solutions to prevent further crises, and reduces stress and worry. Partners have also told us that being able to use the Pay Point Platform as a means of offering support saves valuable staff time with handling and delivering cash payments for utility tops-ups and is a much faster way of getting support to their clients.  To deliver this project Letham4All and its partners use the Citizen Advice Bureau’s information-sharing protocol, The Fast Online Referral Tracking System, FORT. This system enables all partners to see what referrals and support services have been received by a service user eliminating the risk of duplication, and giving support services a clear picture of services received and of any gaps emerging in meeting the needs of the person.

Letham4All will work with existing partners in Central and North Perth to deliver this much-needed support to prevent further the impact of poverty which can result in stress and trauma for many families.

Mums Meet & Make workshops will provide a place for new, young and single mothers to come together to be creative, make friends, and find out about support in the community. Participants will be welcome to bring their babies and young children (under 3 years) to the classes – but the activities will be for the mums rather than the children.

Inclusive, Enjoyable, Inspiring   

Workshops will be led by Jaz Grady, a local illustrator/photographer. Jaz has lots of experience running welcoming and accessible classes for people with little or no experience of art, craft or making of any kind. Activities will be absorbing, enjoyable and easy to do. The aim is to create a safe and inspiring environment where mums can explore their creativity, make friends, and thrive in a supportive and inclusive setting.   

"In previous projects, we created spaces where laughter, community, and creativity flourished—encouraging mothers to rediscover themselves as individuals beyond being ‘just mum’. It wasn’t just about play for the children; it was about inspiring mothers to reconnect with their own creativity, share experiences, and support each other in a nurturing environment." – Jaz   

All participants will receive an art pack at the start of the workshops, so they are able to continue being creative at home.   

Support with Child Care  

A crèche service will be provided so everyone can get a bit of a break from being mum. The sessions will be set up in the Strathearn Arts main auditorium with the adjoining side area set up as a creche and left open and visible to the mums. The crèche will be free and staffed by qualified childcare/nursery practitioners.

Connecting the Community

During the sessions we will also signpost mothers to important local services like the Remake Repair Café, Crieff School Uniform Bank, Crieff Community Garden’s food scheme, Crieff Connexions, and PKC’s lifelong learning courses. To do this we will provide a ‘Support Bank’ that summarises all the available health and social services, community groups, courses, opportunities and other support in our area that is available to mothers, women and families. 

Reaching New Mums  

We intend to reach new mums in South Crieff by working with Health Visitors and other community health practitioners who visit new mothers at home. We will also advertise these workshops through GP surgeries, dentists, the local Social Prescriber, PKC Association of Voluntary Services (PKAVS), Stronger Communities Network, and existing mother and baby groups like Breast Buddies, Singing Mamas and Bumps to Tots. 

Many people believe the ‘arts are not for them’ or may feel a bit intimidated, so we will hold the first workshop at a venue like Crieff Connexions’ Community Café, where Jaz can demonstrate some of the activities and participants can see what to expect. The rest of the workshops will take place in our auditorium space with break-out café and crèche areas.  

What we can do with this funding  

Currently, Crieff residents must travel 20+ miles to access similar creative support services. This isn’t realistic for many young, new and single mothers. Mums Meet & Make will specifically support mothers in our area who wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to take part in creative activities.   

• Free to attend and all materials provided;  
• Weekly workshops will run for 20 weeks from April – August 2025  
• Space for 15 participants in each class;  
• We will employ two nursery carers and hire/purchase equipment for our crèche;  
• Lunch, snacks and tea/coffee for participants provided free of charge;  
• Led by a professional artist with lots of experience working with people from all backgrounds;  
• Two sessions with a mental health professional on journaling for mental health and wellbeing. 

2025 will be our fourth year running our Back to School Pack. In 2021 we provided 152 packs, in 2022 - 340, in 2023 - 400, and in 2024 we provided 512 Back to School Packs and 91 Back to Nursery Packs (our first year running this service). Our Packs are available to anyone who lives in these wards.

What is in a Back to School Pack? 

Our packs include 3 shirts, 2 bottoms, 2 jumpers/cardis, 2 PE t shirts, 2 PE bottoms, a PE jumper and a school bag. We also aim to include school shoes and/or trainers plus stationary and other back to school essentials like pack lunch boxes or pencil cases. Everything a child needs for taking part in their school journey. 

What is in a Back to Nursery Pack?

Our Back to Nursery packs include 5 days of mix and match outfits; 5 jumpers, 5 t-shirts, 5 bottoms, messy play clothing, a seasonal jacket and footwear. We also add in extras such as sun hats, vests and socks as we know children need these items to fully participate in their learning and no one comes home clean after one day in nursery!

Packs are personalised to each schools colours and the child’s style preferences (so you can tell us if they won’t wear shorts, or will only wear cardigans!) and their sensory needs to make sure the packs are made to suit the individual. We also ask for bag colours and characters and try our hardest to match up to their personal style. We believe our service should make the child feel confident and comfortable that they match their peers. 

SO IF YOU THINK THAT...

- All children should have access to high quality school uniform?

- We should protect our environment and make positive pre-loved clothing choices? 

- By making little changes to our own lifestyle to support others we can make big changes for the future of our children?

Then please support us by voting for our Back to School & Nursery Pack project.  Thank you.

Team Social Flock