Family Cricket Fun Day 11th June 2022 (possibly extending to further events dependant on success of first)

The aim of this event is to Increase awareness and hopefully participation in cricket in Gourock/West Greenock and Inverclyde in general. This will give newcomers to the sport an opportunity to try something new and even join a local community club.

Our club's constitution requires Inverclyde Cricket Club to be open to all ages/sexes/religions/ethnicities and currently have a good spread of members. We have a junior section for 8 to 15 year olds who are coached by our fully disclosed junior committee, with senior section dealing with over 16 year olds - oldest member is currently 72. As we recover from the COVID pandemic we hope to take cricket out into the community as we had been doing several years ago, to schools and the likes of scout and Boys Brigade groups. The initial event interest planned for 11th June 2022, but we hope that interest generated by the event will lead to more events for all ages, which could involve the full cricket season through to the end of August 2022.

Meliora funding would enable PBO to host a range of inclusive events throughout late Spring & Summer. This   would start with a community Spring Fair in April followed by a series of monthly ‘Community Get Togethers’ with different themes for each, with a focus on creativity, gardening and environmental activities. The ‘Community Get Togethers’ will be enhanced by being held in the surroundings of our therapeutic horticultural environment and gardens on the banks of the Clyde within Port Glasgow. Some of the activities planned for the monthly events include:

• Tai Chi in the Garden with sessions outside in the Parklea grounds (gazebos and covered areas would  be available in inclement weather to ensure the sessions can go ahead as planned)
• Therapeutic crafts such as Willow Weaving & Macrame.
• Herbalist Session – learning about the varied uses of herbs, how they grow and planting up your own herb planter to take home.
• Grow and Learn Together – we will provide a variety of educational and productive food growing activities within our fully accessible community growing area, learning a bit about how to “grow your own” and giving tips & ideas of how this can be achieved on a small scale at home.
• “One Planet Picnic” – in conjunction with Keep Scotland Beautiful and local partners. A chance for the community to come together for an inclusive cultural community picnic! This will promote locally grown and seasonal foods as well as encouraging people to think about reducing packaging and food waste.
• We will provide growing resource and activity boxes.

 All of the monthly events will have fully inclusive activities as well as the opportunity for people to come together to eat and share food experiences.  We will offer wider support and engagement to our community by having local partners and agencies present at these events i.e. Community Learning and Development, Health Improvement,  Environmental Services, Carers Centre, The Trust, etc who would provide a range of information/advice and will be able to signpost people to local services.

On Saturday 4th June 2022, the group plan a street party at the Scout Community hub at 14/16 Bank street to mark the Queens platinum jubilee celebrations

Event Details:

Consultation has already taken place with the following: 1 Young leaders form representing 140 young people 2 HM Lord Lieutenant, Col Peter McCarthy, who has given the event the green light 3 Neighbours in Bank street, Mearns street and families in Lynedoch street We plan to hold a celebration of all things community with a focus on all ages and in particular welcome recent immigrant families who have settled in the area from Nigeria, Morocco and Sudan. We are currently working with the Head Teacher of St Patrick's primary on this. The event will comprise of a tea party, with the usual attractions of face painting, bouncy castle and hot and cold food

This event will have a sense of 'coming together' and will embrace the community in a way that has not happened for many years. Civic leaders will be present to chat casually over a 'cuppa' and cake. Doors will be open for all to wander and chat and generally feel part of something new (The newly refurbished Scout Centre). The Greenock Telegraph have agreed to cover the event, which will be attended by circa 300/400 over the day. What a way to welcome the community together, especially new families coming into the area from overseas.

We plan to tie in with Wellpark Mid Kirk at the bottom of Bank Street to ensure our event flows into theirs and also with Broomhill hub at the top of the hill. It would be terrific if all 3 venues could work together in a continuous flow, with almost half a mile of celebrations joining up, but at the same time offering something different. We have Armadale court for the elderly as neighbours as well as partners (your voice-recovery café) who use our facility during weekdays. Both groups are looking forward to taking part. Colourful, community, music, and fun are all ingredients of success of such a street party event, which provide something for all members of the community. This event will be totally inclusive. We have already started to form a small team from our users and neighbours to look at the planning.

Total Cost £1000