Fun First Update
Argyll and Bute Council · 13 May 2025
Back to Helensburgh and Lomond Area Community Planning Group — 13 May 2025 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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Scottish Charity SCO37292 Annual Report 2025 Fun – Friendship-Community Fun First continues to provide sessions for pre school children and their parents with sessions every day somewhere between Helensburgh, Cardross, Garelochead and Rosneath. All our sessions are popular in particular our Wednesday Fun First Friends sessions which, due to demand, now run weekly rather than fortnightly in the Drumfork Centre. These sessions welcome new and expectant families to the area providing a congenial space for adults and children to relax and get to know each other. Leaders can easily establish relationships and signpost to other organisations and support services. The increase in sessions has been possible due to a generous grant from the TSI’s Health and Wellbeing fund. We would like to thank Caryl McClean our area TSI support worker for her advice and support with developing this. We now have health visitors attending sessions monthly as follows- Rosneath last Monday of month, Garelochead first Wednesday and Helensburgh Community Hub last Friday. Following the completion of our Outdoor Training it has been great to see our new Tuesday sessions in Hermitage Park grow and thrive. The leaders have worked hard to develop a fun and educational curriculum based around stories, books and craft activities. These sessions received funding from the Argyll and Bute Supporting Communities Fund which included time for training and curriculum development. We also received funding from ABCAN for equipment to enhance these sessions and we thank both The Toy Shop and Grasshopper Toys for their support. A new Nursery session at Drumfork nursery has been added at their request. This is proving popular with the children, parents and the nursery. It is unfortunate that some of our sessions have needed new venues brought about by the closure of the Leisure Centre and operational changes at Cardross Library. This happened overnight, with little or no notice and has resulted in an increase in our costs. We are particularly grateful to Gemma Penfold who has allowed us to use the LCI Dance studio to house our popular Monday sessions and to Cardross Bowling Club for hosting
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our Cardross sessions. Unfortunately, there appears to be no timetable for our return to Helensburgh library and Cardross library is now under threat of closure. This year we trialled some summer holiday sessions which were well received and something to further consider for this and future years. Staffing continues to be with our trained leaders and administrators whom we continue to pay the Living Wage. Recent increases have inevitably increased the costs of running our small but vital charity. We have said goodbye to Becky who has taken up a position at Lomond Nursery and Natalie who recently welcomed her third child. Mel, Lynne and Vickie have joined Jo, Ellie, Frances, Amie and Hannah.We are lucky to receive excellent applicants when we advertise new positions. Sadly, Fiona Gunn resigned for personal reasons service administrator, but we have been lucky enough to appoint Anna Mason to replace her. An organization is only ever as good as the staff who work for it, and we thank all our leaders experienced or new and of course particular thanks must go to our fantastic manger Jennie for her dedication and hard work. We have been delighted to receive grants from the TSI Health and Wellbeing Fund, Argyll and Bute Early Years, the Argyll and Bute Supporting Communities Fund, ABCAN, the Robertson Trust and an extremely generous three year one from the Armed Forces Covenant. Helensburgh Heart have provided us with a grant to provide tablets for our leaders to gather feedback and attendance details to support grant applications. Without these Fun First would not be able to run and thanks must go to Fiona Gunn and now Anna for their hard work and expertise in completing successful applications. This means our fun, educational and supportive sessions are open to all regardless of income and our service can continue to operate on a donation only basis. We need to continue to look for fundraising opportunities wherever we can. Parties continue to be an important part of our annual programme. They are held in Victoria Halls and offer a chance for the whole Fun First community to come together. They raise funds and provide a positive social occasion. Father Christmas( our retired chair David) attended our Christmas one and we received a generous donation of Easter Eggs recently from a contractor working at the base. Fundraising and social activities included theHermitage Academy Christmas Fayre, Christmas bauble painting with Pitter Patter Potter and an adult Christmas Quiz and painting session, once again at Pitter Patter Potter. We also recently provided a craft stall and other activities at the inaugural Hermitage Park Easter event. We thank Helensburgh Community Hub for their support as a venue and their provision of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library for our Helensburgh members. We thank the volunteers who make up our committee for their hard work and support and in particular the four new members who have joined us recently. We are always
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looking for new members. The commitment is a monthly zoom meeting and help at events and fund raising when possible. I have been the Chair of Fun First since 2019, and it has been my absolute pleasure to see the organisation grow and thrive, both during and after the pandemic years. Feedback from our users confirms the vital role we play in the lives of Helensburgh area families. Thank you to everyone who has helped or continues to help in even the smallest way. Please contact contactfunfirst@gmail.com for further information about our service. Sarah Davies Chair Fun First -Tel 07845 193590