Gilfoot TARA Action Group

12/08/2025

Final post 🥺

Well folks… that’s us. After years of graft, giggles, and making a difference where we could, the five of us “scheme maws” have decided it’s time to hang up our hi-viz vests.🥺

What started wi’ just a few determined “scheme maws” trying to sort things oot has turned into something magic, a group that’s brought folk together, tackled problems, and made Gilfoot a better place to live. We’re chuffed to bits wi’ what we’ve done, and we hope you are too.🤝

🎉 What We’ve Pulled Off Over the Years

From G In The Park tae Sparktacular Gilfoot, Ghoulish Gilfoot, Christmas hand-outs, raffles, pantos, fireworks and more, we’ve poured our hearts (and plenty of tea) into this community. We’ve fought for fences, fixed pavements, lit up the streets, brought folk together, and even won Tenants Group of the Year 2024 (aye, we’re still buzzing about that!).

💚 Helping Folk
Every Christmas, we made sure folk who were struggling got a wee bit extra, cash, gifts, food, whatever was needed. We’ve helped replace appliances, sorted hardship cases, and done our best to keep the community spirit alive.

💚 Getting Things Fixed
We’ve fought for new fences, better lighting, safer pavements, road repairs, tidier gardens, and even got the community tiki hut up and running.

💚 Making Our Mark
We were named Tenants Group of the Year 2024 at the TIS National Housing Conference, and even got a shout-oot in the Scottish Parliament! Not bad for a bunch of scheme maws, eh? 🤭

Today, we had our final meeting and decided where our leftover pennies are going, over £4,500 shared between: BIAB (Beautiful inside and out ), Newmilns Regeneration, Love Newmilns, PC, Rotary Club, Scouts, Guides, Darvel Dinner Ladies, Newmilns Gala, Newmilns Football, and the Community Council. Every last pound is staying local. Full break down below.

We’ve made sure the last of our funds are staying right here in the community:
BIAB / £589.89
Newmilns Regeneration /£400
Love Newmilns / £400
PC / £400
Rotary Club / £400
Scouts / £400
Guides / £400
Darvel Dinner Ladies /£400
Newmilns Gala / £400
Newmilns Football / £400
Community Council / £400

And just so nothing went tae waste, we’ve made sure all our bits and pieces are finding a good hame too. Our ride-on lawnmower’s away tae Love Newmilns, along wi’ the G In The Park stock and the light-up toys fae Sparktacular Gilfoot. The Gala Committee have got themselves our Halloween decorations,bunting and some light-up toys for their own events, and the Parent Council have been handed balls,balloons and Christmas decorations, all stuff the wee groups can use to raise their own funds in future.

We canny thank you enough for every bit of support, whether you came to an event, helped out, or just gave us a “well done” in passing. This wee scheme’s got a big heart, and it’s been an honour to serve it. 🥺

Final closing Board Members
🤝Jackie Wyper /Joint Chair
🤝Chelsea / Joint Chair
🤝Renee Stirrat /Secretary
🤝Kayleigh Weir /Treasurer
🤝Leighann Devlin/ Social Media Delegate

Past Board Members We’ll Always Be Grateful For
💚 Stacey Miller
💚 Lisa Pirie
💚 Marelle McQuillian

From all of us, with love, pride, and maybe a wee tear in our eyes....
Gilfoot Tara Action Group ❤️

22/07/2025

❌Important announcement ❌

We as a group have decided that our time doing our Tara roles have come to an end. Each of us have so many things going on in our family life’s at home that we just do not have the time to continue to do what we have been doing for the last 5 years. 🤝

21 days notice for meeting of dissolution of our group.
The meeting will be held
12th august 4pm
Community gardens

At the meeting we will discuss how our remaining funds will be distributed between local charities and community groups. 🤝

We have loved bringing our community together at our events each year and we are extremely grateful for anyone who supported us during our time.❤️

Team Tara 🤝💘

21/07/2025

Rubbish amnesty 🗑️🚮❌

The two skips situated at the community gardens is now FULL, these will be collected, emptied and returned on Wednesday.

Can we remind people…

NO MATTRESSES
NO PAINT
NO GAS CANISTERS
NO UPHOLSTERED FURNITURE
FRIDGE FREEZERS / PM THE GROUP

14/07/2025

Massive thanks to Love Newmilns for their continued support for our wee group , anyone wishing to join newmilns lotto can find the details on the page tagged . Thank you again from us all 🤝

14/07/2025

13/07/2025

Unclaimed raffle prizes from yesterday, pm the page to arrange collection. Thanks

13/07/2025

🚫 Important Note Regarding Pavilion Facilities at G In The Park 2025 🚫

We’re incredibly grateful to everyone who made G In The Park 2025 such a positive community event - but unfortunately, we do need to address a serious issue that affected many of our visitors and volunteers on the day.

Despite arranging in advance to use the pavilion toilets through Galston Football Club, we were extremely disappointed with the condition we found them in:

🧼 The toilets were left in an unacceptable, dirty and unsanitary state.
🚱 There was no running water after a short period due to a jammed stopcock.
🗑️ Overflowing bins, used sanitary products left lying around, and clear evidence of neglect made them unsuitable for public use, particularly for families, children, and anyone with additional needs.

This is absolutely not the standard we expected when we agreed to hire the facility for a public event, and we feel strongly that this let down our community, our organisers, and the event as a whole.

The pavilion had to cleaned before we could let the public use these facilities which is not what we expected from the hire of the premises.

We’re sharing this not to cause conflict, but because public health, dignity and cleanliness matter - especially at a family-focused event. We have raised this directly with those responsible and hope steps will be taken to ensure no other community group experiences similar issues.

We want to thank those who raised concerns respectfully, and to our volunteers who worked hard to manage the situation as best they could on the day.

Let’s continue to hold each other to a high standard of care and respect - our community deserves nothing less 💛

13/07/2025

🌟 THANK YOU – G In The Park 2025 🌟

What an incredible day we had at G In The Park 2025! 🎉🙌 A huge THANK YOU to everyone who came along and helped make it such a fantastic, fun-filled family event 💙

This couldn’t have happened without the amazing support from our sponsors, contributors, and volunteers who made everything possible 👏👏

💥 Thank you to our sponsors:
Sally Cogley, GAP Communications, Nisa (Newmilns & Darvel),
Newmilns Primary & ECC Parent Council, Fleetpoint, James D***s funeral service
Saxen Commercial Interiors, Love Newmilns, Kevin McGregor & dustacco we appreciate every bit of your support! 🤝

🪂 A special thank you to the SKYMASTERS from Strathallan Skydive Centre for their breathtaking aerial display – what a show! 🔥

🎶 Big shout out to Starlite Entertainment for the banging tunes throughout the day – you kept the energy and kids buzzing through the immense heat 🔥

🎡 Codonas Funfairs brought the thrills with Twister, Miami Wave, trampolines 🤝

🏰 West Coast Castles delivered epic inflatables like the giant assault course, helter skelter, and the unbeatable unclimbable ladder!

🎨 Thanks also:
Caricature stands, face painting & Photo Booth these are always a massive hit.📸🧑‍🧑‍🧒🎨

As always our tombola, raffle, spin to win& tuck shop by our amazing Committee was a buzz all day 🤝

All the fantastic local stalls – your creativity and community spirit shone through! Thanks to each and every one of you 🤝

Our medical team ER medical was amazing tending to and treating the many people who were overcome with the unusually warm heat we experienced yesterday. Thank you 🤝

The amazing W.A silver back security were on the ball as always keeping everone safe. Thank you 🤝

☕ A very special thank you to Jackie and Karen for running the tea, coffee, and cake stall – your treats and warm hospitality were just what everyone needed! 🧁💕

🍔 Food & Drink vendors – you kept us well fed and happy! Big thanks to:
The Thistle Vintage Bus Bar, Fraser’s Snack Bar, The Donut Den, Kally’s Kitchen, Wayne’s Ices Kilmarnock & Bubbas bakes cakes 🍦🍟

🦎 And of course, our animal friends from Sense of Nature, and Owl Magic – you brought so many smiles!

Thanks to our wrestlers, Grassroots wrestling Scotland who put on a fantastic show for the kids and adults yous were amazing 🤼🤼‍♀️🤼‍♂️

Thanks to Sammy trusdale for sourcing two amazing army tankers 🤝

💛 Last but by no means least – THANK YOU to all the volunteers and the amazing Gilfoot TARA Action Group team. Your hard work behind the scenes made everything happen 💪💐

Our stall spaces were full, the skies were clear, the heat was high 🔥and the park was buzzing with laughter, music and memories.🪂

G In The Park 2025 – you were something special. Until next time… 🎪🎤☀️