Happy New Year: Approaching 2022 With Zest And Exciting Plans For Greater Cumbernauld

So another New Year has arrived, and Cornerstone House Centre hopes that 2022 will be one of joy, peace and hope for all the people of Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and surrounding villages.  

Following a difficult Christmas in which the Omicron variant of coronavirus (COVID-19) dominated the headlines, we hope that this year will bring better news, good health and fresh optimism for people and communities across Greater Cumbernauld.

Looking back over the past year of activity, Cornerstone House Centre would like to thank all its service users, partners, supporters and funders for their trust and successful collaboration over the past twelve months.

Indeed, it is thanks to this support that the organisation has been able to continue to sustain and proper despite the challenging health and economic circumstances of the coronavirus pandemic. As 2022 begins, some reflections and highlights of 2021 at Cornerstone House Centre are highlighted below.

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A Year of Strengthening Communities, Improving Health and Developing Families at Cornerstone House Centre

Cornerstone House Centre’s Cumbernauld CAN (Community Anchor Network) project brought some much needed cheer to 27 community and voluntary sector organisations in the early part of 2021 as they collectively benefited from £28,872 of participatory budgeting (PB) funds to coordinate activities to develop and advantage the Greater Cumbernauld area.

This followed on from almost 1,500 people casting votes in a highly popular online Community Voting Survey, selecting which not-for-profit groups they would like to see receive grants of up to £1,200 to deliver specified community projects. This was known as Cumbernauld CAN’s Small Grants PB Fund Round 2 initiative.

An array of impactful activities were initiated as a result of this investment in the local area, including facilitation of a programme of events promoting the natural facilities of Cumbernauld Glen, the purchase of clothing for primary school aged children affected by poverty, provision of socially-distanced drive-through cinema nights to engage and entertain young people and establishment of a new donkey shelter at Palacerigg Country Park.

Later in the year, a further £10,000 of Scottish Government funding was distributed through the organisation’s Small Grants PB Fund Round 3. As a result, Cumbernauld CAN has now dispersed a total of £43,912 across 55 community organisations in Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and the Northern Corridor over the past 15 months through PB initiatives.

Meanwhile, Cornerstone House Centre completed another successful year delivery of Cumbernauld Family Hub, a National Lottery Community Fund-supported project which provides a raft of free resources and development opportunities for families living in the Cumbernauld area. During 2021, the Family Hub evidenced notable outcomes for local parents, children and family members in terms of personal and skills development, health and wellbeing, parent-child bonding, life balance, recovery and employability.

Another positive of 2021 was further progress and accomplishments realised through The Centre’s Cumbernauld Community Health Information Hub initiative. Throughout the year, as well as hosting focussed partnership events digitally, the Health Information Hub provided valuable health campaign information and signposting for a range of individuals and groups, including older people, carers, parents and guardians, people with disabilities and long term conditions, people facing mental health challenges and people on lower incomes.

Notable health campaigns promoted by Cumbernauld Community Health Information Hub last year included Cervical Cancer Prevention Week (January), World Cancer Day (February), Prostate Cancer Awareness Month (March), World Autism Awareness Week (April), Deaf Awareness Week (May), Carers Week (June), World Breastfeeding Week (August), Organ Donation Week (September), World Mental Health Day (October), Alcohol Awareness Week (November) and International Volunteer Day (December).

Other notable highlights of the year included Cornerstone House Centre improving the confidence and mental health of citizens through delivery of the award-winning Living Life to the Full course, facilitating the early stages of an exciting new post-pandemic project entitled Cumbernauld Bridging Forward and the organisation becoming a local distributor of Healthy Start Vitamins on behalf of Health and Social Care North Lanarkshire.

Finally, a special mention for two of The Centre’s most loyal and longstanding partners, Cornerstone Christian Fellowship and Cornerstone Café, who continued to work closely with and invaluably support the organisation’s aims and objectives during 2021.

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The Cornerstone House Centre building reopens at 9.00am on Wednesday 5 January 2022 after the holidays.

The good news is that Cornerstone House Centre has been working on a range of plans for the development of new services and projects in recent months, so keep with www.cornerstone-house.org.uk for some key news and announcements for the people of Cumbernauld in the early part of 2022.