Merry Christmas and Happy New Year: Ready To Help Cumbernauld Thrive In 2023

Cornerstone House Centre wishes all the people of Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and surrounding villages a very Merry Christmas and an extremely Happy New Year when it comes!

It’s that time year again when everyone gets ready for the upcoming holiday season, and we hope that this will be a time of joy, peace and rest for you and your loved ones.

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. Indeed, it is thanks to this support that the organisation has been able to sustain and prosper despite the challenging economic circumstances of 2022.

Some highlights and impressions of the past twelve months at Cornerstone House Centre are spotlighted below.

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Reflecting on a Year of Cornerstone House Centre Helping Cumbernauld Communities Thrive, Grow and Rebuild

Cornerstone House Centre’s Cumbernauld CAN (Community Anchor Network) project brought some much needed cheer to 22 community and voluntary sector organisations in the early part of 2022 as they collectively benefited from £20,000 of participatory budgeting (PB) funds to coordinate activities to develop and advantage the Greater Cumbernauld area.

This followed on from more than 1,700 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 £1,000 to deliver specified community projects. This was known as Cumbernauld CAN’s Small Grants PB Fund Round 4 initiative.

An array of impactful activities were initiated as a result of this investment in the local area, including the subsidising of almost 3,000 miles of journeys for cancer patients attending important hospital appointments, establishment of equipment to enable two Scout Groups to take children camping this summer, coordination of a ‘Supporting Offliners’ programme for local people unable to access services due to digital exclusion and supporting the acquisition of the historic Braehead Cottages building as a community asset.

Later in the year, a further £20,000 of Scottish Government funding was in the process of being distributed through the organisation’s Small Grants PB Fund Round 5, with this activity concluding in early 2023. Altogether, Cumbernauld CAN has now dispersed a total of £63,912 across 61 community organisations in Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and the Northern Corridor over the past three years 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 2022, 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.

An innovative Family Hub initiative this year involved Cornerstone House Centre coordinating free movie days for adults using its new state-of-the-art screen and film equipment, with showings of classic movies such as Pillow Talk, Some Like It Hot, Singin’ In The Rain, Mamma Mia!, Calamity Jane, That Touch of Mink, The Greatest Showman and It’s a Wonderful Life entertaining hundreds of citizens this year.

Another positive of 2022 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.

Key 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 a post-pandemic project entitled Cumbernauld Bridging Forwardand 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 2022.

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The Cornerstone House Centre building reopens at 9.00am on Wednesday 4 January 2023 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 2023.