Review of the Summer Programme 2023

#YouthAction  #Summerprogramme23

Rather than arrange a high-profile launch for our new local Youth Project we believed it would be more effective to get young people involved from the outset and use the summer school holidays as an opportunity to have young people immediately participating. The Summer Programme 23 provided an array of outdoor learning activities, sports, creativity, accredited learning opportunities, and community development projects and this was delivered with the view to involving young people directly with the planning of the Youth Action Projects longer term aims and priorities.

• The Youth Action Group and Community Arts Project:

An important outcome from the Summer Programme has been the formation of the Youth Action Group who had initially got involved through the Summer Programmes community arts project and who were also undertaking their Dynamic Youth Awards as part of that project. This was ostensibly an arts project which was concerned with creativity and enabling young people to design logos and images for banners and publicity materials for the new youth project, but it was built around a strong commitment to youth empowerment and where peer consultation was utilised to ensure that the confirmed priorities for future local youth action were relevant and meaningful. The process and workshops were initially focused upon young people identifying what they felt were local community assets  and similarly encouraged them to identify areas and locations they felt required improvement and development. Underpinning this approach was a commitment to empowerment and giving young people a greater voice in the community and a means for them to take collective action to bring about positive change for themselves and the wider community. The group  consulted their peers at the twilight sports, fun in the park sessions and at the Tamfourhill community fun day and encouraged young people to take part in the consultation through t-shirt making and supporting them to vote on their priorities through using designed themed badges and ballot boxes. This enabled the Youth Action Group to confirm five key themes which they believed were the most important for future local youth action, would be relevant and meaningful and would best reflect young people’s aspirations for their local community.

The Five Agreed Themes that will form the basis of the Projects work and activities over the next three years are:  

1. Arts Projects to improve the appearance and quality of the local area.   
2. Developing community green spaces and parks through new facilities, opportunities and environmental improvements.
3. Sports and Games, building on the success of the Twilight Sports Programme.
4. Campaigning on youth issues and having an effective voice within the local community and beyond.
5. Skills and Training through nationally recognised accreditation opportunities and gaining certificates and awards.

There will be a wide array of opportunities for local young people to now be involved with these activities and projects and the intention will be to take this forward in partnership with local groups and organisations along with our partners from other voluntary agencies, statutory services, and Falkirk Council. The Youth Action Group themselves will be working on a number of local  improvement projects over the next few months which will put young people and their aspirations  right at the centre  of local community developments.  

• The Junior Sports Leadership Award and Community Capacity Building:

This programme was delivered as a Dynamic Youth Award and was designed to provide an opportunity for some of the young people who regularly attended the Twilight Sport programme on a Friday evening to develop their leadership, organisation, and communication skills, facilitate confidence building and to focus that process on their interest in sport. An important aspect of the Twilight sports is to build local capacity and therefore to embed the programme in the longer term. This will require building the capacity of local people to become qualified coaches and skilled instructors who can deliver the programme locally and this award represents the first rung on that development ladder.  We are absolutely delighted to announce that we now have 6 junior sports leaders who it is hoped will now be further involved in a peer leadership role at the winter twilight sports programme when it gets underway in November.  

• Summer activities and Learning Programmes:

The summer programme provided a wide range of fun sports and nature activities in local parks along with some more challenging outdoor learning activities like days in canoes on the canal, a visit to a trout fishery in Balmule in Fife, bike maintenance classes and sessions which focussed upon mindfulness, environmental clean ups and survival skills in the woods. Young people could undertake accreditation through the Dynamic Youth Awards that were offered as part of the Community Arts Project and the Junior Sports leadership Award and Saltire volunteering certificates will be issued to those young people who took part in the environmental clean ups and paddle pick-ups on the canoes.  

93 young people completed session evaluation forms over the 6 weeks of the programme, and here are some of the key findings from that feedback:

• 88% really enjoyed the activity session they attended

What did young people learn that surprised them:

What would they remember about the activity?

Qu (5) How much do you feel that you have learnt today about teamwork and or working in a group? (Score between 1 for you never learnt anything to 10 Yes, I learnt a lot about teamwork today)

85 responses to this question were returned with an average score of 8.4

Qu (6) How much do you feel that you personally have used different skills like decision making & problem solving at today’s activity session? (Score between 1 if you felt you used no skills and 10 Yes, I used loads of these skills today)

82 responses to this question were returned with an average score of 8.4

Here is a breakdown of the ages and genders of the young people who took part over the programme:

AGE	MALE	FEMALE	NON-BINARY	NUMBERS
12 years and under	28 (21%)	65 (48%)	5 (4%)	98 (72.6%)
13-15 years old	21 (16%)	16 (12%)	0	37 (27.4%)
TOTAL	49 (36%)	81 (60%)	5 (4%)	135

14 Dynamic Youth Awards were successfully achieved, 1 High 5 Award and 8 Saltire Volunteering certificates will be issued.

I would like to acknowledge and thank the following individuals and organisations who supported, delivered and contributed to a magnificent #SummerProgramme23 of #YouthAction.

John Wells at the Well Wild- A therapeutic approach to Forest school and Bushcraft

Sarah Diver: Community artist who worked with the Youth Action Groups Community art project

Martin Wylie Community Sports Hub Officer at Falkirk Council for delivering activities for the junior Sports Leadership Award

Gregor Watson at the Falkirk Wheelers for the rollerblading at the summer fun in the park sessions.

TCV and Laura Hindle

Scottish Canals for canoeing

Balmule Fishery

Ginger our mini bus driver

TTRO: All the committee for their positive encouragement and volunteering

TCH: Use of the Hall , Hub , kitchen and lots of support

Falkirk Council and the school food and activity funding

Ryan Flaherty at Forth Environment Link for bike maintenance drop-ins & Dr Bike

Next month’s blog will feature a review of the #Connectingwiththeoutdoors programme, the  Youth Action groups Mindfulness and sensory benches project which is scheduled for a local park in Tamfourhill and news and details about the Twilight Sports Indoors winter programme.  

The Safer Communities Youth Action Project supports young people to have an effective voice and take #YouthAction:

The Twilight Sports programme was piloted over the spring and summer of 2022 as part of the wider community safety strategy for Camelon and Tamfourhill, and the pilot phase of the Programme was made possible through funding and support provided by the Camelon Community Sports Hub and Police Scotland. The Pilot project took place on Friday nights in local parks and was focused upon providing sporting and healthy activities for local young people and the intention was to address some of the community safety concerns and risky behaviour that many young people are vulnerable to getting involved with at the weekends. The local community Police Officers and the Fire and Rescue Services from Larbert and Falkirk were regular visitors to the sessions and took part in the different sports that were on offer, including: the Falkirk Wheelers and Rollerblading, fun football, Rugby, and outdoor nature activities. The Programme was also enhanced through the Dr Bike Service provided by the Forth Environment Links Active Travel Hub with their free servicing and maintenance of push bikes which has greatly contributed to the local community safety agenda. The sessions were a great success, were very well attended and are widely recognised as an important and enjoyable community activity. 

The success of the pilot Programme has now attracted longer term funding and the Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill Project is overjoyed to announce a three-year funding package from the Falkirk Community Schools Fund (2008) which will embed the twilight sports programme for the next three years and enable additional youth outreach activities to be developed throughout Camelon and Tamfourhill. I will further detail in a future blog the vision and plans for this additional funding which will form a significant strand of a new local Youth Action Project. This Project will be focused upon connecting with young people throughout the community over the next three years and I would like to thank the Falkirk Community School Funds for generously supporting the work of the Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill Project and recognising the essential community support provided by the Tamfourhill Tenants and Residents Organisation. This is a really important investment in our community and young people in particular and the outreach programme will again be aligned to the broader objectives of the local community safety plan.

The Camelon Community Sports Hub and Police Scotland have also continued to support and fund the Friday night Twilight sessions and along with our existing partnership with the Falkirk Wheelers we have now also entered into an exciting new partnership with the Warriors in the Community, who will now be responsible for the footballing aspect of the Twilight Sports Programme throughout all of 2023. The Warriors In the Community are part of Stenhousemuir Football Club and they have been developing innovative community involvement projects for a number of years and we are certain that this new partnership will facilitate lots of new footballing and personal development opportunities for local young people. The Falkirk Wheelers who will continue to work on the programme are also a dynamic community-based sports organisation, and it is great to see the enthusiasm that local young people have for rollerblading and the level of skill and ability that has been nurtured over the programme. This Programme is an excellent example of partnership working where different agencies and sports clubs have come together to provide a quality sporting and youth work development programme whilst also addressing local community safety priorities. The Programme winter drop-in programme resumed on Friday 3rd February, its open to all 10–16-year-old from the Camelon and Tamfourhill areas, all equipment is provided as is a snack with something to drink and it’s all free of charge. The full programme with additional youth work activities will return to local parks in the spring when we hope the weather improves and we will off course have the lighter evenings.

The Rising Energy Costs and their crippling impact upon Tamfourhill Community Hub

It is off significant concern that the costs for heating and lighting the Tamfourhill Community Hub have risen to astronomical levels since the autumn of last year. The payment of the current energy bills are not sustainable, and the Hub could not remain operational at its existing levels if long term sustainable solutions are not identified and implemented. These circumstances will not be unique to Tamfourhill and the Third sector and all charities with premises to be maintained and managed will be dealing with this energy crises. I personally feel that Governments along with regional and national agencies have been slow to respond to this crises. I would therefore ask that tangible support is more forthcoming and that regional and national networks gather and confirm an immediate plan of action focussed upon the smaller community organisations and support them to access some shorter-term relief whilst also confirming a longer-term strategy for the Third Sectors sustainability. Asset Transfer is again a big issue as Falkirk Councils Strategic Property Review has identified around 130 community buildings which may have no futures without an Asset Transfer or leasing arrangement with the various communities. In this respect Tamfourhill Community Hub has very recently been through a less than streamline process to asset transfer the Hub over to the Hall Committee. My understanding is that the Council now have a dedicated community team in place and a ring-fenced budget to facilitate any asset transfers which take place as a consequence of their Strategic Property Review. I would hope that these circumstances can also be beneficial to Tamfourhill in at least the short term.  I also acknowledge that not everyone is on board with the science and social narrative of the Climate Emergency and global warming, however I am absolutely certain that communities which are already disadvantaged through economic inequalities will have to take long term radical and innovative action and explore alternative options for creating energy efficient and affordable community spaces and buildings. I am aware that the Tamfourhill Community Hub committee are giving this matter priority and I also know that they will want to avoid at all costs losing the current programme of activities and services which operate from the building and that moving the costs onto user groups is entirely unrealistic and socially unjust. From a community safety perspective, the loss of any provision from the Hub would be devastating to Camelon and Tamfourhill, I could not underscore the importance of the current programmes and their contribution to local community cohesion. On a more positive note, our Community Climate Action Plan identified options for carrying out energy efficiency audits of the Hub and there is the potential to secure part funding for alternative energy sources like heat pumps and solar panelling. The long-term sustainability of the Hub will be reliant upon grossly improving energy efficiency and generating energy through new sources independently and for that to happen then new green technologies will be essential. In the shorter term the bills mut be paid and I would want to support the Hall Committee in any way that I can to get the Hub through this significant challenge. I do have an optimistic outlook that there can be a sustainable future for the Hub through shorter term relief and through securing the longer-term use and development of new green reusable and sustainable technologies.    

Community Safety Highlights for January and February 2023:

The Open Doors Community Safety Event took place on Friday 20^th January, and I would like to thank the Forth Valley Sensory Centre for being such wonderful hosts. This was the busiest of the recent events with lots of quality engagement taking place and it was especially positive to involve the Sensory Centre and many of their regular users with the community safety partners who were in attendance.  We also welcomed for the first time Home Energy Scotland who set up a well utilised advice stall which also included support and resources to encourage better use of our domestic water supplies through reducing waste and increasing water efficiency.  The success of this event is reliant upon the commitment and inputs of all the Partners so I would like to express my personal gratitude to everybody from each organisation who has supported and contributed to this programme over the last few months. The intention is to continue running community safety open doors events which provide local people and organisations with the opportunity to directly engage with services around any relevant issues or concerns and to introduce their own ideas and suggestions for improved local community safety. I recently attended the inaugural meeting of the Camelon, Tamfourhill and Bantaskin Community Council and I am certain they will also want direct involvement with the Open Doors Events. I will be meeting with the Partners in the next few weeks and I will provide further details as to how these events will be rolled out going forward.

Congratulations to the John Muir Discovery Group who received their Awards at ta recent John muir presentation evening which was held in Tamfourhill Community Hub. This was very much a local project with the group of 12 young people, discovering, exploring, and conserving wild places around their community, including: The Forth and Clyde Canal, Easter Carmuirs Park, Antonine Wall and the woods around Tamfourhill. The Awards presentation evening was also an opportunity for the group to share their experiences with family friends and other young people who attend the Monday evening youth club.

Pocket Places Programme and improved road safety in Camelon are two distinct projects which are linked by the notion of the Low Traffic Neighbourhood, improved road safety and the promotion of active travel. The Easter Carmuirs Pocket Places Steering Group met recently and looked and design proposals for a new layout of the school campus as phase one of the Project and the introduction of zebra crossings on the surrounding streets as phase 2 of the Project. Further consultation and community involvement will be required in relation to phase 2 of the Project and that engagement work is planned to take place towards the end of February with hopefully also some preliminary design work being implemented within the school playground.  I am also coordinating and supporting a partnership approach to improving road safety and encouraging safe active travel in Camelon around Nailer Road, Stirling Road, and environs. The local primary school, Early Years Centre, the Sensory centre and the Management Committee of the Camelon Community centre have all been working on their respective street reviews and this process is now nearing completion. A published report with a series of recommendations will be available in the next month or so and thereafter there will be a community event or conference held to look at how the key stakeholders can respond and where possible ensure that the recommendations and suggested improvements are acted upon and actioned. I would like to thank Forth Environment Link who have worked closely with me in coordinating and supporting the different partners to carry out their own bespoke street reviews and studies. I will off course keep the community updated with both of these projects.