Category: community

camelon, coach, community, development, Our Place, resilience, Support, tamfourhill

What kind of mindset do you have?

Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill

Welcome to my latest Community Coaching blog. It’s been encouraging to receive some interaction from these posts – it’s good to know at least some people are reading them and finding them helpful!

The text on this week’s Monday Motivation graphic said “Focus on doing right thing for the right reason and don’t buy into the lie that it can’t be done”. This got me thinking – and so the theme for this week’s blog was born!

It’s so easy to listen to others who try to put you down and tell you it can’t be done. As a result, you could potentially miss out on a great opportunity for yourself. It’s also easy to listen to the voice in your head saying you’ll never be able to do something. Your surroundings can also affect your way of thinking. Okay, statistically Camelon and Tamfourhill is an area of deprivation. So what! You are still you and deserve the opportunity to reach your fullest potential. Just because others around you, even your friends and family, have chosen not to pursue a dream, does not mean that you have to go down that path too. The Camelon and Tamfourhill area is full of assets – and you are one of them.

We could leave this blog right there! Be encouraged to be the person you were made to be. But if you’ve got the time, please stick with me for a few more minutes as we look a bit deeper at this.

Whether you’ll be able to achieve what you want or not, is partly down to how your brain is geared – what your mindset is. In short, do you have a fixed, or a growth, mindset? It’s relatively obvious which mindset is better but here’s a little further analysis:

Fixed MindsetGrowth Mindset
A belief that intelligence, skills and talents are fixed – “I’m not good at this now, and never will be.”A belief that intelligence, skills and talents can be developed – “My skills have come a long way, and I know they can be better with some guidance.”
A focus on outcomes or targets rather than progress – “I’ve failed completely. I missed my sales target by 10%” (ignoring your much improved sales pitch).Everything is a learning opportunity – “This is going to be a challenge, but I’ll break it down and tackle a bit at a time.”
Talking yourself down, feeling threatened by others or giving up in the face of setbacks or failures – “Clearly all this feedback means I’m no good at writing. I’ll ask someone else to do it next time.”When you fail or suffer a setback, you believe you just can’t do it yet – “I can see now that the way I set this up wasn’t quite right, so I’ll take an alternative approach next time.”

Now if you find yourself in one particular column, don’t presume that you will stay there. We all shift between a fixed and growth mindset, depending on our situation. Someone coming at a completely new task or role might be prepared to learn, and expect some setbacks as they go through that process. They have a growth mindset. On the other side, in promoting someone who has used a growth mindset to learn and progress, this might mean they now see themselves as an expert with little more to learn. Suddenly, they have a fixed mindset.

I like to consider myself as someone with a growth mindset and as such I can recognise this problem. In previous development roles, I have recognised a point where you can actually create so much growth that you end up being in danger of creating something or someone that is unmanageable. But you still need people that are at least willing to learn or change – as the need arises. People that are so fixed in their ways – the ‘aye been brigade’ – need to be shown a better way and often that happens best by ignoring their criticism and committing to your own growth. Actions – and results – speak much louder. Their attitude is the enemy of progress, encouraging us to cling to what we know even when it falls so far short of our expectations and potential. It has been described as a self-imposed straight-jacket disguised as a safety net that in short, simply restricts and fails others. Use your determination to grow to show them a better way.

Our brain’s structure is not fixed. It constantly changes in response to our external and internal experiences, and we can choose to make use of this to improve our skills and intelligence. By adopting a growth mindset, we decide to use a range of strategies to tackle tasks or challenges, and find learning opportunities in mistakes, setbacks and failures. Confidence and resilience are the consequences of a growth mindset. Developing a growth mindset is a journey of self-awareness and of conscious learning. It takes time and practice, so set your expectations accordingly, and regularly take some time to reflect on the results.

Let’s recap with the help of this short video:

In time, we’ll be developing some training courses that will help you with this and other personal and organisational development topics. For now though, we have this blog and the chance for me to engage directly with you to help you grow. If you want to know more or simply want to chat through an idea, then please get in touch.

camelon, community, litter, Our Place, safety, Support, tamfourhill

Prize draw for completed surveys draws nearer:

bighosie

My brief contribution to this weeks community safety blog is a reminder that the deadline to have your completed surveys entered into the prize draw, where you can win a brand new Tablet, is a week on Friday, 7th August 2020. Please if you can take the 5 minutes required to complete this survey I would be very grateful. It is providing insight and useful data that should make a significant contribution to developing a local community safety strategy that is relevant and appropriate to local priorities. I would like to thank everybody who has taken the time to complete a survey to date or has been in contact with myself to discuss the local area and some of the issues that they consider to be of importance. I was also enthused by my recent meeting with the Kemlin Kin Group and I look forward to further work with that Group.

As I highlighted in last week’s blog, littering and fly tipping are clearly matters that will need to be addressed locally, and indeed these issues have become a national concern. The problems with this have been increased over the period of lockdown. The consequence of this is that we need to ensure they are tackled now and not left to deteriorate and create additional health and safety problems for our communities. It therefore seems very appropriate that our local response is linked to Keep Scotland Beautiful and their clean up Scotland campaign. I will be endeavouring to make this Project an enjoyable and rewarding experience and for it to be successful it must be community led and facilitate lots of local participation. Please keep an eye out for how you can get involved with this initiative as I hope to get work started before the Autumn.   

John R Hosie

The survey is at: https://tinyurl.com/ycbes5qw and at our website: www.camelontamfourhill.co.uk/safety

KEEP CAMELON AND TAMFOURHILL TIDY CLEAN AND GREEN

camelon, coach, community, development, Our Place, resilience, Support, tamfourhill

Why, How, What

Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill

Over the years that I’ve had the pleasure of working with community based activities, projects, organisations or enterprises, one thing always stands out for me. Those who know why they are doing whatever it is they are doing, survive longer and better than those who just focus on what they are doing.

This is not just something to put in a funding application form, but something that defines you as an organisation. It will help local people understand why they should get involved. If you’re trading, it could make the difference between someone choosing to buy from your socially benefiting enterprise, or a standard company up the road. If you’re fundraising, it could make the difference between a donors money coming to you or something else.

I’m sure you all know what you do: you hire rooms out; you run a sports activity; you coordinate events; you run a music group; etc etc.

You also probably know how its done: you have a price list and people book in; you have coaches, equipment, and training sessions; you book entertainment and advertise; you have instruments, rehearsals, tutors; etc etc

But the key to success is why you do it: to provide facilities and activities for the betterment of the local community; to improve health, fitness and wellbeing; to celebrate local identity and success; to encourage the development of talent; etc etc

So what is your starting point? Why, how, or what? Author and motivational speaker Simon Sinek writes in his book “Start with Why” about what he calls the “Golden Circle”.

This is one of the most simplistic but powerful ways of looking at what it is that you do – or wish to do. We can so easily get bogged down in ideas, processes, procedures etc that we can forget what is at the heart of our mission. Sinek explains further:

“When most organisations or people think, act or communicate they do so from the outside in, from WHAT to WHY. And for good reason — they go from clearest thing to the fuzziest thing. We say WHAT we do, we sometimes say HOW we do it, but we rarely say WHY we do WHAT we do.”
“When communicating from the inside out, however, the WHY is offered as the reason to buy and the WHATs serve as the tangible proof of that belief.”

Simon Sinek: “Start with Why”

This change of thinking could really make the difference for you and your activity / organisation. Before I say more, let’s hear from the Simon Sinek himself in this short TED talk:

In my last development role, I produced a marketing booklet entitled What we do and Why we do it. It was pretty evident what the place did, but not everyone fully understood why. Producing that booklet helped secure a major collaboration that will now be bringing increased support for people in that area. All because we highlighted the ‘why’.

It’s crucial to focus on why your organisations exists and emphasise this. Anything you do (what) and the process to make it happen (how) will fall into place if the why is solid. This is true for any activity, organisation or business but especially so when it is for community benefit. It will give your followers, service users or customers a way to identify with you on a personal level. If your ‘why’ matches their ‘why’, they will be willing to stand with you through thick and thin. Without a clear ‘why’, people default to the ‘what’. Then you are caught in the struggle to stand out in the ever growing sea of ‘what’ and are forced to differentiate yourself with features, or worse, with price. The end result is your reason for being – your ‘why’ – is lost.

Let’s take a hall or meeting space as an example – its easy for me as I’ve run one! You know how big it is, how many people it can hold and the kind of activities you’d be happy to see within it. You know how much it costs to run the hall (light, heat etc) and any staffing costs, so you can work out a rental price. If you stop there, you are just the same as any hall or meeting space and people will choose on location, availability or price – the ‘what’ and ‘how’. However, if you decide to run some activities yourself, or support a group to use the space for less than advertised rates, in order to provide something of direct benefit to the community, you can use this as a reason for other groups or companies renting your space – the ‘why’. “Use our space and we’ll use surplus funds to run this other activity for community benefit” or “have your meeting here and we’ll be able to allow a community benefit activity to use the space at a reduced price or for free”. See the difference? Suddenly there’s a reason for people to use your service – the ‘why’ has come to the fore and in this scenario, your ‘how’ (processes) and ‘what’ (activities) have become consistent with your ‘why’ (beliefs). And that’s the key as all three work together in harmony. To do that, you need to ensure the clarity of why, the discipline of how, and the consistency of what.

Remember that “People don’t buy WHAT you do; they buy WHY you do it.” The most effective leaders always win the heart first, and then the mind. And the only chance you have to win the heart is if you start with WHY.

Simon Sinek: “Start with Why”

I’ll leave you with a terribly misquoted song lyric that might help you remember this Golden Circle that we’ve looked at today: “It ain’t what you do its WHY YOU DO IT”. Until next week…….

camelon, collaboration, community, litter, lockdown, Our Place, safety, tamfourhill

The Community Safety Road Ahead

bighosie

Hello and welcome to my third article for the Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill Community Safety blog. Time seems to be flying past at a very fast rate and hopefully we are getting closer to the Scottish Government restrictions being lifted and we are now entering a period of life which is more familiar to all of us. It has been frustrating for myself since coming into post at the start of May as I have been unable to meet people in person and I haven’t had the ability to get to know our  communities and the facilities and Groups which are thriving throughout Camelon and Tamfourhill. I would like to thank my colleague Dan Rous for his continued insight and local knowledge, and the support I have been receiving from Shona and Lynne at the Tamfourhill TRO. I was also glad to be formally introduced to the Kemlin Kin group this week and I look forward to working closely with this group as we develop the local community safety strategy. One benefit of the working from home approach has been the time and space that I have had to carry out research and prepare myself for the work ahead and look at other good practice examples from around Scotland in relation to community safety.

My initial task has been to implement a consultation process and my intention is for this to be a dynamic process and for it to be inclusive. I want to ensure that all the different interests and groups within the community have a voice and an input with identifying and confirming the local community safety priorities. This until now has only involved the survey which has been circulated and is available at https://tinyurl.com/ycbes5qw (Remember if you complete a survey by the 7th August you can win yourself a Tablet in the prize draw). Due to the lockdown,  I have as yet been unable to take the survey out in hard copy version so that people who don’t  use social media etc can also get an opportunity to complete a survey.  

In my previous blogs I have been publishing some of the preliminary findings and I have highlighted the most significant local issues which include: concerns about Substance misuse, various types of anti-social behaviour and the problems of littering, fly-tipping and dog fouling. Roads and traffic matters have also scored very highly, and it appears that specific locations have problems with speeding cars.  I have already been researching into anti-litter campaigns and I hope to link our own local initiatives in with the Keep Scotland Beautiful and their clean up Scotland campaign. Please look for opportunities to get involved with this campaign. It will be more than just cleaning up specific areas, although that will form a significant part of our activities, but in addition there will also be creative arts to get involved with, family based activity, a media and publicity campaign and the redevelopment of specific areas through encouraging greater bio diversity. I am using the working title of “Keep Camelon and Tamfourhill clean, tidy & green”

The survey is manly about identifying broad areas of importance and over the next few months the consultation will move into a more interactive and participative phase. I will be organising Focus Groups and also activity-based workshops for the younger members of our community. I have also been meeting on Zoom with other stakeholders and I have received a very positive response for the Community Police officers, the local Fire and Rescue Service, the Neighbourhood watch scheme, and services within Falkirk Council. It is absolutely essential that all our local groups are involved, and if they are willing, I will be keen to facilitate Focus groups with our Tenants and Resident Organisations, Community Hubs, Social Clubs, the Nailer Park groups and the Camelon Community Centre. I have also received an incredibly positive and encouraging commitment to the local strategy form the: Camelon Arts Project, The Conservation Volunteers, the Community Sports Hub, and the Cyrenians Navigators Project. Once I have been able to collate all the consultation materials and Focus Group feedback, I will be holding a community action planning day. The aim of this will be to work in partnership with all of these before-mentioned groups and agencies and other stakeholders to put together the local strategy and agree a programme of activities which will make a positive contribution to making Camelon and Tamfourhill a safer, happier and more attractive place to live.  

  

camelon, coach, collaboration, community, development, funding, Our Place, resilience, Support, tamfourhill

How you can make a difference

Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill

Hi. Welcome to my second Community Coach blog. This week, to further highlight why my role exists, I’m going to talk about how I can help you or your organisation to make a positive difference in the area. Before I say more, please take 3 minutes to watch this TED talk from musician and entrepreneur, Derek Sivers.

I love this video because it shows how simple it can be to get a group of people together to work towards a common goal. Okay, the people in this video are just dancing on a hillside (nothing wrong in that of course!) but as the speaker points out, it teaches us some important lessons about how groups of people work. This can really help us as we look to bring more positive change to Camelon and Tamfourhill. So, which type of person described in the video are you? Or which would you like to be but don’t know where to start? Let’s explore further.

Leader
The person running the group or cause – the maverick – the lone nut – the one with the vision – the one who can’t sit back and do nothing – the one who’s often frustrated at the lack of action – the one needing others to get involved but not knowing where to find them.

Is this you? Are you running something that’s going pretty well but needs a fresh injection of life? Are you plodding away with something that’s been going a while but just seem to go over the same ground all the time? Are you trying to get something started but can’t get others to join you? Or do you simply have a dream of something that could be, but don’t know where to start?

How can I help you to make your dream a reality? What do you need? People – funding – general guidance – a venue – visibility – training? I can help you with all of this so just get in touch.

First Follower
Often just one person joining in on the journey can make life easier. Are you that person? You saw in the video how just one person joining in slowly started a flood of helpers. Is there a cause that you want to get involved with and you’ve either seen/heard of someone wanting to do something about it but don’t know how to make the first move? Or are you passionate about something like the leader above, but would rather not be the one to lead it? Maybe you want to be that first follower but don’t think you’ve got the necessary skills or abilities to do so. I can help! You may be the key that unlocks the potential of someone’s dream!

The Crowd
Are you waiting for the momentum to get going on something before you jump on board? Will you jump once you’ve seen positive results? That’s all fair enough but you need to be ready to jump at some point! What do you need to help you do that? Self-confidence – skills based training – more information – networking skills – signposting? Again, I can help! Don’t be the one who sits back and just lets others jump forwards to help. The only barrier to you getting involved and being included in order to bring positive change, is you!

Why bother?
Its a fair point. You may have lived here for a huge part of your life and just see the same old things happening with the same results. You may be new into the area and finding it difficult to integrate or worried even that what you suggest has been tried before and failed – but has anyone asked why it failed?! Or you may be somewhere in the middle but still don’t know what to do, where to go, or even why to do it.

As people, we are made to live and work with others in a positive community where we can thrive. We are social beings that have evolved to exist within communities. American politician Paul Ryan said “every successful individual knows that his or her achievement depends on a community of persons working together.” To grow and develop, we need to create a working team around us that is not necessarily all in agreement all the time, but that will work together for a common goal. Stephanie Caldow says in her article ’10 Traits That Make a Good Community’ that: “Involvement in a positive and encouraging community has a tangible impact on individual self-awareness and fulfilment. Positive experiences with communities allow individuals to feel more connected to their environment and the people in it. This form of connection also provides a support system for people when they are in need of encouragement or sympathy. Strong feelings of connection to the group also work to combat any mental illness that can arise from alienation in the form of anxiety and depression. Positive community experiences provide members with a sense of belonging and the feeling of being able to express themselves without feeling judged. Communities that excel at promoting this feeling of belonging encourage members to speak up about their ideas and opinions, which, in turn, leads to members considering their positions from a deeper perspective.” *

I see so much great stuff that is being done already but there is still so much more that can be done. Some ideas start well and then fall down very quickly or just drag along – often because people don’t get involved, but also because people do get involved and are not fully embraced or included by the leaders or even by the first followers, so they drift away again. Let’s work together to continue making Camelon and Tamfourhill a thriving, positive and encouraging community for all people that live here and not just those that are visible.

Summary
I’ll leave you with some quotes from the video that started this piece off, but before I do, let me reiterate that I am here to coach you – to work with you. This is not like previous support activity when people do everything for you but equally you will not be left to struggle on your own. Let me work with you to support, train, encourage, guide or whatever! And so to these final words from Derek Sivers, taken from his video above:

“If you are the type [of person] that is standing alone, remember the importance of nurturing your first few followers as equals so it’s clearly about the [cause], not you.”

“Leadership is over glorified. Yes [someone has to be] first and they’ll get all the credit, but it was really the first follower that transformed the lone nut into a leader.”

“If you really care about starting [something], have the courage to follow and show others how to follow. And when you find the lone nut doing something great, have the guts to be the first one to stand up and join in.”

* Stephanie Caldow quote taken from https://positivepsychology.com/10-traits-positive-community/

camelon, community, Our Place, safety, tamfourhill

Keep Camelon and Tamfourhill clean, tidy, and green:

bighosie

Welcome to my second weekly blog which will be focused upon some of my thoughts regarding the initial responses from the Community Safety Survey.  I felt it would be useful to focus upon one theme each week and to get the ball rolling in the process of agreeing the likely community safety priorities, and what projects and activities can potentially be developed to address these local concerns.

You can find a summary of the survey responses at www.surveymonkey.com/stories/SM-DGDS9QRD/

This summary focuses on two of the themes and has been collated at the 6 July 2020. Please remember that in order to be entered into the prize draw to win a Tablet you must have completed a survey by the 7 August. You can find the survey at surveymonkey.com/r/7T2DVL8

Although the broader theme of environmental issues and open spaces has so far not been a particularly significant one, the detailed results within that theme have confirmed that 83% of respondents were either greatly or fairly concerned about: dog fouling, discarded rubbish/littering and fly-tipping. This therefore suggests that a priority area for development must involve clearing up badly littered spots/locations, keeping these areas clean and tidy and ensuring that the community, local businesses, and other agencies play an important and successful role with that process. I recently took some photographs of obvious locations that are strewn with litter and which are unsightly and a potential health risk. I also gave consideration as to how these areas could be improved and kept tidy whilst also contributing to the biodiversity and amenities within our local community. I’ve put them together in the video at the end of this weeks blog. This illustrates the negative areas and offers some possible ideas for transforming these locations for the benefit of both the community and the need for greater biodiversity.

Keep Scotland Beautiful:  Clean up Scotland Campaign

I have been researching anti-litter projects in different communities and I have found the work carried out by Keep Scotland Beautiful to be helpful, in particular their “Clean up Scotland Campaign.” This provides a workable template for Camelon and Tamfourhill and registering our local Projects with Keep Scotland Beautiful would facilitate many local benefits. Their approach is more than just about tidying up an area through holding litter picks, although that activity does feature, but in addition their tool kit provides guidance on developing your own local anti-litter campaigns. This involves publicity techniques, networking approaches and strategies for involving community groups, schools, local businesses, statutory agencies, and the media all working in partnership to successfully transform trouble spots into positive, recreational, and sustainable locations. The Organisation highlight their ISM approach, that stands for: Individual, Social & Material, and these three interrelated factors underpin their suggested approach to local community tidy up Projects.    

Here are some details lifted directly from Keep Scotland Beautiful Tool kit for Community Clean Ups.

Larger group actions:

Organise and register a Clean Up with us Clean Up Scotland is our widest reaching community campaign and so far over half a million people have been involved.  As a rapidly developing and widely recognisable volunteer activity, by organising a Clean Up you will be setting the example for others in your community and showing them that it really is possible to make a difference.  By wearing the bright recycled tabards, we supply, your group will also be providing others with a behavioural ‘nudge’, reminding people that littering will not be tolerated by the community.  It is really easy to register your Clean Up with us and to get advice and resources to make it a great success.  There is lots of useful information on the Clean Up Scotland pages of our website, but the community projects team are always happy to answer any of your queries by phone or email.

If you would like to register your Clean Up event, please visit: www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/register

“My walk to Tamfourhill Community Hub”
camelon, coach, community, development, lockdown, resilience, safety, Support, tamfourhill

Community Coach Update

Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill

Hi everyone – Dan Rous here – Community Coach for this area.

Here we are 2 months into post and what a 2 months it’s been. I’ve begun to connect with groups in the area that I know about or who have come to me for support, but I know there are many groups out there that I could be working with.

So, if I haven’t contacted you yet, please don’t be offended. Just drop me a line and let’s begin the conversation. Whether you are really well established or starting out; whether you think you qualify for help or not – I am here for you. Contact details are on the flyer and on our contact page.

A lot of my time so far has been spent in various zoom meetings, gathering information that will be of benefit to groups as they look to get started after lockdown. I’ve emailed various bits of information to people directly, but will use this blog to widen the reach of the information.

For this week’s blog, I’ll focus on information that may be of help for those that have a building that is accessed by the public.

Preparing for re opening
Slides from an information session led by the Social Enterprise Network Scotland’s Tourism and Hospitality Forum.

Getting your business back to work
A handout prepared for Third Sector groups but with generic business info from Anderson Strathern.

Scenario Planning
A useful document prepared by Midlothian Third Sector Interface to help with planning for all possible scenarios in this current time.

Social Distancing Policy
An example policy shared with permission from Community Focus Scotland

Finally, here is a summary report from a recent week of network sessions discussing what was needed to help get Third Sector organisations back up and running. It was collated from the discussions and sent to Local Authorities and the Scottish Government to inform their planning. Whilst there is little by the way of direct information, reading this may help you realise that you’re not the only one thinking a certain thing!

That’s all for now. I’ll be back next Thursday with more updates, information and encouragement.

camelon, community, Our Place, safety, Support, tamfourhill

Community Safety Strategy

bighosie

Identifying Local Community Safety Priorities.

Hello – John Hosie here – Community Safety Engager. Welcome to my new weekly blog on Community Safety. Hopefully you’ve received our flyer that should have come through your door in recent days. This is what it looks like:

I launched a consultation recently in order to get your input on the latest Community Safety issues that you are facing. Currently the most significant community safety themes are: Anti social behaviour, Substance misuse, Traffic/roads & Crime and disorder. This is very early into the consultation process and the survey in particular is concerned with gathering some baseline data and looking at broader themes and trends. There are indicators of the more specific issues which will need to be looked at in greater detail and will be further explored through Focus Groups and Workshops. These issues, in no particular order, may include: Littering, fly tipping & rubbish, an array of concerns related to substance misuse, speeding vehicles at particular locations in the community, theft from sheds/garages especially bike theft and a general desire to access support, information and advice about community safety issues through a web based resource.

Please complete the survey so that we can collate as many views as possible. The closing date is 7 August and you could win a Fire HD10 Tablet in our Prize Draw.

Key Messages from Stakeholders:

  • We need to encourage local people to take more pride in their area
  • There seems to be a reluctance to travel out of your neighbourhood to access services, activities and facilities.
  • There are issues around violence which are often associated with incapacitation and drugs
  • There are strong positive neighbourhood identities
  • There are well established and well used facilities and community groups, Our Place Camelon & Tamfourhill has had a positive and effective impact upon the local communities.
  • There are open spaces which could be improved and better used for leisure, learning & recreation.

Interesting Data from the Survey Responses so far:

  • Only 6 people under 24 years old have completed a survey
  • 73% of respondents are female
  • 67% of respondents would like to be either kept informed or be further involved with the local Community Safety Strategy.

You can view a summary of the current survey data here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/stories/SM-DGDS9QRD/

Finally from me for now, here’s a video from Road Safety Scotland with a stark reminder of the dangers of speed. But before you watch that, remember if you want to contact me direct, I would love to hear from you. You can email communitysafetyengager@tamfourhilltro.co.uk or call 07391 524528.

camelon, community, lockdown, Our Place, resilience, safety, Support, tamfourhill

Preparing for life after lockdown

Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill

Whilst we still do not know timings for being able to reopen buildings or restart activities in full, there are some tasks that we can be doing now to prepare. These tasks will help you to be ready to go as soon as restrictions are lifted to avoid losing any more time.

We have seen that some activities have been able to restart now in a restricted way, whereas others will be at least Phase 3, or more likely Phase 4, before they can begin – when that will be is unclear still. We will do our best to keep you up to date, but advise that you also keep in touch with a regulatory body for your own activity for specific information.

The information below was gathered from a presentation by SportScotland, but can be applied to all groups that either operate or make use of a multi-use facility eg Community Halls, Social Clubs, Church Halls etc. Not all of this will apply to all groups but it is worth having the full list so that all bases can be covered.

  • Consider establishing a Covid Response Group rather than leaving all the preparations to the existing management committee.  There will be a lot of admin to undertake of which regulatory bodies, governing organisations, and even us at Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill, are hoping to break things down in to easy to manage systems, but it will still involve a lot of localised input and action.
  • Example of things to be prepared/considered:
    • Reinstatement Plans – how, when and to what extent will you reopen the facility?
    • Policies and Procedures will need revising including your Health and Safety Policy
    • Risk Assessments will need revising – Templates will be available from some governing bodies in the coming days and weeks.
    • If the facility has been out of use for a while, water tanks should be tested for legionnaires, plus gas/electric services should be properly checked.
    • Car Parking provision should be reduced to allow social distancing.  People dropping participants off to activities should be advised just to drop off and pick up and not to have a social gathering in the car park.
    • Identify high traffic points and consider one way systems, using fire exits where necessary so that people may come in one way and leave another.
    • Check with insurers that they are happy for you to reopen.
    • Increase signage – standardised signs are available from many sources but your own governing body may have specific ones for your activity.
    • At present, changing facilities should not be used including showers, but follow guidance for when these can be safely used again. 
    • If you have multiple groups using your facility, new programming will be needed to allow for cleaning in between sessions.
    • If you rely on multiple groups then your capacity could be considerably reduced at least in the early stages of exit, so consider if it is financially viable for you to reopen at an early stage.
    • Have plans in place for reporting any outbreak of the virus especially to the Scottish Governments Track and Trace programme.
  • Take time now to prepare for reopening rather than get to the point of reopening and not be ready.
  • Guidance on First Aid Kit additional items is being made available.  Information on First Aid and CPR is available at: https://www.rlss.org.uk/news/cpr-during-covid-19 and also https://www.sja.org.uk/get-advice/first-aid-advice/covid-19-advice-for-first-aiders/
  • General information on all of the above and more can be found at https://www.hps.scot.nhs.uk/web-resources-container/covid-19-guidance-for-non-healthcare-settings/ and also at https://www.nhsinform.scot/illnesses-and-conditions/infections-and-poisoning/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-covid-19-physical-distancing

This is just scratching the surface but is hopefully a helpful guide for you amongst all the other information that is out there just now. If you need any help, feel free to contact us in the usual ways.

Image courtesy of SportScotland

camelon, community, safety, tamfourhill

Community Safety Survey

bighosie

Please take 5 minutes to complete the Community Safety Survey for Camelon and Tamfourhill. The survey responses will contribute towards the formation of a local community safety strategy. There will be further opportunities to get involved with the strategy, through volunteering and action planning, so please get in touch with John Hosie if you would like to be kept updated and or more involved with the Project.

You can enter your completed survey into our prize draw and win a Fire HD 10 Tablet.

https://tinyurl.com/ycbes5qw