Category: Our Place

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

No Wrong Path

Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill

There has been a lot of talk about exam results over the last week or so. You or your child may have been one of those affected this year – either positively or negatively. Whatever the situation, this is not the place to get into the rights or wrongs of what has happened.

Personally, I was rubbish at exams! I am originally from well south of the border, and was the second cohort to take on the GCSE’s which had a bit more coursework that counted to the final result, but was still quite exam heavy at the time. But what I have learned over the years is that as important as our time at school and those exam results are, they do not necessarily close any doors to a positive future. We should all make the most of any learning and development opportunities that come our way throughout our lives, especially at school but through our later years too. But we should also never think that we’re stuck on a particular path if it isn’t working out how we hoped. That’s also kind of been the theme of our #MondayMotivation images that we’ve been sharing each week.

Over the last couple of years, the social media hashtag #nowrongpath has grown momentum. This is when people share their journey to where they are now and prove the point that where you start out isn’t always where you end up. For some, they know where they want to go from an early age and make every effort to get there. But many others start out on a direction and either find it wasn’t for them or that life has opened their eyes to other opportunities. So, for this week’s blog, I thought it might be helpful to share my journey to where I am now, that will hopefully serve as encouragement for those who think they may be stuck or not sure where to go or what to do.

  • Left school with 3 GCSE’s;
  • Took and passed a 1 year Construction Course at college – planning on being an architect;
  • Re-sat 2 GCSE’s and passed 1;
  • Switched plan and started a 2 year Business and Finance Course;
  • Got offered, and accepted a job after the first year work experience placement on that course and began working in finance for the NHS;
  • After 3 years, I was made redundant and spent a short time working as a Kitchen Porter – doing the dishes in the staff canteen of a large Pharmaceutical Company;
  • Eventually got a part time job in finance at a University Student Union;
  • Also got another part time job at a Christian Bookshop which later became a full time job;
  • After another 3 years, I returned to finance to become a Regional Finance Assistant for a large Christian Charity;
  • Left 3 years later to go to Bible College;
  • 15 months later I moved to Scotland with my now wife;
  • Spent 4 months working as a Chef in a busy Restaurant;
  • Spent 18 months as Assistant Cafe Manager for a Charity run Community Cafe;
  • Was then involved in setting up a Charity run Furniture Re-Use Project and managed this for 6 years;
  • Spent 2.5 years as Managing Director of a Furniture ReUse and Community Support Charity;
  • Left to take on 2 Development Roles – one for a Community Development Trust to move them closer to having a Community and Sports facility, and the other for a large Christian Charity setting up Charity Shops and Furniture Projects;
  • Also established a consultancy business, helping people to turn their Ideas to Enterprise;
  • After just over 3 years, I left to work in a full time Development Role to convert a former Church to a Community Facility;
  • Just over 4 years later, I am now in this Community Coach role.

I started with some wild idea to be an architect, discovered I was better at finance stuff, did a bit of catering, then got involved in charity enterprise activities, learning about development and Social Enterprise as a result, discovered a passion for “Developing Projects that enable People and Communities to be Developed”, and ended up in what for me as I am just now, is the perfect role. I guarantee this would not have been the journey a careers person at my school would have set out or even been aware of the end destination. It’s not exactly a linear path!

So, whatever stage of life you are at, or if you’re trying to encourage a child of yours along the way, be encouraged that there is no wrong path on the journey of life. And if you have a passion for something burning inside you and either don’t think you could achieve it or haven’t got a clue where to start, then I would love to help you. Please get in touch and let’s see if together, we can get you on your next right path.

camelon, coach, community, development, lockdown, Our Place, tamfourhill

The power of Community

Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill

Why are we here?! Okay, that’s a big question to start off this blog with. But let me pull that apart a bit. Why are you where you are? Why do you live in this community? Why do you get involved in the things you do? Or conversely, why do you choose not to get involved? What is it about this community that holds you here? Who is your community?

Sorry for all the questions but I think they are important ones to address as we work to develop things in this area. Arguably, community is the one of the most important things in life and can be the biggest tool for personal growth. Before I go on, have a look at this short video:

Okay, so I’m not asking you to walk around in groups of 6 holding a grapefruit! (For those who didn’t watch the video that will not make any sense! It might be worth popping back and having a quick watch!) The message of the video is about how different people groupings can work together to be a community with a common goal. No matter your age, race, religion, sex, or interests – it is absolutely possible to be in community together. If you are isolated (I’m talking generally – not through shielding), you only have one perspective on life – yours. It’s streamlined and very specific. By linking up with others, you can expand that perspective to introduce other passions, interests, fears, issues, gifts etc. When people mingle together they create something bigger plus you also get to see a new side of yourself based on feedback from others from what they see in you.

As we slowly begin to come out of lockdown, we will all have had a different level of experience over the last few months to bring with us into whatever the world is going to look like. Many will have spent more time than usual in the community. You may have taken more walks around the area – seen parts of the area in a different light or even for the first time. You may have seen different people – maybe even said hello to them. But that is all it takes to take a step into community – a smile or a simple greeting.

John and I will talk a lot about growing ‘community’ over the coming months. That can take many different forms and involve all types of people from all different backgrounds. But anything we get involved in will be for the express purpose of enhancing our community and all those who live within. In order for this to work, we all need to learn to love the community around us – warts and all – and allow ourselves the opportunities to grow. If we miss out on community – we miss out on encouragement and so much more.

Look at the world around you. Look for your community. Find the people. Invest in each other. Together, we can make Camelon and Tamfourhill even better.

When you think about it, there is one skill at the centre of any healthy community: the ability to see someone else deeply, to know another person profoundly, and to make them feel heard and understood.

David Brooks

Until next week…..

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

Turning enthusiasm into action

Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill

Clever people tell me of the ancient Greek word “enthos” which means “from within”. Literally, it has religious connotations, but from this ancient word we get todays word enthusiasm. So what is your ‘enthos’? What enthuses you? What gets you out of bed in the morning? Is it money? A necessity? Or a passion to do, be or create something? Or maybe you don’t know what to do with this dream inside you. Maybe you have an idea, a passion, a goal that is burning within you and you don’t know what to do with it. Maybe life – those around you – your own mind – is telling you that you can’t do anything with it.

Everyone has a different ‘enthos’. And everyone has a right to bring that to a reality yet so many miss out because they never took that first step. Or worse, that someone stopped them taking that first step. If you’re enthusiastic about something, now is the time to put things into action.

I should add at this point that there are those who don’t like the word enthusiasm or enthusiast. They change it for ‘fanatic’ or say the person is literally ‘possessed’ by the topic or activity in question. Okay, that may be a very literal translation of the word but we are not going anywhere near that kind of description – it is not helpful and stops some people with a genuine enthusiasm for something from actually going through with it.

It is said that the wealthiest place on the planet is a graveyard, because of all the ideas, dreams and passions that lay unfulfilled. That enthusiasm someone had for something but never went through with it for various reasons. That idea to create something that never came through because someone told them it would never work. That passion to develop a local activity that never got off the ground because of lack of support.

Let’s not allow this kind of history to repeat itself. Whatever it is that is burning within you, we’d love to chat with you about it. We can help you work through the processes you’d need to go through to make it a reality. Through our direct support, and signposting you to the support of others, your ‘enthos’ can come out from within your mind and become a reality.

In closing, have a watch of this short video that asks what drives you. It uses a lot of sporting imagery but take note of the dialogue. Now is your time.

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”
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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.