Tag: Community Development

community

Launching the Safer Communities Youth Action Project

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Review of the Summer Programme 2023

Staff, volunteers and young people who all took part in #SummerProgramme23

#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.

peer consultation in the rain
Ballot boxes for people to vote on youth action
visiting community assets

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.  

Sailing by in tranquillity
Lunch at Lock 16
Clearing up the canal
learning bike maintenance
fire lighting with flints
rubbing flowers

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:

AGEMALEFEMALENON-BINARYNUMBERS
 12 years and under28 (21%)65 (48%)5 (4%)98 (72.6%)
13-15 years old21 (16%)16 (12%)037 (27.4%)
TOTAL49 (36%)81 (60%)5 (4%)135
Breakdown of participating young people by age and gender.

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:

Save our No 6 Bus !
community

Twilight Sports Drop -in Resumes and new innovative Youth Action Project to be launched.

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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. 

Twilight Sports Interview for TV

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 20th 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.

  • Community Safety Partners at the Forth Valley Sensory Centre
  • Info stalls
  • Home Energy Scotland
  • Open Doors
  • Some of the Partners

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.

Family and friends attending the recent John Muir Presentation evening.

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.   

community

Making our Streets Safer for Active Travel and Providing Positive Community Activities for our Young People:

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Thanks to Isla Rous who made this poster at Easter Carmuirs Primary School: It provides a really positive and creative message about the importance of active travel to and from school

In one of my very earliest blogs back in 2020, I highlighted the role that Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTN) can contribute to creating a safer community. This reflected the feedback I had received from the community safety survey and the various consultation activities that I had undertaken. A key outcome of the Community Safety Strategy was therefore stated as: There will be greater road safety and an increase in the level of Active Travel, and to achieve this I would support projects that encouraged low traffic neighbourhoods, promoted greater active travel, and created safer school streets. In this respect it was great to be able to announce in last month’s blog the Sustrans supported project: Easter Carmuirs Pocket Places which is focussed upon making it safer for children travelling to and from Easter Carmuirs Primary School. This will involve a partnership with the school, community, Falkirk Council and OPCT where Sustrans will deliver simple and low-cost adaptations around the school gate and surrounding streets with the intention of these interventions helping to increase safety, improve place quality and encourage active travel in the area.

Camelon Road Safety and Active Travel Project:

I am very pleased to introduce a new initiative which is focussed upon the streets around Carmuirs Primary School and Camelon Community Centre and will also involve the Camelon Early Years and Childcare Centre along with the Forth Valley Sensory Centre. The concerns about road safety and the danger especially for young people accessing local community amenities and the Nailer Road Park in particular were initially raised with myself by members of the Camelon Community Centre Management Committee.In response to this I am grateful that Forth Environment (FEL) Links Active Travel staff have responded positively to these concerns and have enthusiastically come on board to provide resources, guidance, and direct inputs to develop a Project that empowers local groups and organisations to examine the exact nature of the road safety concerns at these particular locations and work with them to identify potential solutions. Drew Taylor from FEL has been working closely with the young people and teaching staff at Carmuirs Primary School who recently conducted a detailed road safety survey around the streets of Camelon and have identified changes which they believe will make the streets safer for the young people and encourage safe active travel to and from the school and other local amenities and community facilities. The respective partners will all be working on their own priorities for road safety, active and accessible travel from their own perspectives. FEL will collate all the different groups survey results into a combined report which will then be used to involve the other key stakeholders with the view to bringing about the necessary changes and improvements which will make that area of Camelon safer for active travel. I will present the key findings and suggested improvements for road safety and active travel in this part of Camelon once the final report has been published.   

Twilight Sports returns for a winter programme:

After the success of the Twilight Sports Pilot Programme throughout the summer its absolutely fantastic to announce that there will be an indoor version of the programme kicking off on Friday November 4th in Tamfourhill Community Hub from 6pm-8pm, the Programme will again be free for all 10-16 years olds, and this will run initially for 6 weeks with the last session for 2022 taking place on Friday December. Similar to the outdoor programme the plan will be to move the locations around Camelon and Tamfourhill, however at this time of writing I can’t yet confirm where the venues for January and February 2023 will be, but I will off course announce these well in advance of the start dates. The focussed sports for the first six weeks will be rollerblading provided by the Falkirk Wheelers and fun football once again run by our qualified football coach Grant Ferguson.  This will be a different experience from having the sessions out in the freedom of a public park and that will bring some new challenges, but it is very much hoped that there will be the same welcoming, open and positive atmosphere. A tremendous new addition will be the involvement and support of new youth work staff who will have a specific role to engage with and get to know the young people who attend every week, and we are hoping that this will provide a useful and wider service for local young people which and can be the start of further young person led community projects. A big part of the role of the youth workers will be to listen to young people’s issues and respond to their ideas and aspirations and they will also be able to provide young people with advice and support as required. The Twilight sports is very much about community safety and in this respect the Community Police Officer and the local Fire Service will continue to regularly visit the Twilight sessions and get involved with all the young people who come along. Dr Bike will be back to service bikes for free and where possible carry out basic repairs, the full programme will be available in the next couple of weeks on our Social media platforms and through the distribution of flyers. I look forward to seeing lots of the young people returning and taking part and Friday nights will once again be a great experience for all the young people, staff, and volunteers.  

This is what young people told me they liked about coming to the Twilight Sports Programme

All Games Allowed at Nailer Road Park:

I have been supporting this Arts project over the last year, the initial idea had been developed by community artist Mark Bleakley and it has been further rolled out with the support of the Camelon Arts Project. We were at Nailer Road Park last Wednesday where we were joined by an enthusiastic group of young people who spent the afternoon creating their own version of the All Games Allowed ground based creative games court. We appreciated the support of the Nailer Park Tenants and Residents Organisation who came along and helped out, and the young people came up with some colourful crazy designs and ingenious games, the photos illustrate their temporary creations made with the spray chalks and gaffer tape.  

Safer Streets Open Doors Events:

There will be a continuation of the Safer Streets roadshows which we are now calling Open Door Events and they to will also be moving inside for the winter period. The format will be similar to the roadshows but will be more structured with each community safety partner having their own stall set up within the various community venues. The statutory services will again be in attendance, including Falkirk Council, Police and Fire Services and a wide variety of local third sector organisations will also be participating: Forth Valley Recovery Community, Transform Forth Valley, Neighbourhood Watch Scotland and the Forth Valley Sensory Centre, there will also be stalls and information available from local community organisations and groups. Full publicity with dates and locations will soon be available and the intention is to begin the events on Thursday 3rd November. This is a good opportunity to raise issues, concerns and bring new ideas to all off the main community safety services and agencies and to be able to access them all under the one roof, tea and coffee will be available and there will be a very warm welcome from all of the Community Safety Partners and local Groups.

Safer Streets Partners at Tamfourhill October 2021
camelon, collaboration, community, development, growing, litter, Our Place, Support, Tidy Clean Green

Community Renewal

Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill

Community Coach Blog, Dan Rous, 17 February 2022

We are so pleased to be able to reveal to you that a decent chunk of funding is coming into various projects and organisations in the Camelon and Tamfourhill area thanks to the UK Government Community Renewal Fund.

The UK Community Renewal Fund is a UK Government programme for 2021/22. This aims to support people and communities most in need across the UK to pilot programmes and new approaches to prepare for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. It invests in skills, community and place, local business, and supporting people into employment. For more information, visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-community-renewal-fundprospectus

John teased some of this news in his blog this week but here’s the full info.

The whole consortium was brought together initially by Scottish Canals, but is led by the Green Action Trust. As well as them and us, the other partners are Artlink Central, Go Forth and Clyde, Keep Scotland Beautiful/Canal College, Forth Valley College and Forth Environment Link. Things were initially meant to start in August/September time last year but delays from the funder mean we’re all only just able to get going now. This has been frustrating for all partners as many briefs have had to be amended or completely rewritten. But now we can get going with a total of over £700,000 coming in across the whole consortium – and we’ve only got until June to wrap things up!

Our involvement in this consortium is in two smaller projects totalling just under £40,000, supporting groups to work alongside you, the wider community, to vision how various spaces could look and become in the future, both short and long term. More on this is a sec, but for now, a little on what visioning really means. This quote from Simon Sinek says it nicely:

“Vision is the ability to see that which does not yet exist.  As we slowly bring that vision to life, more people will start to recognise the work we’re doing and join our crusade.  But, like an iceberg, there will always be much more waiting to be revealed underneath the surface.” Simon Sinek

For some time now, a small band of volunteers have been working on a number of projects and activities. Many of them are tired but still full of passion for what could be, which is why they keep going. So, the middle bit of Sinek’s quote is gold, and I think reflects where many people are. They want to be involved but prefer to wait until things have started, then they might consider jumping in once they’ve assessed the lay of the land. That’s totally understandable but, with the work that will happen over the next 4 months, now is the time to jump in. There will be a wide range of ways to get involved and have your say between now and June. Online, offline. Activity, discussion. Formal, informal. And more! So, I hope that many of you will take up the opportunities to do so, otherwise quite simply, if you don’t like what develops then you have little room for complaint if you haven’t had your say! And as Sinek says, more information, ideas, passions and skills will come out of hiding as more people get involved. That’s absolutely what we want to happen!

So, what is going to be funded? There are 2 projects.

Easter Carmuirs Park
The Green Action Trust (formerly known as the Central Scotland Green Network Trust) is back to work alongside the community on taking forward hopes, plans and visions for the park. A draft masterplan was prepared by them back in 2017 that led to the installation of paths, trees and some meadow areas in 2019. But what next? Many ideas were suggested back then, however people have used the park more and begun to understand it in a different way now that you can walk on paths across it and appreciate its scale more. The consultant will work with us and you to bring a meaningful plan together that satisfies community aspirations, attends to community safety matters that have been raised, and present a workable timeline for developments so that full clarity is there for all – something that was missing last time around. Crucially, this will be a chance for the Friends of Easter Carmuirs Park group to come together properly. We teased this back in the Fun in the Park event last October with the hope that this funding would have been in place before now. But now is the time for this group to form, with our support, and become the vehicle to apply for funding and take future developments forward. Watch out for all the ways you can get involved if you live around or use Easter Carmuirs Park in any way at all.

Carmuirs Area
Tidy Clean Green will be leading a range of activities and consultations assisted by us and with external help from The Conservation Volunteers. This is to build on the work that’s been happening over the last year or so with particular focus on the area next to Camelon Juniors car park, and the Brown Street Park. These next few months will give a chance to start pulling together all the strands of research, consultation and activity, and present a workable and fundable plan at the end of the process that can be taken forward either by Tidy Clean Green or another local group. As mentioned earlier, John’s blog this week talks more about this project and reflects on an event in the area last week that was bringing further ideas together from local people. Activities will include litter picks, planting, training sessions, pop up parks, community events and more! Plus this will link with the existing art work and climate action projects that are in process alongside this activity.

So there you have it. We are absolutely thrilled that these areas will get a much needed step forward over these next 4 months. It won’t deliver anything large or secure all the funding needed. But it will take us a massive step forward, importantly, with you the community absolutely engaged. There’s obviously a lot more to what I’ve highlighted here, and we’ll keep you posted as time progresses. This is simply a summary to get your minds whirring. We look forward to working with the consultants, Green Action Trust, Tidy Clean Green, and of course, you, to make further positive change in our community.

Until next time….

Dan Rous
Community Coach
07444 873151
communitycoach@tamfourhilltro.co.uk

community

Family Fun for the Future Last Friday

bighosie

The sun shone on the Juniors Car park and the people gathered for Fun for the Future Community Safety event last Friday 11th February. A good turn out with a variety of outdoor activities for the family, including make your own bird feeders, cooking marshmallows on an open fire and some den building and all  taking place on the grass area and on the car park. I would like to thank TCV , Tidy, Clean and Green, Go Forth and Clyde and other local volunteers who made all the outdoor activities an enjoyable success. This activity programme is all about illustrating how that space can be better used and for it to be a safe space for local young people and families. Please watch out for further community safety  activities taking place at that location including litter picks, pop up parks  and outdoor learning opportunities.

Cooking marshmallows on the fire pit

Inside the Camelon Juniors Social club  there were tabletop workshops for everyone to take part in , one was facilitated by Aniela from Camelon Arts Project where every person got a chance to design their own community wall mural. A wide range of ideas and creativity were used, and I look forward to examining the creations in greater detail as I am sure some of these themes can be worked upon and can form the basis of a more permanent community mural for the wall outside the football ground. I ran a workshop where I encouraged everyone to choose and prioritise the  facilities , equipment, and types of activities that they would like to see included within a local safe play facility. Again, the results were wide ranging and interesting, and I will of course be reflecting upon many of these ideas and collating the results into a report which will be used for further community discussions. The third discussion table was facilitated by our two community Police officers PC Robert Hill and PC Amy Muir, there were some free goodies to take away and lots of discussion about keeping the community safe and secure. It is absolutely clear to me that the permanent installation of CCTV and adequate lighting at that location are paramount local community safety concerns.

Hot chocolate to keep everyone warm

As I pointed out too many people last Friday, we are a very long way away form any permanent play facilities or play  parks getting built at the location or anywhere else in the Carmuirs area, however these events are part of a wider community discussion that I am very keen to keep going and I would like to encourage more people to come forward and engage with these events and community conversations. I know talk can be cheap but the plan over the coming months will be to support a programme of ongoing environmental improvement for that area. This will involve hands on experiences, training opportunities, focus groups and off course lots of fun activities for the youngsters and their families to regularly take part in. We may be a long way from making permanent structural changes to that area but through the work of the Tidy, Clean and Green Community Group and the resources they have secured to commission a consultant there will be a wide array of environmental improvement  work being carried out around that neighbourhood. This will be enabled through the Community Renewal Fund that has been secured by Tidy, Clean and Green where the Juniors car park, the old Brown Street park and surrounding areas will be a very  lively and active location over the spring and summer months. This is about community engagement and involvement and there will be loads of learning opportunities, but they will be delivered in a fun and enjoyable way. Please keep an eye out for further activities and events , I have some people’s contact detail which is great,  but I will also ensure that all the environmental programmes and opportunities planned for the next few months are well publicised and they will feature prominently on the Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill Social media  platforms and other local Facebook pages. As always please get in touch with me: John R Hosie Community Safety Engager, communitysafetyengager@tamfourhilltro.co.uk 07391524528

The temporary ice rink was a very popular outdoor activity
community, Mental Health, Support, training

THRIVE is back!

Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill

Community Coach Blog, Dan Rous, 30 January 2022

You may remember that we piloted the NHS THRIVE to Keep Well programme at the end of last year. This went well and produced some great results with most of the participants. We’ll publish a report once it has been finalised from all the relevant authorities, but the positive change reported and clearly seen in many of the participants was a joy to be a part of. So, I’m so pleased to say that that programme is back, this time in collaboration with Carmuirs Primary School and to be held at Camelon Community Centre. (I’m only sorry that I won’t be around to be a part of it.)

To remind you, the THRIVE to Keep Well programme supports adults who are experiencing mild to moderate mental health and wellbeing challenges. Participants are brought together in individual male and female adult groups within their local communities. The programme was developed to assist individuals to rebuild their lives by increasing their skills, knowledge and awareness of their own personal health and wellbeing, and aims to support participants to feel more integrated into their community by helping build positive social networks, improve personal development, and support participants to develop their own social and economic lives.  It is a life-changing programme for participants that attend, helping them to feel empowered with skills, insights, confidence and tools in order to take control of their life; it brings out the very best of them to embark on a new journey to making a change.

This community asset-based programme reaches parents and adults aged 16+ within their own community, to encourage social connectedness and increase peoples control over their health and lives. 

The programme is delivered over 16 weeks through one session of 4½ hours per week within a community setting using a three-stage model that has been designed and developed with structured learning outcome sessions which has enabled the integrity and continuity of its delivery. During the sessions, participants learn about stress, anxiety and how to make positive changes through a variety of group and self-reflection activities. Participants also take part in relaxation, creative, health, safety, and community awareness sessions.

The THRIVE to Keep Well programme uses the acronym THRIVE to demonstrate a participant will have the opportunity to be Transformational in their journey to making positive Health and wellbeing changes, by being a Responsive Individual, to feeling Valued and Empowered by improving knowledge, skills and opportunities in a variety of ways to move towards a positive destination.

The programme aims to improve participant’s:

  • knowledge and management of day to day stress and anxiety.
  • self-esteem and confidence through self-development and reflection techniques.
  • motivational goal setting techniques to enable health behaviour change.
  • awareness of the NHS Keep Well programme and promote higher uptake of the health assessment.
  • confidence and motivation to improve on life skills to further learning, volunteering and employment.
  • role as a parent to further develop the skills and confidence that will improve family relationships, support children’s learning, behaviour and attainment and enhance wider wellbeing.

So, for the next running of this programme, have a look at the poster below, that gives all the information about when and where the programme is running, and who to get in touch with to get involved. I really hope that this programme will continue to grow and provide more fantastic support to local people.

coach, community, development, Our Place, Support

Legacy

Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill

Community Coach Blog, Dan Rous, 23 September 2021

What will people think of you when you’re gone? Okay, that’s maybe not a cheerful question to ask you so let me put it another way. What impact are you having on those around you right now? If asked, how would people describe you? Now I know the answer to the last one will probably be “it depends on who you’re asking”! But think generally. How would people describe you based on your contribution to your family, the community or even the wider society?

Regular readers of this blog will know I have often focussed on how people are getting involved in the community – or rather, how I can support them to do so. You will also know that I mention that not just for the fun of it, but because I genuinely want to support people to grow and in turn, for the community, and the activities within it, to grow. My personal mission statement has for some time been “developing projects that enable people and communities to be developed” and I have been personally blessed over the years to see so many people get involved and move into whatever a positive destination looks like for them.

So, back to the question I started with but in another different way – what will your legacy be? What impact are you having now, that will be remembered by others in years to come? What project are you involved with that is creating positive memories for others? In the video below, Simon Sinek talks about this and reminds us that often we won’t even know the impact we’re having on people in our lifetime. That leads me to another angle on this. If someone is having a positive impact on your life right now or has in the past and you’re still in touch, please go and tell them now! Don’t wait until you’re at their funeral to share your memories. Its so wonderful when people tell you how you’ve impacted their lives and will actually make you feel great too for doing so. We did an exercise in the THRIVE to Keep Well session this week where everyone got a Self Esteem Tree filled with comments that the other group members wrote about them. It was amazing to see the reactions from the members as they heard such lovely comments about themselves – some of which they may not have thought was true or certainly hadn’t heard said to them for a while. The power of that moment was immense so please, make any impact known to those who are helping you, or even just say something nice and encouraging to someone you come into contact with today.

But back to how we actually create a positive legacy. You can watch the video below but I’ll also pull out some key points as I see them. Sinek talks about how we play what he refers to as the “game of life” and what impact we will have depending on what rules we set to playing this game. He talks about our choice of having a finite or infinite mindset to life. Okay, fancy words here, but quite simply, finite means being pretty much closed off within your own world with your own needs in mind, whereas infinite means you have a wider outlook on things. He says, if we choose to have a finite mindset, our focus is “I’m going to be number one. I’m going to make every decision as to what will pay me more, what will get me more power and what will get me more influence.” If that is all we focus on, we can very easily end up lonely, stressed and having various health related issues. Our circle of friends is likely to be very very small.

I know I’ve made wrong decisions before about jobs, but I’ve also made some really good ones based on what impact the job can have and not at all on how much it pays me. What that is about is, to return to Sinek’s wording, playing the game of life with an infinite mindset. This means, he says, “we live our lives with the knowledge that we will die, and we want to leave this world, our families our friends, in better shape than when we found them.” This all might sound a bit morbid, but really, deep down, we want people to have good things to say about us when we’re gone. To enable that to happen, we need to start building the legacy right now.

Sinek goes on to say that “so many people think about their legacies at their end of their lives, when they face their own mortality – that’s the problem. Only when they face their mortality do they start thinking about legacy and giving it all away. … Why not live your entire life thinking about your legacy, meaning what impact will we have on the lives of others. No one wants to be remembered for the amount of money they made. No one wants on their tombstone the last balance on their bank account or the title on their business card. We want to be remembered for the impact we had on the lives of others.” (Have a watch of the short video below.)

So what can you be involved in that will help create that amazing legacy? You may already be doing it which is great – let me thank you right now for what you’re doing. But for those of you reading this who aren’t sure what legacy you’re creating or even how you can create something, then give me a shout. I would love to be able to coach you so that you find the answers to the questions you’re asking – and even to those questions you don’t know you need to be asking! Get in touch, and let’s create some amazing legacies for ourselves and for this community of ours.

Until next time.. ..

Dan Rous
Community Coach
07444 873151
communitycoach@tamfourhilltro.co.uk

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

Communities Matter

Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill

Community Coach Blog, Dan Rous, 16 September 2021

In my blog last week, I invited you to join the Community Revolution. But what does this really mean? Can you, members of the community, actually make a difference? Quite simply – YES!! Let’s explore this a little further

What I love about working in Community Development is the ability to be alongside local people and help them to make a real difference on their streets. To help them gain new skills, try new things, meet people just down the street who they’d never met before, fix issues, start new projects and so much more.

Our friends at the Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC) have put together a great piece that explains Community Development in 60 seconds. You can see it here.

They explain that “Community development is a process where people come together to take action on what’s important to them.” Read that statement again and notice the key emphasis. People – you – come together. People – you – take action.

As community, we cannot rely on external bodies to do everything for us. This is not the place to argue whether they should be or not – we all have our views and probably agree on a lot but we don’t have time to banter that topic right now. It is worth noting however that those of you living in Tamfourhill (Ward 7 – Falkirk South) have the opportunity right now to challenge those wanting to be elected to serve in the bi-election next month. Ask them how they will help the community actually develop and how they will work alongside you. (All of you will get that opportunity next May when all council seats are up for grabs).

Aside of that, if you see an issue and instantly think that someone else will sort it, have you ever wondered if you might be the “someone else”? Could you be the person that steps up and makes a difference? SCDC suggest (and I agree) that there are 4 principles that are the foundation of Community Development:

  • Self-determination – people and communities have the right to make their own choices and decisions.
  • Empowerment – people should be able to control and use their own assets and means to influence.
  • Collective action – coming together in groups or organisations strengthens peoples’ voices.
  • Working and learning together – collaboration and sharing experiences is vital to good community activity.

What this means is that even if you’re the one who steps up first, there will be others who will join you. They might take a little while to come, but they will come. Together, you make your own choices, take control, form a collective voice, share resources and learn from each other. The second point is especially important. Empowerment has become a buzz word lately and there is a lot of talk about empowering communities and individuals. Unfortunately, the meaning gets lost when those deemed to be in positions of power simply give their permission for locals to do things. That is not empowerment – that is passing the buck. People need to feel that they are empowered with choice, opportunity and real genuine power. To be able to take control of who they are and what happens around them. There are various ways to do that so let’s have a chat.

SCDC continue that Community Development “recognises that some people, some groups and some communities are excluded and oppressed by the way society and structures are organised.” I don’t think we’d disagree with that statement. But rather than wallow in self pity and throw out another social media rant that the keyboard warriors will jump on, together you can turn the tide and create a more positive future.

So what is it that you want, either for yourself or your community? Do you want to learn? Do you want to tidy the place up? Do you want to do something active? Do you want a new group to start? Let’s be honest – the list is probably endless for all those questions (and more) together. But we have to start somewhere. One of our tasks here at OPCT is to support you to move forwards but also to manage expectations. We cannot fix everything and certainly not quickly. But together, we can do a whole lot more.

Let’s stop just talking about community matters and remember that communities matter. Let’s change the emphasis – together.

Until next time….

Dan Rous
Community Coach
07444 873151
communitycoach@tamfourhilltro.co.uk

Image source: Scottish Community Development Centre website

community, development, resilience, Support

Need some inspiration?

Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill

Community Coach Blog, Dan Rous, 9 September 2021

On Tuesday of this week, I was privileged to be part of the facilitation team for a Scottish focussed UK Jamboree for Asset Based Community Development, or ABCD as it’s easier to call it! I’ve spoken about this method of community work in a previous blog, and this online Jamboree was a chance to celebrate all that is good about communities.

The first UK gathering happened around 6 months ago and an outcome from that was to have regionally run gatherings, showcasing all that was great and good in different areas to a wider audience. A Scottish team was quickly established and together we set about to plan an event that would be the first one in the baton passing format. So I joined a team that included Community Development workers from the Strathcarron Hospice Compassionate Communities team, a Community Coordinator from Corra Foundation based in the West of Scotland, and the founder of Village in the City in Edinburgh. We quickly assembled a plan with some speakers, 2 of whom would do 20 minutes and 4 would do 5 minutes. This meant we could squeeze as much great stuff into the half day session as possible.

Just short of 100 people gathered for the event from around the whole UK and beyond – including from Bulgaria, Poland, Portugal and South Africa! All of them gathered for a good time of celebration but I don’t think any of us were prepared for just how inspired and enthused we were going to be. So here’s some highlights from each of the speakers that I picked up and hopefully they’ll inspire and enthuse you as well.

Cormac Russell, Nurture Development
Cormac is the go to guy for all things ABCD and pulled the first UK Jamboree together. He kicked things off with a few words of welcome. He spoke about the power of people and reminded us that it’s all about the process, not just the product. This all relates wonderfully to how you just engage with and work alongside people towards a goal, but how because of the strengths and ideas people bring, the end goal may be different to what was first thought out. The journey to get there strengthens the community to sustain whatever the outcome was. He also encouraged us to stay “in trouble” and quoted from the Leonard Cohen song, Anthem: “Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget the perfect offering. There is a crack, a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” (I’ll put the full song video at the end of the blog). As always, simply brilliant from Cormac.

Fiona McKenzie, CentreStage
This is an arts project in Kilmarnock but really is so much more than that. Fiona spoke of creating a Welcoming Happy Place where people write their own stories. They even received some funding from a regular funder to “do something” and the outcomes were worked out later. The aim being that the Centre users had the say in what developed. The key quote here being that “choice brings empowerment”. How often have I mentioned about stopping doing stuff to people but just work alongside them and let them lead the way? This project is a shining example of that.

Tamsin Ferrier, Denny Poppies
Tamsin is a resident in Denny who, during Lockdown, had the idea of creating a Remembrance Day project that was similar to something achieved in her original home town. She admitted she has lots of ideas but struggles to keep quiet! (we know a few people like that too!) The amazing thing about this project was the ripple effect created by such a simple idea to make poppies to decorate the town. Tamsin spoke of how the project overcame negativity (you know the type – don’t do that because it’ll get wrecked), by simply focusing on the positives. Oh yeah, and not one poppy got wrecked. The takeaway message was this: “By everyone doing a little bit, we can make a huge, huge difference to where we live”. Brilliant.

Frances Park, Carbrain & Hillcrest Community Council
We heard about how real support for people in this area of Cumbernauld grew out of a frustration that every other support process was a referral system. Frances told us how they needed to support each other – they needed a voice – so they just started a swap shop. And from what started out as covid support, they now have a funded Development Worker and a Community Hub!

Lynne Boslem, Tamfourhill Community Hub
We heard of the journey from a group of 8 parents wanting a club for their children, to the amazing community resource that exists now and is still growing. Lynne spoke of the desire to truly meet the needs of the community but also about the challenges to learn things really quickly especially when it comes to asset transfer. Many were impressed with the Play Park, so an influx of visitors is to be expected! Although with many asking if adults can use the zip wire, they may have to supervise things closely!!

Leah Davcheva, Dragalevtsi, Sofia, Bulgaria
Reflecting the true European nature of Scotland, this project was highlighted as it is an outpost of the Edinburgh based “Village in the City” project. Leah spoke of “sparkling moments” from their project called The Triangle, where a community garden project has created so many opportunities for the people in the area. One resident said that they “spoke with people I had previously seen only behind car windows”. Leah added that the very fact that we know each others names is, I think, an achievement.

Sam Green / Mia McGregor, Creative Stirling / The Cube Project
Mia told us how her creative arts project was born out of frustration. She was fed up with always having to tick boxes, so decided to turn a box into something positive. From the grand total of £400 that she scraped together, 3 years later over 23,000 have engaged with the project and have had creativity sparked within them. She added that the cube works better if there’s no specific question and people can just take part and connect. Sam added that when we get to know each other, we treat each other better. Enough said!

Astoundingly, while the speakers were just selected because they were great, a couple of clear themes were picked up by people in the zoom chat and on twitter. Firstly that you only need a tiny spark of inspiration to make a huge difference. Secondly, getting to know people for who they are can really change a community. In fact one quote on the chat was “the more people in a community know each other by their first name, the safer that community is”. And that’s how simple developing a community can be – bring people together, help them to get to know each other properly and talk about their strengths. It’s about genuine relationships and connection.

There are many challenges within this way of thinking to those that think they hold the power and are perhaps perceived to be the ones who can make a difference. Nothing can happen without people so why don’t we turn things around and come together properly as local people and show them how it’s done. You have the real power. At the risk of repeating myself yet again, let’s stop looking for the negative and focus on the positive by creating even more new positives. (And for the record, all 20 trees are still growing nicely in the ground where the Tidy Clean Green volunteers planted them almost a month ago).

The tide is turning for the better but there is still so much to do – still more of you to meet – still more names we all need to get to know. Those who are getting involved already need some wing men/women. Who’s up for it? Come and join the growing Camelon and Tamfourhill community revolution.

Until next time, as promised, I’ll leave you with that Leonard Cohen song I mentioned above.

Dan Rous
Community Coach
07444 873151
communitycoach@tamfourhilltro.co.uk

camelon, community, gardening, growing, Our Place, Support, tamfourhill

Community Growing Update

Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill

Community Coach Blog, Dan Rous, 13 May 2021

For this week’s blog, I’d like to take the opportunity to bring you an update on our Community Growing group with some of the activity that has been happening, and what’s ahead – including (as you would expect) how you can get involved.

Community Tool Sheds
Earlier this year, we were successful in securing funding from the Community Climate Action Fund to purchase and equip 2 community tool sheds. We have now put one of these into place at Tamfourhill Community Hub, and the other will be going into a location in the Camelon area shortly. A couple of volunteers helped build the first shed – complete with around 200 tiny screws and washers, and although there’s a bit of internal work to do and a few tools on back order, this is now operational. Here’s some pictures of the shed and if you need access for anything, please get in touch for the padlock code. Also, if anyone has some chipboard or equivalent that would cover the floor area (900mm x 2100mm), I would love to hear from you. Contact details are below.

Tamfourhill Community Hub
Some growing activity has begun in raised beds outside Tamfourhill Community Hub, and they’ve also got a potting shed and greenhouse in place now. Donations of veg plants have been received and planted, plus various plans are being made. There are a few volunteers involved already but there is always room for more. They are having a growing session for adults on Wednesday 19 May from 10am to 12pm. They have various thoughts and will be looking at many different options. Obviously restrictions apply, so if you would like to go along then please email Thillcentre@live.co.uk

  • Community Tool Shed items in full use by these excited young planters

Forth Valley Sensory Centre Kitchen Garden
One of the Community Growing Group volunteers – Nicholla – has been putting in a power of work sorting out the various raised beds in the Kitchen Garden at this fantastic local resource. She has worked with groups from Windsor Park and Carmuirs Primary and they, together with the team at the Sensory Centre, are immensely grateful for the support from Nicholla and the wider OPCT team. This is the beginning of a fantastic partnership.  We’ve been able to supply compost, plus thanks to the generous help of the a local Garden Centre (who have waived any publicity), we also supplied some seed potatoes.  We look forward to tasting the fruits of their labours in the Centre’s café in due course!

  • pictured before the tidy up began!
  • pictured before the tidy up began!

Brown Street Park
Following suggestions from some residents, we conducted a consultation of 175 properties in the area surrounding Brown Street Park to see what the feelings where about developing this long abandoned space into a community growing space. We’ve had some really positive feedback (87% of responses) but also a few negative comments, so we will be making further investigations about what could be done here. To help with this, on Friday 21 May there will be a bit of activity in the Park. We will be hosting the first of 4 “Veg Your Ledge” workshops with Forth Environment Link at 11am – spaces are limited so get in quick! While that’s happening, there will be a litter pick to tidy up the park and myself and my colleague John Hosie (Community Safety) will be on hand to chat to people about their concerns and suggestions for the park and the surrounding area, plus we’ll have some specific information and resources for dog owners. All being well, our Community Police officers will be with us as well. Come along – we might even have biscuits!

Veg Your Ledge Workshops
As mentioned in the previous section, we’re hosting some Veg Your Ledge workshops with Forth Environment Link. Spaces are filling up but there’s still some available, so head to the booking page to get yourself checked in.

Joining the Group
If you’d like to get involved with Community Growing in Camelon and Tamfourhill, why not join our group. We plan to make this a formal group very soon so will need to form a small management committee that will then be able to go after funding for growing projects. However, don’t let that put you off joining as I’ll be providing full support and if all you want to do is grow stuff, then that is absolutely fine! If you’re interested, please complete this survey to log your details onto the group system and I’ll be in touch.

All of this is a key part of the new Community Safety Strategy that John has pulled together with your input, and forms an important part of the #tidycleangreen campaign as well. We have big ideas for what could happen including some more links with other local organisations, and would love as many people to be involved in this as possible – at whatever level you wish to be. Who knows – Camelon and Tamfourhill in Bloom could be a thing again!

Until next time…

Dan Rous,
Community Coach,
communitycoach@tamfourhilltro.co.uk
07444 873151