Tag: community

community

The Big News at the BBC:

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These are exciting times for everyone connected with SCYAP and the TTRO, and I am absolutely delighted to announce that we have been successful in being awarded a three-year grant from BBC Children in Need. This is a significant  endorsement of our Youth Action work, and it will facilitate so many additional opportunities and new developments for local young people and the community. We look forward to working with BBC Children in Need over the next three years and also in partnership with the National Lottery Young Start Programme, along with our other project funders. I would like to personally thank the TTRO who supported me with the BBC Children in Need application process and who undertook the administrative tasks that are required with major funding bids and applications,    

BBC Children in Need are very focussed  upon the positive  differences and impacts that their funded  projects have upon the young people and children that are involved , and in this respect we will be aligning their funding over the next three years  with three of our key outcomes:    

*Young People will have better connections with the wider community.

*Young people will have increased opportunities to take part in activities that address community safety and reduce their risk taking.

*Young people will increase their social skills, confidence to learn and levels of attainment.

This is a significant phase for  SCYAP in terms of local community developments and the involvement of local young people. There are  number of priorities that  we will be focussed upon over the next few weeks, so this would be an excellent time and opportunity to get involved with our Youth Action Programmes. In response to our recent Development Day and with this new tranche of strategic funding in place  we intend  to coordinate a forward planning day specifically focused upon the new BBC Children in Need resources and I will highlight this and how you can get involved in due course. Linked with this is a commitment to  enhance the role of volunteering with SCYAP , including the creation of a meaningful progression pathway for young volunteers which hopefully also can move them along the employment pipeline.   

Always the Sun:

The Sun has shone on an incredibly busy but dynamic Summer Programme 2026, and we have been witnessing some excellent community involvement and lots of personal developments and achievements. The Totem Pole Active travel Procession took place in blazing sunshine on Wednesday 8th July,  and it was a fantastic day which connected community with canal. Our colleagues at Go Forth and Clyde conveyed the young people on two canal boats, one being the famous Jaggy Thistle, from lock 16 up over the Falkirk Wheel right to the location of Totem Pole one.  We were then joined by families and friends and supporters from  FEL and the Environment manager at Scottish Canals. The procession worked its way along the active travel route and down the towpath, we stopped at some poles and took part in different nature themed creative activities and games, and the day concluded with a tasty barbecue at the YAG Bench.

Our Communities Treasures:

Creativity is a central facet to the work of SCYAP and this year’s Summer Programme community arts  project was named by the young people: Our Communities Treasures; This was an idea that had been developed by our 10-12’s group during the Development Day at the Well Wild Project on 21st June, this was all about making a treasure trail that highlighted  our most valued local community assets. The Group identified  14 key locations or assets, many  of which had been  developed by young people and SCYAP, including : The Twilight Sports, the Well Wild Woods, Falkirk Wheel, The Wild Bench in Easter Carmuirs Park, The Biodiversity and Active Travel Mural at Camelon Railway Station, the Tamfourhill Community Hub  and a host of others. Our young volunteer Victoria who is  undertaking her Silver Youth Achievement Award was tasked with creating a web page for the treasure trail. Each of the fourteen Community treasurers has a stone designed with a duck and a QR code which are secretly positioned at each of the fourteen locations. The QR code on the stone ducks links you to the webpage and the full treasure trail map. Have a look at our web page here or even better go to the actual  locations and try and find the ducks:

https://www.sarahdiverlang.com/localtreasures

Summer Fun In the Park:

Our community fun days in the park have a theme of Standing up for Nature and this year they are part  funded through the Greenspace Scotland Parks4Life Community Fund. We started in a very blowy Easter Carmuirs Park on the 2nd of July and were very busy with families and young people. The smoothie bike proving very  popular and illustrating the power of sustainable and reusable energy and off course the production of a tasty and personalised smoothie. Our colleagues from FEL also attended with Dr Bike, lots of scooters to encourage active travel around the park and with  some environmental  engagement tools. The sports as always are very  popular with fun football and rollerblading provided by our long-term partners  the Falkirk Wheelers’.  There were nature focussed activities with the design a  plant pot and plant a pea seed and the production of bird nesting boxes. Our Communities treasurers was represented by a map making stall where people could screen print a map of all the main community assets that appear on the online treasure trail. The second fun  in the park took place  on Thursday 23rd July in Nailer Road  Park, the sun again shone down upon everyone who came along and engaged with this quality green asset within our community. The final Summer Fun in the Park session is scheduled for Thursday August 6th 1pm-4pm in the wee park on Carradale Ave next to the Games Court in Tamfourhill.    

And Finally:

A big part of our Summer Programme has taken place at the Well Wild Forest school , Bushcraft and Nature Therapy Project, and at this time of writing we are preparing for the final stage of our overnight survival activity. The group of ten young people have been preparing and practicing their skills all this week and very soon they will put them into meaningful practice. This activity is part of their Dynamic Youth Award programme, and their personal developments and learning have to date been very noteable. I will provide further details  of the overnight survival experience and the wider Youth Awards programmes in next month’s blog.   

community

Always the Summer Sun

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Summer 2026 has already left its mark on us with Scotland stumbling out of the world cup, but please don’t be too down about that unfortunate outcome, because it’s now  a case of NO SCYAP NO PARTY for the rest of the school summer holidays.

We began our summer activities with the SCYAP development day on Sunday 21st June which took place in the community centre that has no walls at the Well Wild Project  in the Rough Castle Woods. As SCYAP moves into its second tranche of three-year funding from the National Lottery Young Start Programme, this  then was an appropriate time to review  the Projects Development Plan and take stock of the areas of work we had supported over the previous three years. The approach to achieving this was facilitated  through bringing young people together in an empowering way to work in partnership with the staff, volunteers and members of the Tamfourhill Tenants and Residents Organisation. There were opportunities to work and learn together, along with some creative workshops looking at planning our summer community arts projects. The Well Wild Projects ethos afforded us the positivity of working together as a team and building trust amongst each other. The young people responded very positively to the role play activity we undertook which impactfully  highlighted the importance of working in an inclusive and empathetic way. We look to the future of SCYAP  with hopefully a sense of collective responsibility and ownership  of local youth action and future community development activities. A full report with proposed areas of  future activity is currently being collated and with the potential  availability of increased funding we can now move forward in a  more strategic and connected  way over the next three years. My personal thanks to all who participated and to my cofacilitators Sarah Diver Lang  and John Wells for their specific inputs  and support with the days programme.   

I was delighted last week to attend the P7 Leavers Assembly at Easter Carmuirs Primary  School and offer my support to the Class of 26. We had been working with  the class since last November on their Dynamic Youth Award Challenge: To experience nature and to help nature in their local community.  The class from Easter Carmuirs along with young people from Carmuirs Primary and the SCYAP Creative Climate Action Group were all distinct strands of our commitment to  deliver upon  young people’s priorities for local climate action and standing up for nature.  Young people have been involved with planting orchards and clearing up the local canal, experiencing nature in the local parks and at the Well Wild Project. The Carmuirs group have also  established a wild garden within the woods next to the Tamfourhill Community Hub. Creativity formed a significant part of the respective groups programmes and with all three groups being involved with the design and creation of  the Active Travel Totem Poles Trail. The Totem Poles are now installed along the active travel route on the Onion Canal through Tamfourhill so I am therefore overjoyed to be able to invite everyone along to  an Active travel Procession past all ten of the Totem poles, please meet  at 1pm on Wednesday 8th July, food and drink will be  provided, the starting and meeting point is at this link

https://maps.app.goo.gl/8C6hF2XAU7YbhRso8

Consistent with our Youth Action approach all of the young people successfully gained two- and three-star Dynamic Youth Awards through their involvement and contributions  to these Climate Action and nature based creative Programmes.    

I want to give a special mention to the work of the Carmuirs Community Safety Group who we worked with since the start of 2026. This was a collaboration between the school , SCYAP and the Well Wild Project and was focused upon responsibility, accountability and managing risks in the community. It was a challenging programme, very hard hitting and dealing with very sensitive issues. The six P7 boys excelled on this programme and watching their development over the 4 months was inspirational. I was delighted to present them all with their Dynamic Youth Awards and we look forward to their continued participation in their community. This project was an excellent example of the power of collaboration between the school and youth work sectors.

SCYAP Summer programme begins  on Tuesday 30th June with our trip to  Falkirk Fire station, we have an amazing array of creativity, outdoor learning and good fun activities. As always our programmes are underpinned by a commitment to get young people  more involved  with their local community and provide quality social and personal learning opportunities. The programme is  open to 10-18 years olds and is entirely free, some activities however are only available for 10–13-year-olds and to book on please use the QR code detailed below.

There will be three Summer Fun in in the Parks events delivered by SCYAP this year which are being part funded by Greenspace Scotland Parks 4 Life Community Fund, this first is on Thursday 2nd July from 1pm-4pm in Easter Carmuirs Park, the flyer below provides all the details, these events are open to all the community , however under 10-year-olds will require responsible adult supervision in order to take part in some of the activities.    

And finally, I am really pleased to announce that we successfully secured a two-year package of funding through the KFC Youth Foundation which will be utilised to deliver our key youth action activities and to support developments around the  Twilight Sports Programme. To gain this support is a very real endorsement for the work of SCYAP and our ability to deliver quality activities which are having significant positive impacts upon young people and the wider community.    

community

Easter Programme 2026, Community arts and new orchards on the Canals and the Presentation of Youth Awards

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Easter Programme 2026:

The clocks have gone forward, and the nights are therefore lighter and with spring hopefully around the corner, I am very pleased to announce our Easter Twilight Sports and holiday activity Programme.  The focus will be the three local public parks, and the programme is detailed below: its open to all 10–16-year old’s and is completely free. I would like to acknowledge our funders Fairer Falkirk’s School holiday food and activity fund along with our local funders Camelon Community Sports Hub and the Falkirk Flight community grant  provided by Mackenzie Construction. The programme will include: fun football, rollerblading with the wonderful Falkirk Wheelers , nature-based activities, tree planting and some creativity and with everyone receiving a snack and drink. We will be joined by Forth Environment Link (FEL) and their Dr Bike service, so please bring your bike down to your local park for a health check and any repairs, provided they are not major, will be carried out by FELs skilled bike mechanics.   

Climate Action Event:

SCYAP hosted and coordinated a very successful young people’s climate action event on Friday 6th March in Tamfourhill Community Hub. This was supported by FEL, TCV Scotland, CVS Falkirk and the Scottish Wildlife Trust. A series of hands-on  workshops and activities were enjoyed by the  young people who responded positively to this experiential approach to learning  about climate change and how we can take local actions to mitigate the challenges and damage caused by global warming and the resultant climate crises. The workshops included: the smoothie and energy creating bikes, building birds nesting boxes, an interactive stall about red squirrels, designing plant pots and planting sunflower seeds , sustainable food activities and a workshop looking at personal experiences of climate change at a local community level.     

Creating Totem Poles for the Active Travel Route along the Canal.

Throughout March our attention has been focused upon the top canal through Tamfourhill. This   has engaged groups of young people with planting fruit trees to create two new community orchards and has also kick started the beginning of our new community arts and active travel project. Through funding provided by @WalkWheelCycle and in partnership with Scottish Canals the Tamfourhill Totem Pole Trail will constitute a 1 km active travel trail connected by ten distinct totem poles placed along the active travel route through Tamfourhill. These totem poles will be a structural and illustrative celebration of the local wildlife that is found along the route and will also provide pointers and visual suggestions to encourage people to engage in different activities as they follow along the active travel route  by either foot or by wheels. Interestingly this route also forms a section of the John  Muir Way and therefore the  themes of conservation and enjoying nature are particularly relevant to this community arts project. To date our Creative Climate Action Group have been  taking part in  workshops that involved them with designing patterns and images based upon local wildlife and plants that you find around and within the canal and  also looking at informal  games using nature that  younger children play when outdoors. The two groups from the local primary schools have been creating  Land  Art installations,  some of which are  on the canal towpath, and these creations utilising natural materials will form an integral part of the final totem pole designs. This project will continue to be developed over the Easter holidays and beyond with installation hopefully happening in early May. The plan is to then have a celebratory opening of these new art installations along with an active travel event in the spring. Key facets of  this young person led arts project are the promotion of active travels role as a positive climate action, its significant contribution to good mental wellbeing and physical health whilst also taking  a  creative approach to local young people’s commitment  to  Stand up for Nature.

The SCYAP Blog for March is all about the canals, community arts, climate actions and the presentation of youth awards. And off course details about our Easter Programme and Twilight Sports 2026.

Youth Awards for Youth Participation

And finally, it is a real pleasure to announce the presentations of several youth awards for young people who had regularly taken part in the Youth Participation project from August through to December 2025. Shona Craig who is the Secretary of the Tamfourhill Tenants and Resident’s Organisation performed the master of ceremonies on Thursday 19th March when the certificates were awarded at the Tamfourhill Community Hub. These young people have shown a serious and sustained commitment to local youth action through the youth participation project and its absolutely appropriate that they receive the plaudits and recognition from the community for all their efforts and positive impacts. Ten Dynamic Youth Awards, including a 3- star award and several 2- star awards were made , along with three High Five awards and four Saltire National Volunteering Awards. Well done to every one of you, an amazing achievement #Youthaction.

community

#RightSpaceFuture

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A guid new year to everyone and our first blog of 2026 considers some long-term priorities  for young people living throughout Scotland. This could be a pivotal year for Scotland and its public services and with our national elections coming up in May we need to ensure that young peoples futures are at the centre of government policy and that resources are committed to achieving their best potential as active and empowered citizens.   

Scotland’s Youth Work Sector have recently  published a manifesto entitled A Right, A Space, A Future which outlines three national commitments Scotland must make to ensure every young person can thrive through access to high-quality youth work. Together, they represent the foundation of a stronger, fairer youth work system: guaranteed by law, universally accessible, and sustained by investment. 

The Three National Commitments:

  1. A Right – A Legal Right to Youth Work for All Young People
    Every young person should have an entitlement in law to access youth work services, regardless of postcode, background, or income.
  1. A Space – Universal Access to Spaces for Youth Work
    Guarantee free, fair, and consistent access to public spaces – such as schools, leisure centres, and community venues – for youth work providers, and create new, dedicated youth spaces in every community.
  1. A Future – Sustained and Increased Investment in Youth Work
    Implement fair funding principles with ring-fenced, multi-year funding at both national and local level, rebuilding the workforce and ensuring long-term stability.

We are all to aware at SCYAP how precarious our funding base can be, especially  as we await the outcome of our submission for continuation funding from the National Lottery. We should also acknowledge that our Project only exits because local community activists through the TTRO have given a voluntary  commitment to supporting Youth Action in their local area and that this provision is essentially autonomous and self-financing. The notion therefore of youth work being a legal and statutory right for all young people would be a massive undertaking by government, however we also need to be honest about the type of Scotland we want  to live in. If we want our young people and communities to thrive , be empowered , excellently educated , tackling massive issues like sustainability and climate change then we require our elected representatives  to enable that through the right policy decisions and actions. A significant part of that would be the candidates for Mays Scottish General elections to respond positively to these three national commitments laid out in the  manifesto and giving assurances of how they will support and progress these massive youth work commitments.  

SCYAP is planning to  meet with our  MSPs and councillors in mid-February to progress these  matters and we will support young people to be part of that process, and I will report on the outcomes of these meetings in next months  blog.  

Let’s ponder these comments:

Juliet Harris, Director, Together, the children’s rights alliance : 

“Recognising youth work as a legal entitlement would be a vital step in delivering Scotland’s commitments under the UNCRC. It would ensure that every young person, wherever they live and whatever their background, has fair and equal access to the support they need to thrive.” 

David Kennedy, General Secretary, Scottish Police Federation, : 

“A single youth worker can do far more for a young person than any type of enforcement. That’s why ‘A Right, A Space, A Future matters, it’s about prevention, safety and hope. The Scottish Police Federation fully support this manifesto as we must have sustained investment in youth work.” 

The full manifesto can be read here:

Click to access Youth-Work-Manifesto-2026.pdf

Young Person led Climate Action in January 2026

Standing up for and helping nature have been the key themes for the new year with our climate action groups at Carmuirs and Easter Carmuirs Primary Schools being out and about  in the local parks and woodlands and  quite often in very challenging weather conditions. Planting pollinator bulbs in Easter Carmuirs Park and the Tamfourhill woods along with making bird feeders from recycled plastic bottles and some toad abodes in the Well Wild Woods have been the key activities for this month. We are always keen to encourage creativity and the arts in all aspects of the SCYAP, so we very much enjoyed the pom poms workshops that were carried out by Sarah our community artist. This involved every young person attaching labels to their pom poms stating a personal commitment to take climate action, and these included: Planting a tree in the garden, organising a litter pick, using less plastic and having their own drinks bottles to avoid single use plastics.       

New Opportunities with Youth Scotland

We are really  pleased to have received resources and support from Youth Scotland to implement a couple of short-term projects with young people. Firstly,  through a Grassroots Youth Work Award we have begun working with a group of P7 from Carmuirs primary School. This groupwork programme will be looking at risk taking and community safety issues and will also be an accredited programme with the young people gaining Dynamic Youth Awards. The programme kicked off  at the Well Wild Project last Thursday with a session focused upon personal accountability.

Peer Mentoring Project:

In addition,  we currently have a young volunteer  undertaking his Gold Youth Achievement Award and this involves him delivering a Peer Mentoring Project. I have been supporting Leo throughout January to plan this programme with the delivery stage starting in mid-February. There will be  a focus of looking at the transition  from P7 to High School and a small group of mentees will travel this journey creatively over a five-week programme. Youth Scotland have provided training and resources for this Programme to happen, and this is an excellent example of how national and local collaborations can improve the lives for young people within their own communities.

Twilight Sports Winter Programme

The Programme continues through January and February every Friday from 6pm-8pm in Tamfourhill Community Hub , with Dr Bike in attendance on Friday 30th January and 20th February. Its all free for 10-16 year olds.

community

The past has been a great success, and the future remains unwritten

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So once again we are drawing to the end of another year, 2025 has been a very busy year and at times overwhelming through the levels and range of Youth Action that has been undertaken. There is no need to review the youth work as it has been detailed on our monthly blogs which has kept all interested parties updated and fully informed.  I would however want to highlight some important data and figures as detailed below which illustrate the outputs and hard successes of SCYAP in 2025: 

SCYAP Key data and outputs 2025Download

In reporting back this month to Foundation Scotland on the completion of our three-year  grant award . I commented that:  The funding provided through Foundation Scotland has contributed to young people gaining confidence, abilities and the skills to make lasting positive change in their community. A Youth Action approach was successfully delivered which has the dual benefits of improving young people’s connections with the local community whilst also advancing their own personal and social development. The funding leaves a legacy and the potential to build on existing success and further support young people’s contributions to the development and improvement of Camelon and Tamfourhill and to better prepare them for advancing through life as active citizens.

The notion of legacy and the potential for further Youth Action are both embedded within these end of grant conclusions, and the challenge for me and the TTRO is to now secure further funding and resources to take the SCYAP beyond this year and into the future. We are optimistic and it will not be for a lack of effort and commitment in what is a very competitive funding world. Being a small voluntary organisation can often feel like you are in an unstable and short-term reality, but it also enables greater levels of flexibility , creativity and localism that are simply not afforded to local councils, health boards or other public bodies

The young people who took part in the  Youth Participation Project were involved with their own end of Project evaluation this month. An opportunity for them to reflect upon their own experiences, what they had enjoyed and leant in the process and contribute to the feedback required to the funders. This Project was funded through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and is managed by Falkirk Council, so it was a fixed  term short project, and it was therefore important that a legacy was left in terms of local Youth Action. In that respect we have ten Dynamic Youth Awards and two High 5 Awards pending and a couple of Saltire awards  and the Article 31: The Right to Play mural boards are now fully installed at the Games Court in Easter Carmuirs. Notable feedback indicated that the young people really enjoyed attending the Lock 16  open day in September where they led their own stall , Article 31 activities and consultation process and also engaged with the general public and the other partners. I personally would like to praise the group very highly for that day , they were exceptional and a great credit to their peers and the community. OUTSTANDING !!!   

In the short term in 2026 we will  continue to support the work of the two-schools based Climate Action Groups at Carmuirs and Easter Carmuirs Primary Schools. This will be augmented by the formation of a community focused Youth Climate Action Group with all three working towards young peoples  agreed priorities for climate action as detailed in the report published in  April 2025. Work began with the schools in November and along with the  YAG they  will gain pace through  January and February. This work has been made possible through the funding received from FEL and their next steps climate action fund.  

The second phase of the Twilight Sports programme  begins on Friday 16th January 6pm-8pm in Tamfourhill Community Hub , the full programme is detailed below. Although we haven’t been quite as busy as previous winter programmes we do have a high energy and loud group attending every week. Thank you to our sessional staff, coaches and our volunteers, its been especially rewarding to  see two young volunteers giving up their Friday nights to come along and make the Twilight sports a resounding success.

Finally, a thank you to the colleagues and partners  who have contributed  to our end of year evaluations , completing surveys and discussing projects, this is an important aspect to planning future work and indeed sustaining the Safer Communities Youth Action Project.

community

Twilight Sports Winter  Programme , Youth Participation in October  and our Awards ceremony:

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The Clocks have gone back, and the nights are fare drawing in and that means it’s time for the SCYAP Twilight Sports Winter Programme to begin, which again this year will be hosted by Tamfourhill Community Hub. I would like to convey our thanks and gratitude to the Camelon Community Sports Hub who awarded us a grant a few months back to cover our winter programme 2025/26.

This funding injection from the Camelon Sports Hub  coincides with the ending of our 3 years funding from the Falkirk Community Schools Fund 2008 ,which has been the main source of support for all of our youth action programmes and activities and not least the Twilight Sports Programme. This funding support has been in place since the Twilights Sports was established after an initial pilot phase back in  2022 . Having met with the Falkirk Schools Fund Trustees relatively recently we are unclear when further funding from them will become available and indeed whether a continuing application would be successful or not. At this stage we can only thank the Falkirk Schools fund for their significant financial commitment over the previous 3-year period and also be equally grateful that the local community sport Hub similarly recognises the  worth and benefits of this unique form of community-based youth provision. The longer-term aim is to be able to sustain and further develop the programme over the next few years. I will of course keep the community and all our partners and stakeholders  updated with all potential options and  developments. For the time being lets  look forward to a 12-week winter indoor programme starting on Friday 31st October as detailed below and with the full involvement of our partners the Falkirk Wheelers , FEL, our young football coach, the regular volunteers and staff and the fantastic support from Tamfourhill Community Hub.

The October holidays afforded lots of opportunities to progress both the Youth Participation Project and the interlinked Right to Play Article 31 activities  over at the Games Court in Easter Carmuirs. An initial game of rounders involving 12 local young people and 3 members of staff got the ball rolling in many directions. We chalked up different methods for choosing teams and getting games started, and the game of rounders was nonstop laughter and some competitiveness as eventually  bad light stopped play. We reconvened for three days on the 15th, 16th and 17th October and began the process of taking the ideas from the Rounders evening and converting them into hand painted decorative signage which will now be mounted onto the Games Court perimeter fencing. Oot Skoot you are oot, Rock, paper scissors, knots and crosses and a new scoreboard for the cage will all feature along with some of the play images created by the Participation group through their consultation event at Lock 16 back in September.

Our Volunteering Matters Action Earth Project made significant progress in Easter Carmuirs park on Monday 13th October where  our volunteers Rachel and Alex led on a very busy bat and bug box building workshop. Six new boxes were constructed involving 12 volunteers, mainly young people and younger children  but also a couple of family teams. It was also really positive that most of the SCYAP volunteers  took part in the Green Action Trusts Neighbourhood trees project through a workshop conducted around the park. We would like to convey our thanks to our colleagues at Under the Trees who  made a huge contribution to a successful Wild Connections Falkirk’s Greener Future locally in the Easter Carmuirs Public Park.

The outdoor learning theme for this week was also explored and enjoyed by members of our Youth Participation Group who spent an afternoon at the Well Wild Project in the Rough Castle Woods. The Group learnt how to build and start a fire with flint and steel and then how to manage that fire safely to cook a chicken casserole. Using tools was another feature of the session and we also made time  for some nature therapy and off course time to play in the woods and reminding ourselves of Article 31 the Right to Play and to play safely and manage risks.  

On Thursday 16th we held a wonderful Youth  Awards ceremony for family and friends at Tamfourhill Community Hub. Well done and a massive congratulations to all the young people who received their Youth Awards Certificates at the Awards ceremony. High 5, Dynamic & Youth achievement and Saltire Awards. A very sincere well done from everybody at SCYAP, the TTRO and Tamfourhill Community Hub. Most of these awards were gained through young people’s  involvement over the Summer Programme 2025 but there was also some longer-term outstanding volunteering commitments being recognised and it was with a sense of personal pride and joy that we made all of these awards. What an amazing group of young people all committed to Youth Action and developing their own skills, knowledge and experiences. Youth Scotland

And finally, as always I like to conclude on a happy note, I am therefore very  excited to announce that the SCYAP funding application to FEL Climate Action Next Steps fund was successful. This was a strong application based on the implementation of our Community Climate Action Plan and the priorities and key themes identified by young people themselves at  our climate action events held back in February and March of this year. Its very uplifting to recognise that FEL have supported our climate action events and the work of the Climate Action Core Group over the last 3 years and have now further invested in the young people of Tamfourhill, Camelon  and Bantaskin to make significant positive contributions to local climate action.

community

The Right to Play, Youth Participation and Climate Week

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SCYAP was successful in securing a Community Empowerment Grant  from Falkirk Council which is funded through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. As a Youth Action Project we were keen to encourage further youth participation and to link that with wider community developments. The key aspects of a  Youth Participation approach , include; Taking part, young people having a say and being listened to , being involved with decision making, being  involved through your own choice, contributing to the community, enjoying activities and working with others and gaining national youth awards. Our new Youth Participation Project was targeted initially at young people who were not regularly involved with any of our previous or ongoing youth action activities and the programme began with an introduction and programme planning session at the end of August

A Dynamic Youth Award programme has begun and includes a wide variety of challenging activities which focus on teamwork, decision making, skills development and community involvement . Creativity and outdoor learning feature significantly throughout the programme and the Group had a brilliant day when they attended the recent Scottish Canals Open Day which was held at the  old Barrs factory in Tamfourhill.  This open day was an opportunity for Scottish canals and their partners at Historic Environment Scotland  to showcase the traditional  skills and the Centre  for Excellence that will operate from this building. The Open Day  also provided a unique opportunity for our  Youth Participation Group to contribute through their interactive games stall which promoted Article 31 of UNRC: The Right to Play  

UNCRC Article 31

I have a right to rest, relax and play

Adults should make sure children have the chance to play and relax in a safe, supportive and stimulating environment.

Governments should make sure children can be part of cultural and artistic activities.

When decisions are made about activities in the community, adults should include children in planning these.

Want to come out to play?

Our commitment to the  promotion of  Article 31 is being further explored through the second strand of our Youth Participation  project: A series of arts  drop-in sessions will take place at the games court on Mariner Avenue in Easter Carmuirs on the 15th, 16th and 17th October. If you are between 10-18 years old please pop along in the afternoon between 1pm-4pm, perhaps play some games, tell us about the rules and then design and build signposts and boards which illustrate these games. Part of this process will be involved with the design of new box seating for the Cage , and the process kicks  off next Wednesday 8th October at 5.30pm when you can come down for a game of rounders, get some free hot dogs and also tell us about the games and sports that are played at the Cage. This community arts aspect  of the Participation Project is aligned to proposals highlighted within the Camelon Community Action Plan in relation to improving communal spaces and increasing opportunities  for local young people.  

Scotland’s national climate week runs from 29th September until 5th October, and this is an opportunity to consider what climate action we can support and take which will contribute to tackling climate change and making our communities greener and sustainable.

Climate Week is an important awareness raising tool and to coincide with this I am very pleased to announce that we will be beginning the process of reinstating the community orchard that was recently decimated on the canal towpath next to Camelon Juniors football ground. We are extremely grateful to Scottish Canals who have found resources to replace the heritage fruit trees and the support of their Environment manager with the process of preparing the ground and the planting of the replacement orchard. We will be working on the towpath on Thursday 2nd October with the Carmuirs Youth Action Group who worked so hard and took so much pride with the planting of the original orchard back in February

Following on from the reinstatement of the Camelon Community Orchard we are excited  to partner with Under the Trees Outdoor Learning for an event called Wild Connections: Falkirk’s Greener Future that will bring a whole host of climate related activities to Easter Carmuirs Park on Monday 13th October from 1pm-4pm. SCYAP through funding accessed from Volunteering Matters Action Earth will provide volunteering opportunities to build and decorate bat and bug boxes. Forth Climate Forest will deliver a Neighbourhood trees workshop and Under the Trees have a climate scavenger quiz with prizes, crayon recycling on the campfire and acorn planting and a climate lab with climate experiments to explore. Although this is a young person led event the whole community are invited to participate, and the only restriction is that under 10’s must be accompanied by an adult of 16+ years old

And finally , SCYAP is overjoyed to acknowledge that we have 24 National Youth Award Certificates to present to young people , these in the main were gained through taking part on various activities during our Summer Programme 2025.  The overnight survival programme, community arts  project and its Stand up for Nature theme, the angling project and the wonderful active travel mural and arts installation at Camelon Railway Station. This included two Silver Youth Achievement Awards for our young youth action volunteers Leo and Victoria, my congratulations to you all, an outstanding achievement.

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Railway Station Arts Project Officially Opens, Experiential Learning in the Wild Outdoors and a Photographic Review of #Summerprogramme2025

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Climate Action through Saving Nature, Learning life skills through Bushcraft and Survival activities and having fun through connecting with  the local Canals and parks, these were the main  themes of the SCYAP Summer Programme 2025. The highlights included the opening of the Environmental improvements and community arts project at Camelon Railway station on Wednesday 16th July when Tracy Stevenson Scotrails Community Rail Executive joined local organisations including: The Fire and Rescue Service, FEL, Falkirk Council , FVSC and local community activists, when the new artwork was officially opened with the ribbon being ceremonially cut by Lucy Auld. Lucy gave total commitment to this project , giving up lots of her own time to work on the project and she was supported by other members of our Youth Action Group, the original designs had been worked up by her P7 Class at Carmuirs Primary School. Lucy will gain a Dynamic Youth Award for her outstanding contributions to this Project along with her friend from school Oliver Mcarthur who will gain a High 5  Award.

https://www.scotrail.co.uk/about-scotrail/news/youth-led-art-biodiversity-project-transforms-camelon-station

https://www.falkirkherald.co.uk/news/people/young-people-help-transform-station-access-path-in-camelon-5229985

The days celebrations then moved onto Nailer Road Park where SCYAP hosted a community  active travel day which presented a number of different and fun approaches to active travel. This included our regular partners the Falkirk Wheelers who provided inline skating around the park. FEL again supported our activities with their adapted and led bike rides also around the park , which encouraged a wide range  of participants including families and older people. Falkirk Council Energy and Climate Change Team  also provided a stall in the  park on the theme of sustainable communities. This active travel event was linked to the illustrations detailed on the mural at Camelon railway Station and these ideas are also aligned to our community climate action plan, similarly young people’s priorities for local climate action were also picked up by  our Summer Programme arts project when we supported 12 young people to Campaign For Nature.

Standing up for Nature, Appreciating Nature , Helping Nature, Understanding Nature, and Calmness in Nature were all statements from the group of young community artists when we began to plan our summer arts project. The Climate Action Events that SCYAP facilitated back in February and March had clearly demonstrated that young people were most concerned about how climate change was negatively impacting upon the plants, forests and animals around them, this in fact was a clear priority for young people in terms of taking positive climate action. We identified 4 aspects to the natural world around us: Sun, Water, Earth and Air, and we began to explore the areas around Tamfourhill and at the YAG bench on the canal. The Group developed their sketches into 4 large banners which depicted these aspects of nature, and this enabled them to learn new skills in screen printing, calligraphy, drawing and sewing. One of the group Anya was particularly interested in digital creativity, so she got further involved with the project and designed the poster which is detailed below. These images will be displayed around the community in the coming weeks along with a wider #Youthaction visual campaign called: Standing up for Nature, so please look out for the group’s creations appearing in public spaces around Camelon and Tamfourhill,  we plan to  run a competition where you can report your sightings of any of these images and win  climate action prizes.      

When I heard the storm and looked  out, I made haste to join it: John Muir    

SCYAP has formed a really good working relationship with the Well Wild project, and we have successfully developed programmes and activities that have an excellent synergy with our  key outcomes, and which take an innovative approach to experiential learning. Our  Bushcraft and Survival programme ran over a week and cumulated with the overnight survival experience at the  Well Wild Project  in the Rough Castle Woods. I would like to congratulate and acknowledge the resilience and adaptability of our group on the overnight experience when they had to contend with a period of prolonged overnight rain, a gathering storm and a degree of discomfort. Their skills were put  into action, teamwork and supporting each other were critical, fire lighting and their shelter building were all put to the test. The night was filled with screaming owls protecting their territory, startled foxes passing through the woods and difficult weather conditions. John Muir the Scottish conservationist and explorer  famously exclaimed in response to a rising tempest in the Sierra Mountains in North America that: “When I heard the storm and looked out, I made haste to join it” The SCYAP Group in their own fashion did similar and their  learning was consequently substantial and will have impact well beyond the 18 hours they spent over night in the woods, with  a plethora  of life skills  being developed. Each young person remained focused on achieving their personal Dynamic Youth Award learning targets and it will be an absolute pleasure to later present their certificates.  

Summer Programme 2025 in a compendium of photos:

 

Unfortunately, some Bad news:

Everyone connected with SCYAP were absolutely deflated and disappointed to be informed that the only Community Orchard in Camelon has been wiped out by extensive ground clearance on the canal towpath. The planting of this orchard was a joint project that was planned and implemented with Scottish Canals and involved considerable SCYAP funding and resources. The members of the Carmuirs Youth Action Group along with our community volunteers who planted and then maintained this orchard are upset and angry with this inexplicable action. I want to reassure the community that as an organisation we are looking into the circumstances that have led to this, our understanding is that  Scottish Canals now have a team investigating this incident which they view as an act of vandalism which has been  carried out on their Land. We will off course follow this matter up until some sort of resolution is found, we will report back through our social media and other channels when we have an unequivocal explanation of who was responsible and what actions are being taken.

Let’s conclude with some good news:

We are very  pleased to announce that we were successful in our application to the UKSPF Community Empowerment Small Grant Fund and we will therefore be implementing two new opportunities for local  young people 10-18 years old. These projects will run from September through to December and will involve creativity and  community improvements through an arts drop-in initiative and also the delivery of an accredited groupwork programme. The funds are administrated through Falkirk Council and are well aligned to the SCYAP five key outcomes and aim to also address aspects of the recent Camelon Community Action Plan. A central aim is  to include young people and volunteers who are not regularly involved with any of our current project’s and especially those that are linked to National Youth Awards. I will in next month’s blog  explain how young people and volunteers can take part and highlight the benefits to young people and the wider community.   

And finally, we were also successful with our second round of funding from the Volunteer Matters Action Earth Fund, which is resourced by Nature Scot and the National Lottery Community Fund. This is all about tackling climate change and promoting volunteering in the community and we will be linking the activities to our Climate Action Plan and the priorities identified by local young people  earlier this year. This Project will be taking place in the autumn and again we will highlight in a future Blog  how you can get involved. 

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Active travel day planned, COP2 and SCYAP  Summer Programme 2025:

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The SCYPA Summer Programme 2025 is detailed below and  there are still places available for some of the activities, the booking link is here:

https://tamfourhill-gymnastics-club.classforkids.io/

The programme offers a wide variety  of opportunities for young people including hands on arts and creativity workshops, outdoor learning and an overnight survival experience and our Summer Fun in the Park sessions.

Summer prgramme 2025 SCYAP actual for bookingsDownload

A key community event  on the Programme will be our Active Travel Day scheduled for  Wednesday 16th July from 12 noon to 4pm and which will also coincide with the opening of the Community art mural and nature project at Camelon Railway Station. The day will begin at the Railway Station where there will be an official opening of the public art mural and the nature installations and will involve both Scotrail and Network Rail along with the young community artists from SCYAP. This has been an excellent partnership and collaborative Project which will bring about environmental improvements and also much improve the experience of traveling to  and from Camelon Railway Station. It made absolute sense to align this celebration with our Active Travel Day as the themes of both events are focused upon environmental improvement, helping nature and promoting climate action. The Active Travel Day, which will take place in the nearby Nailer Road Park, is an outcome of the involvement of over 80 young people who took part in  the SCYAP Climate Action events which  were held at Tamfourhill Community Hub back in  February and March of this year. The day will include various forms of active travel, including: Inline skating, bicycles, rickshaws, adapted bike rides and also information stalls provided by Falkirk Councils Energy and Climate Change Team. SCYAP will also provide some snacks and drinks, and a fun football session, so please keep an eye out for these events details which will be posted on our social media and will also feature on the Falkirk Council website and other local forums.

On Wednesday 18th June we had the pleasure of attending a Picnic in Easter Carmuirs Park to celebrate with family , school and community the installation of the new Wild Bench. SCYAP had over the last 3 months  worked with the P7 class at Easter Carmuirs Primary School to design a seating bench with a planter which was to be  located into the play park within Easter Carmuirs Park. The young people designed this  Wild Bench which in addition to providing some much-needed seating  for the play park also encourages biodiversity through helping local nature and the wildlife that lives in the park. Our Youth Action approach is always concerned with facilitating  multiple benefits for both local young people and the wider community, and in this Project the park and local families will now be able to enjoy this new facility when visiting the park, the participating young people have all gained Dynamic Youth Awards through their participation and there is also the additional benefit for the local environment and its biodiversity. The young people have designed the benches with wild nature in mind, and this is reflected with the artwork which decorates the bench and planter, and through planting  pollinators this will truly be a Wild Bench for Easter Carmuirs Park.

I was pleased to be invited to Falkirk High School on 5th June to attend and participate in the Falkirk School Pupils Climate Summit or COP2. SCYAP has supported our own Community Climate Action Plan, so it was really useful and pleasing  to see how well aligned that our climate actions are to the work of young people from schools throughout Falkirk. The workshops were interesting and reflected the commitment of young people to take positive action to tackle the climate crisis. I would want to  give a big shout out to Green New Deal Rising for facilitating an excellent workshop, as an organisation they are focused upon campaigning for climate justice and making Scotland a greener, more equitable and environmentally sustainable nation. Green New Deal Rising is building a movement of young people to fight for a response to the climate crisis that totally transforms our economy to deliver a safe climate and fairer society. We believe in people power, and through a combination of disrupting the political system and reaching into our communities, we plan to make the Green New Deal an era-defining issue. 

I would also like to acknowledge and thank  the pupils from  Falkirk high School, Maya and Olivia who regularly attended and contributed to the work of our Community Climate Action Plan Core Group, and I wish them well as they move onto further education.    

Finally, I would  like to convey our thanks to the Camelon Community Sports Hub who have awarded a grant to SCYAP to operate our Twilight Sports Programme over the winter of 2025/26. The longer-term funding which has  supported this programme over the last three years concludes at the end of this calendar year, so there are longer term challenges ahead in terms of the Twilight Sports and other programmes we deliver with local young people.

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Light Nights and Twilight Sports and the launch of the Camelon CAP

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The seasons seem to move so quickly and with the arrival of the lighter nights and with such an amazing spring we have speedily arrived at the start of this year’s Twilight Sports Programme. We  look forward to  welcoming lots of regular faces and hopefully plenty of new ones to the opening session on Friday 30th May 6pm-9pm in Easter Carmuirs park. Once again we will have the Falkirk Wheelers providing the Skating and the football  being provided in conjunction with Stenhousemuir FC Community Foundation. The full programme is detailed below and over the 12 weeks we will have all the usual big games , food and drink , a monthly barbecue, nature based and creative activities and Forth Environment Links  Dr Bike in attendance for 6 weeks of the programme providing their fabulous bike maintenance service. Dr Bike along with our regular visits from the Fire and Rescue Service and community police officers are  reminders of this programmes community safety approach. The origins of the Twilights sports are to be found in the Our Place Community Safety Strategy for Camelon and Tamfourhill and we continue to align the Twilight Programme to that purpose. This is achieved  through  providing local young people a safe place to socialise, take part  in games and  sport , form positive relationships  with the different services and link into other community learning opportunities all on Friday nights in local public parks.

The Community safety strategy remains a relevant framework for supporting wider  local Youth Action, and that has been reflected over the last six months with the SCYAP and local young people’s  ongoing role and involvement  with developing and  confirming the Camelon Community Action Plan. The Falkirk Community Planning Partnership describes  a community action plan (CAP) as a participatory tool that helps community members identify and address the problems, needs, and potential within their community. It also aims to encourage community involvement and management of their environment. A community action plan can include various programs and activities that are designed to improve the quality of life and well-being of the community The Camelon CAP was officially launched last Tuesday evening 20TH May in the Forth Valley Sensory Centre and it was an amazing experience for some of the young people involved with SCYAP , along with members of our Youth Action Group , young people from the local primary schools, staff and volunteers to all attend the multi-agency community launch and provide three youth action stalls.  I cannot praise the young people highly enough, they were brilliant ambassadors for their peers, schools, youth project and the community and they provided a real sense of community participation throughout the event. The Link to the Camelon CAP is below:

Click to access CamCAP-Apr2025.pdf

Our Community artist was also in attendance at the launch and aligned to the CAP ethos and its engagement process we showcased our two big community arts and environmental improvement projects. The nature, active travel mural and totem pole installations for  Camelon Railway  Station were well received by the leader of the Council and the representatives of the other organisations and the mural in particular also received lots of interest from local people. The benches and planter for Easter Carmuirs Park  was also very  popular and people got a chance to add their decorative prints to a scaled version of the bench. There is a diary of sessions and workshops for community involvement and participation  with the Railway  Station project , young people  just turn up at the workshops at Tamfourhill Community Hub and the sessions at the railway station will  operate on a drop-in basis. The plan is to hold an official  opening of the Railway station art installations along with an  active travel day in mid-July, and we will off course publicise that day’s events and how you can get involved. I would like to personally thank Scotrail for their funding towards this project and the support of Network Rail.  

programme details community arts at Camelon Railway stationDownload

Our third stall was presented by our young volunteer Leo Cierpikowski and highlighted and celebrated our various Youth Awards programmes and activities. Leo himself has recently begun his Silver Youth Achievement Award after successfully gaining his Bronze. His Silver challenge is focussed upon further  developing his leadership skills and community involvement. This young man is an outstanding role model and community activist and can have a significant leadership role with the relvevant aspects of the Camelon CAP.    

The SCYAP Summer Programme 2025 is scheduled to begin on July 4th, and it will be a programme that includes creativity, community projects, outdoor learning and an overnight survival experience, canal-based activities and lots of summer fun in the park. In next month’s blog I will publish the full programme and details of how to get booked onto the sessions.