Tag: history

community

All 16 -18-year-olds please get out and vote next Thursday 7th May in the Scottish Parliamentary Elections:

bighosie

Here is why :

As I write this blog we are eight  days out from Scotland’s Parliamentary Elections and off course many sixteen-year-olds will  be voting in their fist ever election. This is highly significant from the perspective  of Youth Action and Empowerment, and it will be no surprise to anyone that SCYAP fully supports and indeed celebrates that  Scotland extended the democratic franchise to all 16-year old’s domicile and resident  in our country. Why is it important that sixteen-year-olds can vote ? We know some of our population are against this age group participating, however it ensures that critically important factors impacting upon our young people’s lives are given the priority and full attention that they merit. Education is a massive issue, and it seems  unreasonable that those people who are the  most impacted in terms of their futures and their learning needs and aspirations should be excluded from having a meaningful opinion and effective say in policy  decisions about their education. Similarly, youth work  and community  provisions are of particular relevance to young people, and they should therefore have the ability  to organise themselves politically and have a collective voice ensuring that  their perspectives are listened to and given consideration by everyone involved with forming and delivering  our social and economic policies and making the  big political decisions. I am not suggesting that 16–18-year-olds are a monolithic and homogeneous block and its undoubtable that social class and inequality impact  massively  on their opportunities and life experiences, and I would further  suggest that it is those most disadvantaged both economically and socially who most need an effective and strong collective voice.  What seems to many to be a basic right , i.e. free public transport on buses for those under 22 years of age is currently being opposed on the spurious basis that it encourages young people  to cause anti-social behaviour. Free travel on buses enables students to get to university and college, young people to their workplace and the ability to move around and be mobile. Off course those from  lower  incomes will benefit the most from  this social service and this provision is therefore a good example of addressing inequality whilst also taking a positive climate action. Young people, especially those most disadvantaged by inequalities urgently require a  political voice with this particular matter, along with other policy areas that have a focus upon their lives and the opportunities that are available to them  or not. The youth work sector has a key role to play in addressing these inequalities by age, gender and social class and SCYAP’s recent involvement with the #RightSpaceFuture national youth work  manifesto was a non-Party  based campaign which we felt that we should highlight and also support  local young people’s engagement with this manifestos  key commitments. We also  lobbied some of  our local elected representatives and prospective candidates for these upcoming  Scottish parliament elections and requested commitments from them that  if they were in  government that they would move the manifestos  key commitments forward.  SCYAP also raised specific concerns about the Cash Back to Communities Funds  and how these  were being  awarded to larger corporate organisations and that insufficient of that money was trickling down to grasroots community youth work. Although we have had a response from a civil servant we don’t accept that explanation and this is another young person focused issue and another clear example of why 16 -18-year-olds should get  out and scare the horses and vote next  Thursday 7th May.

The Carmuirs Community Safety Group

SCYAP in collaboration with Carmuirs Primary School and the Well Wild Project and through funding accessed from Youth Scotland has been working with a group of P7  boys with  a focus upon community safety and personal accountability. This has been a really good experience with  the young people learning a wide array of social  skills and gaining the confidence to deal with sensitive issues in an honest, open and constructive  manner. The programme involved the group making a positive difference to their  own community, taking responsibility for making environmental improvements and being excellent role models for their peers. This was especially  evident with their paddle pick up where they cleared bags of rubbish from  the canal along with 4 footballs. The skills of resilience, taking responsibility for their own actions and managing risks were all essential to their successful sessions at the Well Wild Project. Last week’s survival  simulation the group were exceptional, putting into practice all of these skills they had been learning:   communications, teamwork, decision making and working  under pressure. The Group have taken part in a substance use and risk workshop  ,  learnt practical skills in cooking and undertook  group challenges  in the Tamfourhill woods. It was really great to  see them making use  of the local community centre and attending SCYAP  Easter programme activities in the community. The final week of the programme will be an evaluation and reflection session  which will  take place on the 30th of April and then they will have time to complete their Dynamic Youth Awards and an  opportunity to acknowledge  each other’s achievements and celebrate their successes.     

If you go down to the woods on 4th of May:

And finally:  We are having a young volunteers day on Monday 4th May from 12 noon to 4pm meeting at Tamfourhill Community Hub and we will be working on our new planters in the woods. This is part of our local climate action plan and encouraging biodiversity and producing sustainable food. This is suitable for 10–16-year-olds with a Barbecue and refreshments being provided. For further details please contact john@ttrohub.co.uk or 07391524528.

community

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

bighosie

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.