camelon, collaboration, community, development, funding, tamfourhill

Great News for SCYAP

20/05/202620/05/2026 bighosie

We are delighted to announce that the National Lottery Young Start Fund have committed another three Years funding for SCYAP 2026-29. This is a tremendous investment in local young people and the Youth Action and community development approach endorsed and supported by the Tamfourhill Tenants & Residents Organisation. This is a significant and strategic investment which will allow SCYAP to sustain and develop new opportunities in partnership with local young people. We will therefore be reviewing our Development Plan for the next three years and young people will play a central role in that process. We have a Project development day scheduled for Sunday 21^st June and I am hoping that there will be good buy in from the community and young people to that days programme. The days activities and workshops will take place at the Well Wild Project in the Rough Castel Woods , further details to follow so please watch this space and our social media posts.

More good funding news with the Hedley Foundation also investing project funds for SCYAP to develop a programme targeted at 10–12-year-olds. This programme will have a community safety focus and will be set within the context of young people transitioning from primary to High School. This builds upon some of the peer mentoring work we supported earlier in the year and there will be an important role for our young volunteers with this project and off course it will be embedded with national youth awards. The programme is scheduled to begin on Tuesday 16^th June and I will highlight how to get signed up and involved with this project in the near future. This programme will operate throughout he summer school holiday months and complement our wider annual holiday programme of activities.

The Hedley Foundation – A Grant Giving Charity

Youth Action on the Canals

The Tamfourhill Totem Pole Trail

The Climate action events we facilitated with young people back in February and March 2025 had highlighted young people’s priorities for local climate action. Key themes were confirmed, including: Encouraging Active Travel , Campaigning for Climate Action locally and Helping Nature and Biodiversity. The Tamfourhill Totem Pole Trail embraced all of these aspects, and the project proposal was a great fit with young people’s priorities and aspirations for the local area. We were therefore overjoyed to receive funds to implement this Project through the ArtsRoots Fund distributed by Walk Wheel Cycle Trust Scotland.

https://www.walkwheelcycletrust.org.uk/about-us/our-work-in-scotland

The overarching aim of our Project was to creatively engage local young people and support them too research and design ten distinct totem poles which would enhance the active travel route and also highlight and celebrate the natural environment around this stretch of canal in Tamfourhill. This route also forms part of the John Muir Way, so encouraging active travel coupled to the nature and biodiversity of this route made absolute sense.

The Project has involved our Creative Climate Action Group along with Carmuirs and Easter Carmuirs Primary Schools and the level of engagement from the young people was excellent, with 50 young people being involved with the different stages of the design and deciding upon the different themes of the totem poles. The project caught their imaginations and through utilising different types of land art and researching interesting facts and details about the natural environment of the canal, young people were able to express themselves creatively and successfully and positively contribute to the Project. A key theme was reflecting on games played as children when out in nature where you used natural objects like sticks and leaves and incorporated them into different children’s games. These ideas are then celebrated on each of the totem poles so that anyone walking or wheeling along the towpath can stop at each respective totem pole and engage in a children’s game or activity as detailed on the crafted poles. This was an excellent feature of this community art project; creatively incorporating children’s nature-based play activities into your active travel experience along this canal towpath route.

I would like to thank Sarah Diver Lang our community artist and design worker who led on this project and not least for being tasked with the challenge of installing these posts into the towpaths difficult terrain. I would also like to express my appreciation to Olivia Lassiere the Environment Manager at Scottish Canals who greatly assisted with the permissions and CAT scans that were required prior to the installation process.

The intention is to have a celebratory activity on the towpath next month which will involve an active travel procession and some engagement activities on the themes of nature and children’s play at each of the ten totem poles. I will update the community with the arrangements for this event in due course.

Here are some photos of the poles after their recent installation along with young people taking part with the design process, but please do go up onto the active travel route along the Canal in Tamfourhill and enjoy the experience of active travel, nature and grab yourself a pooh stick.

The Design process is also detailed here: https://www.sarahdiverlang.com/noticeposts

Cruising the canal with the Seagull Trust:

The Canals have been a big feature and location for significant amounts of our Youth Action throughout April into May. The Creative Climate Action Group enjoyed a great experience cruising along the Canal on the Seagull Trusts Canal boat. We passed the initial Totem poles that had been installed at that time and also went past the two new community orchards that we helped to plant. The cruise concluded with the Falkirk Wheel experience with the boat lift being a first for most of the group. The day was made more interesting through the groups re-enactment of Titanic , singing along to the soundtrack and acting out the main roles. Thankfully no icebergs were encountered. We returned to the seagull trust with the Carmuirs Climate Action Group a week later and this was a different but an equally rewarding experience with this group more focussed upon their yodelling and loud echo going through the top lock gates and then along the tunnel and onto the boat lift.

Paddle pick up on Canoes:

SCYAP has also been supporting the entire P7 class at Easter Carmuirs Primary School with their experiencing and helping nature youth award programme. This has been a varied and at times challenging award programme and included their contribution to the totem poles trail and also encouraging nature and biodiversity in their local Easter Carmuirs Public Park. More recently the class were split into three subgroups who each carried out a paddle pick up along the Forth and Clyde Canal through Camelon and also west towards Bonnybridge and where they learnt skills in canoeing, teamwork , communication whilst also collecting rubbish from the canal. Litter surveys were an important feature of the sessions, and this was carried out in conjunction with Keep Scotland Beautiful Upstream Battle challenge. The aim of this campaign is to change littering behaviour to prevent litter at source along rivers and waterways throughout Scotland. If we can stop litter getting into our waterways then we prevent it polluting our rivers but also stop it from arriving in our seas and oceans where it contributes to extensive environmental damage and exasperates climate change. The surveys revealed that our local canal is improving , there is less rubbish and litter , although this has much to do with the recent efforts of these young people. The main problems are plastic bottles, drinks cans, glass bottles and an array of sweet and crisp wrappers and surprisingly a wooden drawer. My congratulations to these young people for all their efforts and commitment.

Upstream Battle®

Twilight Sports: Summer 2026

And finally, summer must be coming as I am pleased to announce the return of the Twilight Sports programme which is coming to a public park near you. The full programme is below and we start on Friday 12^th June at 6pm in Easter Carmuirs Park , there will be rollerblading with the Falkirk Wheelers, football with Caiden Wilson , Nature and creative activities , visits from the Fire and Rescue Service and regular surgeries from the very popular Dr Bike Service. As always its open to all 10–16-year-olds, food and drinks are provided and it’s all absolutely free. See you soon folks!

Twilight Sports Porgramme 2026 Download

community

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

30/03/202630/03/2026 bighosie

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 6^th 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.

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

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

07/08/2025 bighosie

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 16^th 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.

community

Connecting with the outdoors in all seasons:

14/12/202314/12/2023 bighosie

This may not sound like a very seasonal topic to be highlighting in this the last Safer Communities Youth Action Blog for 2023, however our recent partnership with the Well Wild – A Therapeutic approach to Forest Schools and Bushcraft is proving to be an exciting and inspirational way of supporting both local youth action and our ongoing #ConnectingwiththeOutdoors programme. The nights may have got darker and the weather colder and wetter as we have moved through the autumn and into the winter, but these conditions can in fact add value to the quality of our outdoor experiences whilst continuing to facilitate positive mental wellbeing.

https://www.well-wild.co.uk/

After our successful summer programme 23 and our ongoing Connecting with the Outdoors programme where we have enjoyed a wide array of outdoor experiences, including: water-based activities on the canal in canoes and a fantastic cruise with the Seagull Trust, angling at different fisheries and locally at the Falkirk Wheel, archery, Bushcraft and survival skills out in the woods at Tamfourhill and Rough Castle. These sessions received very positive feedback from the members of the Recovery Community , local volunteers and the young people who had taken part over the summer. These outdoor activities are also underpinned by a therapeutic and mindfulness approach to being in the outdoors and this was reflected in our Mindfulness Monday Programme with the Forth Valley Recovery Community and supported by Scottish Canals. The positive value to our mental wellbeing through engaging with the outdoors has been well documented and our Falkirk Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing funding from the Scottish Government is focussed upon these very attributes. The primary aim is to better connect people with their community through them engaging with the natural assets and wild green places within Camelon and Tamfourhill. This process will facilitate improved mental and physical wellbeing and encourage greater community cohesion through connecting people with natural local places. The Project was also very much concerned with raising awareness of the benefits of being outdoors and how activities in nature can have a lasting positive impact upon your mental and physical wellbeing. A very successful aspect of our Connecting with the Outdoors Programme has been how it has enabled people to come together in groups to form supportive relationships and share learning and outdoor experiences and this aspect has been recognised and expressed by the members of the local Recovery Community and other local volunteers. The local Recovery Community will be undertaking a programme of four consecutive sessions with the Well Wild Project starting in early January and I will regularly highlight these sessions on our social media platforms in the New Year.

The Recovery Community angling at the Lilly Loch in North Lanarkshire

Having noted how positively local young people in particular were responding to outdoor learning and our previous successful John Muir Award Group and linked to our key outcome: Young People will improve their mental and physical health and wellbeing, forming a partnership with the Well Wild Project based in the local Rough Castle Woods made absolute sense. That Project had also positively engaged a group of local young people with an innovative programme of restorative justice in response to some acts of vandalism and with the support of our Local Community Police Officers we have begun a new collaborative approach to delivering outdoor learning through Bushcraft , survival skills and mindfulness . The Well Wild Safer Communities Outreach Programme will endeavour to connect with young people who may be at risk of becoming involved with Anti-social behaviour and other community safety concerns through a programme of street-based outreach engagement, through our Twilight sports programme and through linking with the local schools. A key aspect of this collaboration with the Well Wild: A therapeutic approach to Bushcraft and forest schools, is to utilise that local facility and approach as a means for young people to build a wide array of social skills which will improve their resilience, self-esteem, confidence, problem solving skills and ability to adapt to challenging circumstances. The therapeutic underpinning of the outdoor learning aspect of this project will offer a unique opportunity for some local young people to tackle personal issues and better equip them to deal with challenges that they may be facing at home, in the community and at work or in education.

The accreditation aspect which can be provided through the SCYAP will facilitate an important method of enabling young people to acknowledge their own learning and achievements and this is well aligned to another of our key outcomes; Young people will increase their social skills, confidence and levels of attainment. The new year will bring in several new Youth Action Groups who will directly benefit form this new local partnership and work has just begun with a group of P7 young people at Carmuirs Primary School. Potentially there are three additional groups from Easter Carmuirs Primary School a group from Falkirk High School and the continuation of our community-based youth groups one of whom took part in an introduction session in the Tamfourhill woods a couple of weeks ago.

And to finish with the outdoors theme the Scouting movement are keen to start activities in Camelon, Tamfourhill & Bantaskin, I am sure there would be lots of local young people interested in getting involved , however volunteer leaders would be required to get this established in the area.

I recently met with representatives of local scouting. They are trying to see if there is any demand for scouting locally. They are looking at the possibility of starting scouting in the area for the 4-14 age groups and potentially also older age groups. They are particularly interested at this stage if any adults over the age of 18 who might be interested in getting involved as leaders in the initiative

Please get in touch with John@ttrohub.co.uk or on 07391524528 or contact Falkirk District Scouts directly at: development@falkirkscouts.org.uk