Tag: safety

community

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.

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The Return of the Twilight Sports Programme, and does anyone want to go fishing ?

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The nights are darker, and winter is here, so I am glad to illuminate the gloom by announcing that  the Twilight Sports Winter Programme returns on Friday 8th November from 6pm-8pm in Tamfourhill Community Hub. The main activities will be football and rollerblading and on the 8th we will also have Dr Bike in attendance who will service your bikes for winter and issue every cyclist with a light. The Programme is open to all 10 – 16-year-olds and food and drink will be provided, and this is all free of charge thanks to our funders at the Falkirk Community Schools Fund and the National Lottery Young Start Programme. There will be some special sporting activities on the programme, and these will be confirmed and announced nearer to the particular date, the regular programme is detailed on the attached flyer.

I am very disappointed that the Twilight Sports  Programme will not be visiting Easter Carmuirs Primary School this winter and this is due to Facilities Management  banning rollerblading from  all Falkirk Council  school halls and gymnasiums. We did not want  to deliver part of the Programme without our valued colleagues and partners the Falkirk Wheelers, so the decision had to be made to not make use of the school hall at Easter Carmuirs. I know this is to the disadvantage off young people from that neighbourhood, but we would consider some type of safe transport provision  for these young people ,if there was demonstrable intertest. I would like to explicitly put on record my opposition to this ban and I am particularly frustrated at how an engaging healthy sporting activity like this can be spuriously removed from the community and indeed the school curriculum. There is inconvenience to us locally and community safety concerns however there is also a much bigger picture here where young people are being prevented from participating in a very  healthy sporting activity that addresses health inequalities , reduces the attainment gap and facilitates positive social development. There has been objections raised, and an informal campaign being promoted by the Falkirk Wheelers and we fully support all of  their actions and would encourage parents , careers and concerned individuals and groups to approach elected members or highlight the matter in any local or national forums. A summary to the background to this situation can be found here:   https://falkirkwheelers.co.uk/mitie_ban.php I would also like to use this opportunity of thanking the Committee at Tamfourhill Community Hub who have been willing to accommodate the entire winter Twilight Sports programme from November through to February, it is very much appreciated.

On a much more positive note, I am delighted to report on the  formation of a new partnership between the SCYAP and the Scottish Federation for Coarse Angling, which will deliver a bespoke angling programme for local young people. I am aware that many young people enjoy fishing on the local canals, and we have also ran fishing trips as part of our summer programmes, so this new partnership will provide an excellent  accredited learning opportunity. The course will begin on Thursday 14th November at Tamfourhill Community Hub at 6pm and will involve some indoor sessions and then coached angling sessions at Magiscroft Coarse Fishery, the local canals and a trout fishery. All the participating young people will be able to gain a national award and the programme will includes: water safety, fish biology, fish welfare and safe handling of fish, fishing tackle and tackling up and of course the best methods and approaches to catching fish. There will also be volunteering opportunities provided and the potential to then go on to gain an angling coach qualification , this is a fully funded package and there will be no cost for the young people or volunteers. If you are interested  then please contact me directly at john@ttrohub.co.uk and more details about the SFCA can be found here: https://www.sfca.co.uk/

The Community Climate Action Plan has to date facilitated many opportunities and a wide array of  activities like community growing initiatives, encouraging biodiversity, active travel and the  Tamfourhill energy efficiency and net zero hub project, and this has involved various groups and schools throughout  Camelon and Tamfourhill. The time felt right for a relaunch of the CCAP and in line with the ethos of Youth  Action it seemed very appropriate to revisit the Plan  and involve young people with confirming the current priorities for tacking climate change at a community level. The SCYAP were recently successful in securing another FEL Seed Grant with the purpose of relaunching our CCAP and fully involving young people with that process. In partnership with FEL we will be holding a number of roadshow events in the community where young people and the existing CCAP Core Group members can revisit the original plan and enhance those actions or indeed set new local climate change actions. These events will provide a hands-on experience with different activities being available that involve active travel, community growing, examples of sustainability and creativity with the arts, and all involving some element of fun based consultation. I will keep the community updated with this project and how young people and others can get directly involved. The key will be to take  part in meaningful activities  but to also further develop our plan to include a very strong youth led  programme of actions.

  

Another environmental improvement opportunity has been made possible through   the Volunteering Matters  Action Earth Project. This will be about establishing several community orchards around the local area, and I hope that a variety of groups will come on board with this activity.  I again will highlight this Project on our social media platforms and in the meantime if anybody has a particular interest with establishing community orchards then please do get in touch with me directly: john@ttrohub.co.uk

Next months blog will be focused upon the Camelon Community Action Plan and in particular  the youth consultation process and the developing work of the Nailer Road Safer Streets Group.

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Summer Programme 2024, Tackling climate change with Tamfourhill Community Hubs journey to net zero and supporting creative recycling youth action:

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Tackling climate change and facilitating local environmental improvement are the keynote highlights of this month’s Safer Communities Youth Action Projects blog.

The great news is that Tamfourhill Community Hub has secured sufficient funding to retrofit the building with a  sustainable  and renewable energy efficient system  which will see the installation of solar panels on the roof of the building with a ASHP heat pump system along with a number of new energy efficiency measures and a battery storage system. The Tamfourhill Energy Efficiency and Net Zero project has received 80% funding from the Scottish Governments Community and Renewable Energy Scheme (CARES) with 15% match funding being recently secured from the Stirling and Clackmannanshire Environmental Trust and the final 5% being committed by the National lottery’s new Awards for All programme. This really is a success story with the Hub leading the way in Falkirk district on Scotland’s journey to net zero, this project will have significant positive environmental impacts, reducing our local carbon footprint whilst massively reducing the Hubs energy costs.  This project was originally stated as a longer-term aim of the Local Community Climate Action Plan which was also linked to the local community safety strategy so on many levels both  personal and professional I am overjoyed to have played a supporting role with the Hubs committee in bringing this environmentally  progressive project to its actual realisation.      

It is then absolutely fitting that the new recycled plastic bottle lid mural was formally unveiled on the exterior wall of the Tamfourhill Community Hub  on Thursday  6th June  

 Reduce, Reuse & Recycle:

Tackling Climate change through creative Youth Action in Camelon & Tamfourhill

The Safer Communities Youth Action Project in collaboration with community artist  Sarah Diver have been tackling climate change through creativity and Youth Action. Groups of young people have been out litter picking around Lock 14 on the Forth & Clyde Canal and other locations in Camelon and Tamfourhill to survey the number of plastics and other significant forms of litter that are being discarded. The bigger plan was to come up with innovative ways to recycle plastics into a useful and decorative community-based arts project. The recycled plastic bottle top mural is both an artistic creation which will brighten up the external wall of the Tamfourhill Community Hub  and a hands-on way of exploring climate change and environmental damage through direct action. This has been a great learning experience for the groups from Carmuirs Primary School, Falkirk High School and the Community based  Youth Action Group. Young people made posters located at school and at Tamfourhill Community Hub to collect bottle lids for the artwork. School groups attended led walks and litter picks and identified things in their local area which were important for them to protect including: animals, birds, insects, trees,  plant life and importantly each other.  The finished mural was officially opened on Thursday 6th June when the young people from Carmuirs Primary School created their own commemorative badges  made entirely from  recycled plastic. The Project has been part funded by Forth Environment Links Climate Change Seed  funding  and  the Falkirk Community School Fund 2008.  The mural project forms part of a wider conservation, biodiversity  and Climate Change Project which has been developed and delivered by the local Youth Action Project . This has involved wild gardening and planting pollinators, tree planting in local parks and paddle pickups on the canal  as part of the national upstream battle to stop plastics getting into our waterways. #Upstreambattle

Summer Programme 2024

We have another summer of exciting youth action planned and much of this programme has been funded through the Scottish Governments School Holiday Food and Activity fund. There are opportunities for 12–16-year-olds to get involved with community arts projects, a junior sports leadership award,  an overnight survival challenge with the Well Wild project, angling, water-based activities on the canal and some nature, conservation and cooking based activities. Every young person who is registered onto the programme will be given an opportunity to use the summer programme as the basis to gain either a High Five or Dynamic Youth Award with some of the young volunteers working towards their Youth Achievement Awards, to book onto the activities please go to this link:  

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

The full programme with booking information is detailed below:

 

Summer fun in the outdoors 2023

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Winter Twilight Sports Programme dates confirmed, Mindfulness Benches installed into local park and Development Plan for Youth Action Project published.

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Twilight Sports returns for the winter programme 2023-24

The first block of the winter twilight sports programme will take place from Friday 10th November until Friday 15th December from 6pm-8pm in Tamfourhill Community Hub, the programme is open to all 10–16-year-olds and is entirely free. The weekly Programme will be split between Fun football provided by the fantastic Warriors in the Community and Rollerblading run by the fabulous Falkirk Wheelers, all equipment is provided and there will be a snack and drink for everyone who comes along. The Twilight sports will continue to work closely with our local community Police Officers and the Fire and Rescue Service who will be making regular visits to the Twilight sports sessions to get to know the young people and promote positive community Safety messages. The programme will run indoors until March 2024 and the intention is to move to Easter Carmuirs after the Christmas and New Year holidays and we will publish the dates and venue ASAP.

twilight-sports-winter-prg-tch-flyer-feb-march-23Download

Mindfulness and Sensory Benches installed in local park:

Two of the key activities for the local area that were identified by the Youth Action Group through their summer programme arts project were: (1) Arts Projects to improve the appearance and quality of the local area, and (2) Developing community green spaces and parks through new facilities, opportunities and environmental improvements. The Youth Action Group have responded to these priorities through their very recent design and installation of the mindfulness and sensory benches within the public park on Carradale Avenue in Tamfourhill.  The Benches will provide a chill out and relaxed location for anybody to just sit and enjoy the green space around them. The experience will be enhanced through the different sensory plants by smell and taste that the Group have planted into the benches, The Group had spent time during the summer programme considering what they felt were the best values that they wanted their group and the wider community to aspire too.   These values and statements reflect the Groups aspirations for improving their community and some of these values are detailed through the painted designs on the benches and these include; Mindful, Calmness, Kinder, Inclusive, Aware, Diverse and Respect. We would like to thank Link Housing Association (https://www.linkhousing.org.uk/) who provided the funding for these benches through their new Community Fund and the professionalism and commitment of our Community Artist Sarah Diver.     

Many photos taken by Alba Coventry as part of her Target for the Groups Dynamic Youth Award

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Safer Communities Youth Action Project (SCYAP) Strategic Plan 2023-26:

In confirming strategic outcomes and a Development Plan for the SCYAP it is critically important that local young people’s views, opinions and aspirations are at the centre of that plan and that they are also fully aligned to the relevant National Youth work Outcomes and the expectations of the Project’s main funders. The Safer Communities Youth Action Project is itself a legacy of the local Community Safety Strategy:  Camelon and Tamfourhill will be a safer, happier and more attractive place to live, therefore a number of those key outcomes remain very much relevant and ongoing. The types of activities and programmes that will be developed will always be young person led, involve the wider community and will be an empowering and learning process for the participating young people. The published Development Plans proposed youth activities also strongly reflect the types of activities that young people themselves expressed as strong preferences through the work led by our Youth Action Group over the summer of 2023, namely: Arts Projects, Improving outdoor spaces, Sports & Games, Campaigning and learning new skills through training and recognised accreditations.

Here is a pictorial representation of the 5 strategic outcomes for the SCYAP:

Young People will have better connections with the wider Community

Young people will improve their mental and physical health and wellbeing

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

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 Young people will grow as active citizens, expressing their voice and enabling change

Underpinning these outcomes and proposed areas of youth action will be the values that have been identified over our Summer Programme 23 and these should be reflected in all the work developed and delivered by the SCYAP and in terms of the work undertaken with the wider community:

The Community will therefore be improved through making it Safer, More Positive, Greener, Mindful, Calmer, More Respectful, Creative, Expressive, Inclusive, Aware and Diverse.

Documents for reference:

SCYAP Key Outcomes and Development Plan (Full document)

scyap-development-plan-sept-23Download

Camelon and Tamfourhill will be a safer, happier and more attractive place to live

community-safety-strategy-for-camelon-and-tamfourhillDownload

Young People and Community Safety in Camelon and Tamfourhill

young-people-and-community-safety-priotities-recommendationsDownload
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Podcast featuring the Community Climate Action Plan for Camelon and Tamfourhill and news of local environmental activities in April.

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I would like to begin this months blog in a unique way by providing the link to a recent podcast which was broadcast by the Scottish Community Climate Action Networks 1000 Better Stories Series which was focused upon the Community Climate Action Plan (CCAP) for Camelon and Tamfourhill. Please have a listen as the community safety engager along with Maya, Olivia and Ms Stroud from Falkirk High School chat about their experiences of creating our CCAP.

https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?from=embed&i=wtp6p-13d4e9c-pb&square=1&share=1&download=1&fonts=Arial&skin=f6f6f6&font-color=auto&rtl=0&logo_link=episode_page&btn-skin=7&size=300
1000 Better Stories : The Story of the Camelon and Tamfourhill Community Climate Action Plan

At the CCAP Core Group meeting on the 27th March it was agreed to implement the following aspects of the plan for this spring:

Develop the raised beds at Tamfourhill Community Hub and adjacent community woodland and support other local community growing projects.

Organise the planting of trees, including fruit trees at different locations of the community and supported by Tidy, Clean & Green, Our Place and the Forth Valley Sensory Centre.

To work with the Forth Environment Link to deliver additional food and cooking workshops and also in partnership with Forth Environment link establish a new bike maintenance Hub which will train up local people and potentially start a local bike library.

Organise a canal clear up and conservation day for pupils from Falkirk High School.

Support Tamfourhill Community Hub with their energy efficiency audit and explore options for installing a sustainable and non carbon based heating system.

Support local volunteers who are setting up a Rubbish uplift and collection service for the local area.

Work with local groups and organisations to confirm regular monthly community litter picks targeted at key locations.

SPRING CLEAN UP 2023

And finally I would like to highlight this fantastic community event which is scheduled for this Saturday 8th April being organised by Tidy, Clean and Green in partnership with Go Forth and Clyde as part of the Keep Scotland Beautiful Spring Clean 2023. Please go along if you can the details are below or contact tidycleangreen@gmail.com

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A Community Charter that is having positive impacts for the local area.

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One of the key partners within the Community Climate Action Plan Core Group has been Falkirk High School, they have been onboard with this Plan from its inception back in April 2022. The school has been represented on the Core Group by Ms Stroud along with groups of young people who have been involved with various school initiatives. The CCAP Core Group process has complimented the ongoing work that I have supported at the school involving litter picks around the school’s immediate neighbourhood and along the route used by many pupils at lunchtime through Lock 14 at the canal and into Camelon Public park. The canal has also been the focus for a paddle pick up session on the canal back in May and more recently with the school’s community champions again focussed upon the route between the school via the canal into Camelon last month.

Community Champions from Falkirk High School taking part in a recent litter pick

This work has been supported by Falkirk Councils Waste Services and I have very much enjoyed delivering joint inputs with Ella Gorman the Services educationalist where we have engaged the young people with topics relating to global warming, the climate emergency, the social and economic costs of littering and off course our own local Community Climate Action Plan. Ella has supported the school with producing their own litter prevention action plan and this work dovetails nicely with several of the Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill community-based action plans. This is a fruitful partnership which is delivering action on the ground, and for the benefit of the wider community through the clearance and recycling of litter, whilst also facilitating important and meaningful learning outcomes for the young people. I was very impressed with the schools work on confirming their own Community Charter which is detailed in the photo at the top of this article. This initiative represents an engaging community development process, recognising young people and the school as key stakeholders whilst also clearly highlighting their responsibilities for the wellbeing, environmental improvement, and quality of local community life. I highly commend this work and will continue to support activities and projects throughout 2023 which can significantly contribute to the school’s positive community involvement. The young people from the school produced this excellent documentary which showcases much of their community engagement through the last school year, please have a look below:

Energy Efficiency for Camelon and Tamfourhill: A dual track approach

 As winter has really begun to snap over the last few days it should remind us all that fuel poverty, the cost-of-living crisis and the rampantly rising energy costs are all going to have a massive negative impact upon the local community. The matter of energy efficiency is woven though our local Community Climate Action Plan and this is reflected in a dual approach in terms of the Plans response to these local energy efficiency priorities.  Firstly, community buildings like the Tamfourhill Community Hub will be required to cut costs and massively cut their energy bills if the building is to continue operating at its current capacity, any loss of services, provisions or activities is quite simply unthinkable. To this end I will be working with the Committee to carry out an energy efficiency audit of the building with the view to making considerable savings through improved efficiency but also look at the possibility and potential of operating the building with renewable energy sources such as solar panels and heat pumps. Secondly, I am in the process of confirming a partnership arrangement with Home Energy Scotland who are an organisation who provide support and advise with making your own home more energy efficient therefore reducing your costs whilst also contributing to a just transition to net zero. In the first instance HES will be providing an energy efficiency advice stand, along with a Scottish water stand, as Falkirk is within a high priority water area, so they have access to water saving devices. This will be taking place at the Safer Streets Open Doors event on Friday 20th January 2023 from 11am-2pm in the Forth Valley Sensory Centre. Please put this in your diaries as it could make a big difference to your gas and electric bills and keeping your home warm over the coming months. The partnership we are entering into with HES will also provide a local community portal for Camelon and Tamfourhill so you will be able to access their services directly through the Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill Project.

More can be found out about Home Energy Scotland at this link: https://www.homeenergyscotland.org/

In Summary:

Home Energy Scotland helps people in Scotland create warmer homes, reduce their energy bills, and lower their carbon footprint. They are funded by the Scottish Government and managed by Energy Saving Trust.

They work with people and organisations to help tackle fuel poverty and the climate emergency – both key priorities for Scottish Government (and humans in general).

They do this through a network of regional advice centres covering all of Scotland, which offer local knowledge and expert advice on:

saving energy and keeping warm at home

funding options including Scottish Government grants and interest free loans

installing renewable energy at home

greener travel including electric vehicles and ebikes

cutting water waste.

A merry Christmas from a group of Twilight Sports Stars.

And finally for 2022 I would like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas and a guid new year, this has been a very busy year and I would like to believe a very productive one for OPCT. There are so many people to thank but I wont go through a very long list, but I would want to send my good wishes to  the staff, volunteers,  and young people who made the twilight sports such a great success and the committee, staff and volunteers at Tamfourhill Community Hub for their continual support and good humour. A special thanks to all of the Community Safety Partners who have made a massive contribution to making Camelon and Tamfourhill a safer, happier, and more attractive place to live.

Merry Christmas

John R Hosie

Community Safety Engager

Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill

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

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

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

Camelon Road Safety and Active Travel Project:

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

Twilight Sports returns for a winter programme:

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

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

All Games Allowed at Nailer Road Park:

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

Safer Streets Open Doors Events:

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

Safer Streets Partners at Tamfourhill October 2021
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Community Growing Update

Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill

Community Coach Blog, Dan Rous, 13 May 2021

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until next time…

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

camelon, community, Our Place, tamfourhill

Friday Feature – One Year of OPCT

Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill

On Monday evening we celebrated (as best we could on Zoom) the first anniversary of Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill. It’s been a strange year to say the least but there was plenty to celebrate and look ahead to as well. So today, we wanted to just share some of the highlights from the evening which began with a recap from Lynne Boslem of Tamfourhill Community Hub on how OPCT came to be. Then Dan and John took over to give a review of their highlights from the year. You can watch their presentation here:

John then went on to launch his Community Safety Strategy. You can watch his presentation and read the strategy for yourself at www.opcamelontamfourhill.co.uk/safetystrategy.

Dan then launched our impaCT 1 to 1 Coaching Programme. Again, you can watch his presentation and learn more about how coaching can help you or someone in your group/organisation/circle of friends at www.opcamelontamfourhill.co.uk/coaching1to1.

We then heard from local author Kev McPhee about how his writing has helped him through lockdown and how he wants to encourage people especially facing a life caught in addiction that there is hope and a better way to live with the right support. Watch this space for more on how OPCT will be assisting with this.

Our next speaker was Kevin Harrison of Artlink Scotland (Camelon Arts host) who spoke about the Our Connected Neighbourhoods local pilot to make Camelon and Tamfourhill a dementia friendly neighbourhood. Message us for more information on that.

Finally, we had some questions and comments from the gathered crowd including a word of thanks from Cllr Cecil Meiklejohn.

It was great to celebrate but next year will be even better as, all being well, we can be in a room together with actual cake! Thank you to all who have supported, engaged, encouraged etc over the last year. Here’s to so much more in the next 12 months.

Dan Rous and John Hosie
Community Coach and Community Safety Engager
communitycoach@tamfourhilltro.co.uk and communitysafetyengager@tamfourhilltro.co.uk

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

Friday Feature – Let’s Celebrate

Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill

This is a reminder that on Monday next week (26th) we will be gathering on zoom at 6:30pm to celebrate the First Anniversary of Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill.

Despite not being the first year any of us would have planned, our team have still managed to achieve great things with you in the community and are well set for so much more in year 2 and beyond.

We’re just sorry that restrictions don’t allow us to do this in person – hopefully next year! So for now, head over to Eventbrite (link below) to register your free place so you get the link, then on Monday evening, bring your own cake and join in the celebrations.

As well as reviewing what has happened so far, John will be speaking about the Community Safety Strategy and Dan will be speaking about our Development Coaching programme. Plus we’ll hear from local author Kev McPhee and others about some great opportunities for you in Camelon and Tamfourhill including how you can get involved and shape the way forward.

So please join us if you can. The link to register is https://opctgathering2021.eventbrite.co.uk