This has probably been the busiest time for me as the Community Safety Engager, with a wide array of community activities and new developments taking place that are all linked with keeping Camelon and Tamfourhill a safer, happier and a more attractive place to live. Here is a whistle stop tour of the main events and projects happening in April:
Spring Clean Scotland and the Tamfourhill Family Fun Day.
The Tamfourhill Fun day was an enormous success on Sunday 3rd April and took place in the spring sunshine, thanks to Kerry Reid our Community Education Student for organising and leading the Spring Clean Scotland event with a litter pick through Tamfourhill. This was then followed with some conservation activities and undertaking a survey about Climate change and its potential impact locally. There will be a lot of activity in the coming weeks with the development of the local Community Climate Action Plan and this will be supported by Keep Scotland Beautiful and Scottish Canals as part of the Canal Connections Consortium and funded through the Community Renewal Fund. Climate change and its impact is very much a community safety concern.
Easter Carmuirs Safe Play consultation and community engagement work:
Liz Thomas a landscape architect who has been commissioned by the Green Action Trust has begun to engage with the community about how the Park can be better utilised and developed for safe play and recreational use. This is the beginning of a process and will address some of the community safety issues and young people’s priorities that I listened to and was involved with last summer. The Our Place Project is a key partner with this process, and I look forward to working closely with Liz as she scopes out the area and engages with all sections of the community that have an interest with Easter Carmuirs Park. It was an enjoyable sunny day when we were out in the park with the Primary 3 and 5 classes from Easter Carmuirs Primary School. They took us on a tour of the park and explained how they like to make use of the park and how it could be improved or used better for safe play and better serve the needs of children and families who regularly make use of the park.
Twilight Sports comes to Camelon and Tamfourhill:
The Pilot project will begin with 2 taster sessions on the 12th and 13th April, In Easter Carmuirs and Nailer Road Parks respectively and running form 6pm-8pm. The activities will include football, rugby, wheel sports and conservation activities around the parks. There will also be guest appearances form various community safety partners including Dr Bike form the Forth Environment Link and from the community Police officers. This project has been made possible through the generous funding provided by the Camelon Community Sports Hub and Police Scotland (Falkirk) Here is the full programme which will roll out from the Carradale Avenue MUGA in Tamfourhill on Friday 22nd April at 6pm-9pm.
| Date | Location | Programme |
| 22nd April | Carradale Ave MUGA | Falkirk Wheelers & The Conservation volunteers |
| 29th April | Carradale Ave MUGA | Falkirk Wheelers |
| 6th May | Carradale Ave MUGA | Falkirk Wheelers & The Conservation volunteers |
| 13th May | Carradale Ave MUGA | Falkirk Wheelers |
| 20th May | Easter Carmuirs Park | Camelon Juniors FC |
| 27th May | Easter Carmuirs Park | Camelon Juniors FC & The Conservation volunteers |
| 3rd June | Easter Carmuirs Park | Camelon Juniors FC |
| 10th June | Easter Carmuirs Park | Camelon Juniors FC |
| 17th June | Nailer Road Park | TBC & The Conservation volunteers |
| 24th June | Nailer Road Park | TBC & The Conservation volunteers |
| 1st July | Nailer Road Park | Falkirk Rugby Club & The Conservation volunteers |
| 8th July | Nailer Road Park | Falkirk Rugby Club |
| 15th July | CJFC Car Park | Multi sports sessions & The Conservation volunteers |
| 22nd July | CJFC Car Park | Multi sports sessions |
| 29th July | CJFC Car Park | Multi sports sessions & The Conservation volunteers |
| 5th August | CJFC Car Park | Multi sports sessions & The Conservation volunteers |
The Safer Streets Roadshow is rolling into town:
The Roadshow begins this Thursday 7th April from 10am-2pm at the Juniors car park and the following Thursday 14th April from 4pm-8pm in the car park of the Camelon Education Centre. The full programme is detailed below. This is a great opportunity for local people to come along and ask questions, make suggestions, or raise concerns with all the statutory agencies and services that operated in Camelon and Tamfourhill. There will also be representation form the main third sector organisations and many of the local community groups and organisations. This is a forum for raising issues and concerns, but it is also an opportunity to encourage greater community involvement and cohesion. On Thursday 7th April the Tidy, Clean and Green Community Group will be providing a Pop-Up Park with free teas and coffees available and some activities for the youngsters will also be provided.
| Day, Date & Time | Location |
| Thursday 7th April 10am-2pm | CJFC Car Park (Pop-up Park) |
| Thursday 14th April 4pm-8pm | Camelon Education Centre Car Park |
| Thursday 21st April 10am-2pm | Tamfourhill Community Hub Car Park |
| Thursday 28th April 4pm-8pm | MUGA at Mariner Road in Easter Carmuirs |
| Thursday 5th May 10am-2pm | Camelon Education Centre Car Park |
| Thursday 12th May 4pm-8pm | CJFC Car Park |
| Thursday 19th May 10am-2pm | MUGA at Mariner Road in Easter Carmuirs |
| Thursday 26th May 4pm-8pm | Tamfourhill Community Hub Car Park [JH1] |
The Tidy, Clean and Green (TCG) Creative Messaging Project:
You may have noticed the new Tidy, Clean and Green logo appearing on merchandise and on social media. This logo along with a variety of new creative signage has been created by Sarah Diver Lang a community artist recently commissioned by the TCG through the Councils Environmental Improvement Fund. Sarah has been working in the local primary schools and with the youth groups at Tamfourhill. They have been examining their local areas and working on messages that they wanted to make about the conservation and environmental improvement of the places they valued. The resultant signage offers insight as to how the young people were viewing and experiencing the littering of their community and how they understood who was responsible for keeping their community tidy, clean, and green. The project has successfully illustrated how the participating young people saw responsibility for littering and its removal; in terms of their own, and the responsibility of others and of the wider community. The key themes are: THEIRS, OURS, MINE. On behalf of TCG I would like to thanks Sarah for her hard work and commitment to this project , it has been an excellent learning opportunity and I look forward to the new signage being displayed in 2 of our local parks and in the local primary schools and within the Tamfourhill Community Hub. Sarah had a stall at Sundays family fun day in Tamfourhill where people could make their own t-shirt with the project messaging and recently designed logo emblazoned over the front , they looked absolutely class and I look forward to seeing loads of people going about the area in these groovy t shirts.
John Muir comes to Camelon and Tamfourhill:
The Easter School holidays will see the return of the canal clear up and conservation days based on and around the Forth and Clyde canal. The young people who will be taking part in the next two weeks will be beginning a journey of discovery as they will be all taking part in their own John Muir Discovery Award. I have written about John Muir in a previous community safety blog https://opcamelontamfourhill.co.uk/2021/09/21/ so it is good to be announcing that local groups will be contributing to the environmental improvement of the local community and having this recognised through their involvement with a nationally recognised accreditation. I will focus in on the groups Discovery, exploration, conservation and sharing of their experiences in future monthly community safety bulletins.
https://opcamelontamfourhill.co.uk/2021/09/21/
And finally:
Community Litter pick and Climate Change workshops with Falkirk High School:
Thanks to pupils form the Place Changers Group and Junior Management Team who took part in a litter pick along a route from the school onto Lock 14 and then around Camelon Public Park. A great effort by everyone with 10 bags of rubbish removed and an excellent workshop cofacilitated with Ella Gorman from the Councils Waste Services. There were some very workable suggestions about tackling climate change within the school and the wider community , I am currently collating all the young people’s workshop materials and will produce a full report in the next couple of weeks. I was particularly happy to see the group clear up an area that is often badly littered. This was good preparatory work which will be very relevant to the formation of the local Community Climate Action plan.
Our Place Camelon and Tamfourhill 