Author: Craig McEwen

Thank You

The Usual Place would like to thank the Lord-Lieutenants for the beautiful card that they have recently sent us! We received a card from Lord-Lieutenants Aileen Brewis, Patsy Gilroy and Fiona Armstrong.  This was sent to local businesses in praise of community resilience, innovation, collaboration and selflessness during extraordinary and challenging times. Our hand-written message, […]

Meet Mary: The Voice Behind Meet Beanie

Throughout lockdown, a long-term customer of The Usual Place, became a published writer!  Mary Carberry, who’s son volunteers at The Usual Place, published Meet Beanie, a collection of poems inspired by her friends’ cat. Since becoming available for purchase, Mary’s book has travelled across the world from Australia, to France, to Spain, to Japan and […]

Our Voices: Amy’s Research Role

Amy Wright, the Chairperson of our Board of Directors, has secured a new role as a research intern to Jeremy Balfour, an MSP for the Lothian region. Amy applied for this role through Inclusion Scotland, an organisation which represents disabled people and has a mission to achieve positive change through policy and practise. Amy’s new […]

The Brilliance of People

The turn of the decade in the 1990s brought with it a time for change, as the Disability Civil Rights Movement grew.  Increasingly, disabled people wanted a voice of their own when decisions were made over their lives and were becoming more confident in speaking about the discrimination they faced daily. The message was similar […]

Morgan’s SCLD Award

Morgan, who has been with us for four years, has left on a high note having been awarded SCLD’s Skills and Learning Award. Morgan is one of our many success stories – first coming to us as a trainee before being officially taken on as a member of staff. Morgan has always had an interest […]

The Cupcake Competition

Even during the lockdown, it was very important for our trainees to continue developing and learning their skills and training at home. All trainees were invited to attend weekly check-ins via Zoom, the video-calling app used by many businesses during this unprecedented age.  During these virtual meetings, trainees not only had the opportunity to communicate […]

Our Voices: James’ Album Cover

One of our trainees, James, has created an album cover for the Utah-based ukelele band The Naked Waiters!  This cover will be used for digital copies of the album, which released on the 19th of August. James first met The Naked Waiters in 2018, while volunteering at the Ukelele Festival of Scotland, and once more […]

School Cohort’s End of Placement

Last Week, school pupils Alex, Sofi, Bethany and Ubayd completed their work placement at The Usual Place. The pupils have spent several weeks at The Usual Place, learning every facet of our organisation from front of house and the shop to the kitchen. This week, Bethany and Alex were part of our front of house […]