Author: Craig McEwen

Celebrating International Day of People with Disabilities 2022

At The Usual Place, we are celebrating this year’s International Day of People with Disabilities (IDPWD). This campaign was born from the United Nations (UN)’s Declaration of Human Rights. In 1992, an International Day of Celebration for people with disabilities was introduced, to be celebrated on 3rd December each year. The theme for 2022 is […]

Our Accreditation Anniversary

This week The Usual Place are celebrating our Accreditation Anniversary and our continued commitment to the Living Wage Movement. We choose to pay the real living wage because we believe that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay. This means that we are committed to paying our staff a fair wage which meets […]

A poster with a green background, bordered with dark green and white snowflakes. Text reads: (In Red) A time of giving (in white) This Christmas, get into the giving spirit by donating to those in need. For £5 or £10, you can donate a gift voucher from The Usual Place to a young carer— this can be used for a hot meal, a cake and coffee, or in our retail store. This is vital respitality for the mental health and wellbeing of young carers. This is offered in partnership with Dumfries & Galloway Carer’s Centre

A Time of Giving – Donate to a Local Carer

Last year The Usual Place, in partnership with Dumfries and Galloway Carer’s Centre delivered a successful Respitality programme, in which our kind customers donated Christmas Lunches to local unpaid carers to provide vital respite from their daily challenges.   Last year, our customers donated over £300 to the cause, and we were able to deliver […]

Sarah’s Win at DG Life Awards

Friday 11th November saw members of The Usual Place attend the 2022 DG Life Awards to support Sarah Cronie, who had been nominated as Young Community Champion. Sandra McGrath, Laura Wells and Abbey Thomson joined Sarah, alongside her friends and family, at the event. Attendees were welcomed into the historic Easterbrook Hall by a piper […]

CALL OUT TO DISABLED YOUNG PEOPLE ACROSS DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY 2022

Disabled young people from across Dumfries and Galloway are being invited to get together for a special event on Wednesday 2nd November from 10am -3pm at The Bridge, Dumfries. The Youth Matters Conference is created by disabled young people, for disabled young people aged 12-25. This fun event has an important mission to ensure young […]

“An opportunity to succeed”: Inspiring Scotland Leadership Programme graduate hails its impact

Originally published by Scott Challinor for www.leaderscouncil.co.uk on 14th September 2022.   Sarah Cronie is a young manager who today works in the café facility at Inspired Community Enterprise Trust Ltd, a charity based in Dumfries, Scotland which trades as The Usual Place. The organisation is a training provider which offers young people with additional […]

Scots warned of scams related to the cost of living crisis

Trading Standards Scotland has today launched a month-long campaign aimed at raising awareness of scams linked to the ongoing cost of living crisis. As prices and bills continue to rise, many consumers will have financial worries heading into autumn and winter. Scammers may attempt to exploit these anxieties and to target people online and via […]

Harper Promotes The Usual Place at Parliament

South Scotland SNP MSP, Emma Harper, has promoted The Usual Place in Dumfries at the Scottish Parliament, following a ministerial visit last week.   The MSP accompanied Minister for Transition, Employment and Fair Work, Richard Lochhead on Friday (8 July) and following the visit to the social enterprise, and has raised a parliamentary motion to […]

Let’s Enable, Not Disable: An Occupational Therapist’s Perspective

Sarah Geidesz, an Occupational Therapist for Children and Young People, spent some time at The Usual Place while still a student training to become a qualified Occupational Therapist. This placement with us inspired Sarah into writing this very insightful blogpost into enablement, and she has asked us to share it with you all: Let’s Enable […]

OT Society Awards

In the last months of 2020, students Kate and Katie joined The Usual Place team on a placement for their Occupational Therapy degree, spending seven weeks with our staff and young people. Following their very successful placement, the students made the decision to nominate us for two awards offered by the OT Society. They have […]