FORMER Commonwealth Games bronze medallist boxer Craig McEwan has volunteered alongside Yes activists at their weekly stall.
McEwan, who has twice represented Scotland in the Commonwealth Games, winning a bronze medal in 2002, was hailed by the stall organiser for lending a hand in engaging with the public.
The group, made up of Pentlands West SNP members and non-SNP members, is primarily working to sign voters up for postal votes ahead of the General Election.
Mackay said the group has been doing this for many years, and it now ties into the summer push by numerous groups to increase voter registration.
Organiser Iain Mackay posted pictures of the Edinburgh group and said: “I can't stress how important it is having boxing great and local hero Craig McEwan on the Yes Stall in Clovenstone.
“He engages with everyone and emphasises the importance of voting to people who are completely sceptical of the value of their views and vote.”
READ MORE: ‘Yes to Independence’ should be on the ballot paper
Mackay added: “Nigerians and Polish Indy supporters signing up for a postal vote today and 3 registrations.
“We will have to think of moving the fortnightly street stall time to later for greater foot fall, given that the number of volunteers has grown, and we can staff for longer. The pictures show a shift change which is why there's so many of us!”
With home-made A-boards, the group highlight the change of rules to voter ID, then if the person verbally identifies themselves as supporting independence, they are gifted a copy of Believe in Scotland’s Scotland the Brief.
The group have also hand-delivered personalised surveys to an estimated 24,000 voters over the past two years.
The two different surveys were titled “Attitudes to Independence” in 2021 and “Independence- how do you feel today?” in 2022.
All Yes and Undecided respondents also had Scotland The Brief delivered to them and the group are currently about 10% of the way through chapping their doors and asking them to sign up for a postal vote - in addition to hosting the street stalls.
McEwan, the former middleweight from Edinburgh’s Wester Hailes, also campaigned with the group in June. At the time, Mackay said: “It helps so much for our credibility having local hero and world class boxer Craig McEwan there for the whole two hours! Everyone knew him!”
In 2005, McEwan broke Scotland's amateur boxing record by winning three gold medals at the international level. He went on to California after a long amateur career where he trained under Freddie Roach.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel