The Usual Place

13/07/2026

Behind the scenes at The Usual Place is our Board of Trustees - a hugely important group of people who are both passionate about our work and who bring expertise and complementary skills to the task of setting our strategy and taking responsibility for our good governance.

One of our most long-standing Board members is Sue Thompson, who retired last week. She was presented with this beautiful word art by Usual Place Graduate James, containing words that describe her perfectly! Amongst many others are: Gifted, Integrity, Tenacity, Supportive, Values-Based, Curious, Inquisitive, FUN and Caring...

Sue has been part of The Usual Place journey since she joined the Board in 2014 as part of the team who prepared and steered The Usual Place through opening its doors in 2015 right up until today. She has brought a wealth of experience and understanding from her background in social work. She is also a social entrepreneur who was one of the first people in Scotland to develop and deliver a Self-Directed Support Brokerage which enabled people to access this service at it’s launch and further on.

We are delighted that, despite stepping down as a Trustee, Sue will continue to be involved in supporting some of our staff recruitment processes and as part of our Fundraising Committee.

Huge thanks to Sue for everything you have done so far to support The Usual Place and make it somewhere so important for young people who need additional support to learn and develop their skills, confidence, resilience and independence.

You can read more about our Trustees on our website - link in comments.

01/07/2026

Following on from receiving the Honour of an B.E.M in last year's Birthday Honours, Heather Hall, our Founder and previous CEO attended a Garden Party at the Palace of Holyrood House in Edinburgh yesterday. A very well deserved recognition.

29/06/2026

A huge congratulations to Arron, who has completed his training via the Schools Programme 2 (Individual Work Experience Tailored placements for S4-S6 pupils transitioning from school to work) here at The Usual Place today. He was awarded a certificate to recognise his achievements during his time here, which was presented to him by one of our Mentors, John.

Arron has developed many different employability skills that he can take forwards onto the next step of his journey. In particular, he has developed his customer service and care skills very well, by carrying out many duties in the café with growing confidence, with support from his Mentors. These tasks included welcoming customers and taking them to their tables, taking payments, taking orders using our digital order pads, carefully preparing and delivering hot and cold drinks to standard, taking hot meals to customers, and cleaning tables and chairs.

Well done Arron, we wish you the best of luck for the future!

Created by Harry

29/06/2026

Rory is one of our amazing volunteers, primarily dealing in Administrative Support for our organisation. He loves it here and has always made it clear to us how much he enjoys his days volunteering. However, he also loves to create things, and recently he wrote us this beautiful poem to express his sentiment.

The Usual Place:

Dumfries town is very worn down
With very few shops and not much to see
It can make you frown
There’s not much to do for you or me.

And then there is a converted church with lots of light
this most wonderful space
For some it’s strange when I say
That I am going to do my volunteering at The Usual Place.

In The Usual Place there are lots of different people
Many a kind
Where disabilities are celebrated and seen as the norm
Everyone is their own individual self
To society you don’t have to conform.

The staff are so kind and caring
With support given every step of the way
I always feel happy when I go there
As it brightens up my day.

So as we celebrate 10 years and many more to come
Please be upstanding and help me celebrate
this most wonderful space
A peaceful safe haven
Called The Usual Place.

Rory also created the lovely and vibrant card, pictured here, for us. We want to thank Rory for writing us the heartfelt poem, creating the beautiful card, and sharing them with us.

Post created by Harry

26/06/2026

With grateful thanks to Laurie and his team at Heating Care Dumfries, our water is now back on.

We will be open as normal on Monday 29 June 2026 at 9.30am.

We look forward to welcoming everyone back and thank you for your patience through this issue.

26/06/2026

Application deadline is Tuesday 30th June 2026 at noon.

****We are hiring!*****
Employer-Ability Mentor.

Mentor (Employer-Ability)
35hrs per week (Full-time position, full flexibility required)
Real Living Wage of £13.45 per hour
Location: On and Off Site
The Usual Place Cafe is a not for personal profit organisation based in Dumfries. You will work as part of a team who work with young people aged 16-26 to deliver a welcoming customer experience, enabling them to gain the skills they need to achieve employment in the hospitality or retail industries.

You will have warmth, enthusiasm, and a creative approach to your work along with the ability to engage positively with a wide range of people. The Usual Place are a value-based organisation, we operate with mutual respect. If you share these values and behaviours and have the necessary skills, then we look forward to hearing from you.

This role is funded by Young Start, delivered by The National Lottery Community Fund.

Appointments are subject to enhanced disclosure from Disclosure Scotland and two references, that we consider acceptable.

To Apply, please include a cover email briefly explaining why you will be a good fit for the job and download an application pack on our website www.theusualplace.org/vacancies . For more information please call 01387 253485 or email [email protected]

Please send completed applications to: The Usual Place, Academy Street, Dumfries. DG1 1BZ. Or by email to [email protected]

Download Employer-Ability Mentor Full Job Description on our website www.theusualplace.org/vacancies
Closing Date for applications is Tuesday 30 June 2026 at 12noon.
Interviews will be Friday 10 July 2026

26/06/2026

Application deadline is today at noon. Friday 26th June 2026

****We are hiring!****

Kitchen Mentor

Do you enjoy cooking and customer service? Do you have a passion for helping young people who may need additional support? Then why not apply to become one of our Kitchen Mentors?

Closing date for applications is Friday 26th June 2026 at Midday

For more information about this post, including application packs and full job descriptions, please visit https://theusualplace.org/vacancies/

ICET Ltd is a non-profit distributing Social Enterprise limited by guarantee. Company Number: SC412597, with Charitable status and is registered in Scotland under number: SC050602. ICET is a Disability Confident Leader and welcome applications from all Sectors of the community.

25/06/2026

*******Closure Update***********
Our replacement pump is somewhere in the south of England and will hopefully be with us tomorrow morning. It will then take the engineers a few hours to change things over, so unfortunately we will remain closed on Friday 26th June 2026.

We are so sorry to all our young people who train with us and also our customers who are missing the best scones.

24/06/2026

********UPDATE*********

While we await replacement part for our water system we will need to remain closed to the public tomorrow Thursday 25 June 2026.

We are sincerely sorry for the inconvienience this is causing.

24/06/2026

****We are hiring!****

Kitchen Mentor

Do you enjoy cooking and customer service? Do you have a passion for helping young people who may need additional support? Then why not apply to become one of our Kitchen Mentors?

Closing date for applications is Friday 26th June 2026 at Midday

For more information about this post, including application packs and full job descriptions, please visit https://theusualplace.org/vacancies/

ICET Ltd is a non-profit distributing Social Enterprise limited by guarantee. Company Number: SC412597, with Charitable status and is registered in Scotland under number: SC050602. ICET is a Disability Confident Leader and welcome applications from all Sectors of the community.