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.”
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.
