Brought to you by
THE WEE BOX
Amy McCusker, founder of WeeBox, Scotland’s global subscription box, has gathered an inspiring community of makers who supply gifts for her thriving business – and each month, she tells their story
THERE are few Scottish children who grow up without experiencing the iconic Ross’s of Edinburgh sweets! To me, they are a Scottish national treasure and their rock in that iconic tartan satchel was a sugary highlight of my childhood.
Sharing Scotland with the rest of world also means introducing our WeeBox Clan subscribers to our beloved Scottish brands that fill us with nostalgia. Ross’s is just one of those brands.
An iconic family-owned confectionery, fudge and tablet business, it was established in 1880 by James Ross. He first made tablet and other sweets in his back shop for sale direct to the public.
Today, they continue to use Victorian methods and recipes in traditional copper pans which really sets them apart from others. Everything is hand-made by their experts in a production facility near Edinburgh.
The company’s motivation to continually create new treats is one of the things I love about working with Ross’s. We started collaborating together in 2018 when I sought them out to share with our WeeBox Clan. Cheryl and James are a joy to work with and gave me a tour of the Willy Wonka style factory – I had goosebumps and couldn’t believe I was there.
“From that first meeting, we have been delighted when Amy contacts us to create new bespoke Scottish products to fit in with the monthly WeeBox themes” says Cheryl.
“Discovering the themes each month is always exhilarating and brings a smile to our faces!”
Just in time for Halloween, our most recent collaboration has been one of my favourites.
The company’s iconic red tartan rock satchels were such a highlight of my childhood that I’d always dreamed of creating something new with them. My vision was to cover them with purple WeeBox tartan and create a Halloween limited edition complete with spooky castle, bats and witches.
I had my fingers crossed when pitching the idea and was overjoyed when they agreed. Those spooky satchels are now winging their way ready for Halloween celebrations all over the world.
Ross’s has established lots of international customer connections with WeeBox subscribers – and one in particular was Brittany.
Cheryl said: “Since our traditional little satchels with Edinburgh Rock made their debut in a 2019 WeeBox, Brittany has regularly interacted with us and let us know how delighted she has been to receive our wee Scottish sweets in her WeeBox.
“Typically, we tend to deal with wholesalers across the Atlantic, and so it is a great pleasure to receive regular feedback and interactions with customers who are consuming our products and loving them.”
A long-time WeeBox subscriber, Brittany is a US-born historian of early modern British history. She and her husband also welcomed their first baby into the world just this past Sunday.
She said: “While I do have Scottish ancestry, if I’m honest, my real feeling of connection to Scotland manifested when I first visited as a 12-year-old exchange student” shares Brittany.
“I’ve been utterly in love with Scotland and its wonderful people since. When I was older, I came to study and eventually live in the UK for a time.
“I found any excuse to catch the London to Edinburgh MegaBus for £1 when I was a student at King’s College, London. When I started my first job and could afford to fly or get the train, my manager at work used to joke that if I ever went missing from my job in Hertfordshire, I was to be found somewhere in Scotland.
“One of my favourite WeeBox treats was the Ross’s of Edinburgh Iron Broo Smourich sweets in my February 2020 WeeBox. As a long-time fan of the stuff that’s made from girders, this was exactly what I needed to satisfy my craving. I love WeeBox because a subscription offers something to look forward to each month and the items received are of really brilliant quality.”
Ross’s received a Great Taste 2023 Award for their Highland Cow Tablet Gift Box this year (which featured in our February Romance WeeBox) and I can reveal an exciting proposal for an immersive visitor centre is being considered for approval.
This is something I’m sure our WeeBox Clan subscribers will flock to from across the pond while here on holiday. I’ll be hoping too for my golden ticket to enter!
See www.ross-of-edinburgh.co.uk
■ WeeBox is the perfect gift for loved ones abroad. Gift today using code WeeBoxGift20 at weebox.co.uk/gifting for 20% off
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here