This was our first in person AGM since March 2020.
It was great to be in the room together, to connect, celebrate and learn from each other.
From the feedback we have received we are so pleased to have achieved these aims – please see the voting tables and feedback below.
A special thank you to our Service Users for their support and continuing trust and confidence.
We were keen to promote all our services directly to people attending – to amplify a key message that we are much more than an interpreting service.
Our approach is there is `no wrong door` – however people come to us we will help.
We do our best to make people feel respected and supported.
We provide and promote easily accessible information about services.
We get our Service Users to the most appropriate service, in SIS, or outside SIS.
We encouraged people at the AGM to consider which services might be appropriate for them, their family, friends, and community. We understand that word of mouth promotion is so important, that people at the AGM are trusted ambassadors for SIS.
Our Annual Review 2022-2023 reports on our year and carries the same key message – https://sussexinterpreting.org.uk/news/sis-annual-review-2022-2023-more-than-interpreting/
We worked with over 5000 Service Users last year: 30% more people than the previous year. It was a busy year!
By the end of the year, we had fully recovered from the pandemic. We had made access to our services easier and achieved great success with our Customer Service Excellence (CSE) assessment https://sussexinterpreting.org.uk/news/what-comes-after-remarkable/
One of our biggest challenges last year was to meet the interpreting needs of people displaced from Ukraine, Afghanistan, Sudan, Hong Kong and many other countries and regions.
We provided interpreting and supported social prescribing at regular community drop-ins for Ukrainian Service Users and looked for every opportunity to do similarly for other communities.
We heard about all of this at our AGM.
Most movingly we heard from Solafa about her journey from Gaza in 2020 to becoming a SIS Community Interpreter this year https://sussexinterpreting.org.uk/sis-stories/small-world/
It was very important to have the opportunity to thank our Linguists, without them we are nothing!
We do our very best to support and inspire them – to use our brains, courage and hearts to meet the challenges together https://sussexinterpreting.org.uk/news/sis-interpreters-praised-for-their-work/
Thank you to all our brilliant Staff Team, Community Interpreters, Community Translators, Bilingual Advocates, Bilingual Link Workers, Volunteer Linguists, Community Researchers, Bilingual Befrienders and Trustees – you are all amazing!
We look forward to seeing YOU at our AGM next year!
We are keen to recruit new volunteer trustees. You can find out more here: https://sussexinterpreting.org.uk/recruitment-trustees/
Arran – Director
Presentations are available by emailing arran@sussexinterpreting.org.uk
Thank you to Howard Davies for photographs 1-17 below www.eye-camera.com
Thank you to Dee (SIS Coordinator) for photographs 18-21 below.
Some feedback on our AGM:
“Fantastic event and well done to everyone for pulling it off. Such a lovely atmosphere, with the right mix of important work and joy. Really lifted my mood in the context of the world we live in right now”. (Nicky Cambridge – SIS Trustee & Treasurer)
“It was great to see all the incredible work of SIS in the flesh with the staff, Service Users and translators and linguists. So uplifting! (Enrique Restoy – SIS Trustee & AGM Chair)
“The Farsi speaking Service User loved everything about the AGM. She did not have much knowledge about our different services, and she learned so much”. (Nina Tahmasebi – Farsi Speaking Community Interpreter)
“As someone who signposts people to services, it was useful for me to hear about what work SIS does in addition to interpreting, especially social prescribing. It was really interesting to learn more about what goes into the complex work of interpreting, and to see so many interpreters in action during the presentations. With interpreters and Service Users present, the evening felt very celebratory and had a real family atmosphere. Thanks again for the invitation!” (Leo – Receptionist, Community Base – SIS member)
“SIS deserves all these achievements. All the staff members are very united and hardworking.” (Dari Speaking Service User)
“The pleasure was mine. Thank you for everything – for the warm reception, informative and friendly AGM, and wonderful opportunity to meet all of you face to face and make new friends. This great first event after three years break due to the pandemic, does mean a lot for everybody. The meeting was professionally well organised, the SIS colleagues and management presented interesting speeches, the venue was spacious, and the atmosphere was warm and welcoming. (Elena Marshall – Ukrainian & Russian Speaking Community Interpreter)
“I found it very useful, and took quite a few of your translated referral cards, which I distributed this week. I also saw that we probably don’t direct women to your website enough, so will do that more in future. So many of the women in the Network have really big problems in their lives and need interpreters and other support”. (Cathy Maxwell – Network of International Women – Partner)
“It was very informative. All the people, everybody in SIS, interpreters, variety of nations were so good, including the food. I found out the answers to my questions and felt more integrated.” (Ukrainian Speaking Service User)
“The Sussex Interpreting Services AGM was very well organised. The room was laid out in languages, so that each interpreter could support Service User attendees throughout the afternoon. In addition to the usual formalities of an AGM, we heard the words from an asylum seeker who had come to the UK and her journey to becoming an Interpreter with SIS.
I particularly enjoyed the presentation of services offered by SIS. Each service (six in total) was summed up succinctly. We then heard the words (voiced through an interpreter) of a Service User who had experienced this service and the positive impact on their lives.
There was a friendly welcoming atmosphere in the room, and I met several people who had been involved in projects with us in the past. Many thanks for inviting me to such an inspiring event!” (Michelle Kay – Project Coordinator – Brighton & Hove Healthwatch – Partner)
“Mrs. X has been using SIS for many years, and it was her first time getting the invitation directly from SIS (via text message), she found it a privilege to be part of the event. Therefore, she invited her husband to attend with her. Other Service Users attending the event are showing their loyalty to SIS as they are grateful for the support provided by SIS during their hospital appointments”. (Lai Lai Wu – Cantonese & Mandarin Speaking Community Interpreter)
“It was a really powerful and vibrant AGM – I felt a privilege to be there in person”. (Tom Goodridge – Public Involvement Lead for West Sussex – NHS Sussex – Partner)
We asked people attending our AGM to vote on how they felt about a number of statements:
