News since last update (17th May)

Another busy few months have raced by….

We are excited to announce that our recruitment for freelance professionals to take on paid roles within ASLI has secured two new people to join our team. These are pivotal roles to help us deliver more responsive services for members and our team, and help us focus our work more strategically.

Our new Webmaster is Jonathan Reid (JR) who is a very experienced membership organisation webmaster from the Midlands. He is currently getting to grips with our system, and we will all soon see the benefits of having him on board.Jonathan describes himself as a troubleshooter specialising in accessibility. Soon after he joined us we had a major issue with the invoicing integration between our website and accounting software so he was quickly thrown into the deep end of troubleshooting! He is available on webmaster@asli.org.uk

We have been looking for a while at how to support our members better and more strategically in ASLI, so that the right things are in place with the right resources. We are very happy to announce that Andrew Tobin has joined us as our Membership Officer, and bringing a fresh pair of eyes to help us strengthen what we do and how we do it, to help foster that all important community of practice in ASLI. Andrew is available on membership@asli.org.uk

Our lovely Angela Cullen is stepping back from her role as Training Coordinator in July, but we are happy to say that we have someone lined up to fill her impressive shoes. Ruth Anderson will be having a handover period with Angela so that hopefully there will be a smooth transition. We are extremely grateful to Angela for all her hard work for us with our training offerings for members - she has definitely raised the bar and helped us understand how to improve our CPD events. Ruth is available on training@asli.org.uk

The Green Paper Consultation was a big piece of work and a really valuable one - it is so important that ASLI are representing member views and ensuring our professional voice is heard. We are very grateful to Darren Townsend-Hanscomb for his work with Katie (our Administrator) pulling together all your input to the consultation so that we could send of a final report that reflected our collective views. Thank you to all who contributed. You can read ASLI's formal response here.

Our consultation with members on the proposed work with SignPort is continuing. We have more work to do in this area, but have been really grateful for the engagement and lively discussion that members have contributed to. Thank you for all your pertinent and thought provoking questions. Members consultation finishes on Friday 1st August, please feedback before then. 

ASLI's national and regional training is an important part of ASLI. The board member who oversees ASLI's training will be stepping down at this years AGM. We are offering anyone potentially interested in taking on the role an opportunity to shadow in advance of the AGM. You can read more about this here

Infographics for EDI are in the pipeline ready to start launching soon, we are looking for members to record short videos with tips and translations, representation matters! If you are interested please email Katie, administration@asli.org.uk 

The Harrogate Reflective Retreat Day was a huge success with great feedback.  People travelled far and wide to attend an immersive Day of tools/models/strategies to support current reflective practice together with a balanced approach to career-life planning and ultimately, well-being.  Feature to follow in the next edition of Newsli. 

Continuing the nautical theme for this year's Going Pro 2025 in Brighton, Katie Love and Sarah Bown are full steam ahead with finalising the last touches for this action packed conference.  A full programme for the Day is on the ASLI webpages.  There will be stalls and a delicious array of food for lunchtime too.  Whilst this event is designed primarily for students and TSLI/T's, it is open to any member and you are all warmly welcomed.  Tickets are selling fast.  Why not make a long weekend of a trip to Brighton and come and spend a Day with us on the Saturday.  We'd love to see you there! Read more here.

Wales BSL Bill will be in consultation stage soon, we are actively monitoring to see how we can best support…

We attended the BDA conference to celebrate their 135th Birthday! 

The Government's BSL Advisory Committee have released their 3rd year report, they have also released their 5 year plan. They are looking for new members to join the advisory board, more info here.