Our London networking event

The sun was shining, the venue was buzzing with activity and the food and refreshments were unparalleled.

we shouldn’t see ourselves as islands or competitors; we’re one big family for the SCI community and know what the SCI community need

On 7 July in central London, we held our first informal networking event for our trusted partners, business members, joint venture partners and SIA staff.

This event was to celebrate and continue to build the relationships across the charity.  It created opportunities for partners to connect with others outside of their sector, to meet with some of our staff face to face and for us to say “thank you” for their continued support.

This was clearly highlighted in the welcome speech from our own head of services, Dan Burden, when he said “we shouldn’t see ourselves as islands or competitors; we’re one big family for the SCI community and know what the SCI community needs”.

The event was well attended by a number of legal, financial, care and joint venture partners from across the UK. Whilst this event was aimed at partners from London and the south, we had partners from the north attending on the night. This clearly showed the commitment to the SCI community and SIA.

A number of attendees commented on the success of the event.

it’s lovely to be able to speak with others from the same sector who you might never get the opportunity to speak to

A very relaxed and informal vibe and the perfect opportunity to just catch up

Two of our support coordinators and a volunteer from the south attended and commented afterwards that the event gave them an opportunity to see partners outside of the formal setting  which gave them a “human face” and enabled them to “put a face to a name, meet other partners other than the partners in their area and to get a better understanding of how partners are connected to the SIA”.

On the back of this success, we will be holding our second event in December 2022 in Manchester. So watch this space!