Hello, I’m Anne Everson, the new Treasurer for the Society. I’m ‘Grananne’ to 4 young grandchildren, one of whom is profoundly deaf and now has cochlear implants.
My husband and I moved to Polegate in April 2019, primarily to support my daughter and her family who had moved to Eastbourne a couple of months previously, in order to access a school with a hearing impaired unit for their young son. Like most grandparents, we provide ‘childminding services’ and have been closely involved with our grandchildren’s upbringing. As a family, we started learning Makaton and then moved on to BSL. I even struggled through BSL Level 1, though sad to say I failed one section!
Last June I went along to the AGM of the East Sussex Deaf Children’s Society, and ‘guess what’, I came home as Treasurer! My role is to manage the finances for the Society, to make sure we have a sound financial footing, to organise fundraising efforts, to do all the ‘legal stuff’ and to pay the bills!
I’m keen to develop the Society into a family inclusive organisation, welcoming not only mums, dads, siblings, guardians and carers but also grandparents, aunts and uncles and friends who all provide such support to the children and their families.