Our 2026 Annual General Meeting (AGM) took place on Friday 5 June 2026, bringing together members, volunteers, and supporters to capture the scale of progress over the past financial year (December 2024 – November 2025) and outline future goals.
Held at Park View Centre in Brownhills (not far from Ogley Junction) and streamed online, the event covered key updates on the restoration, financial and other trustee reports, trustee elections, and launched the 2025 annual report.
Key highlights
- Chair’s report: A strong year of progress, 24,000+ volunteer hours, nearly 40% of the Lichfield Canal now complete or under construction, and continued focus on creating a green and blue corridor for the community.
- Trustee reports: Trustees outlined the progress on construction, environment, planning and stakeholder relationships, membership and marketing.
- Financial overview: The Finance and Funding Trustee presented the accounts for the year ending 30 November 2025, ensuring transparency in funding and expenditure.
- Trustee elections: Christine Howles was re‑elected as Trustee for a further term, and Peter Hale and Robert Brasher were formally elected, having been co‑opted earlier in the year. A tribute was paid to Bob Williams on his retirement, and he was bestowed the honorary title of Vice President in recognition of his decades of service.
- Governance update: Members approved the modernisation of the governing documents to reflect the current strategy and the breadth of our activity, incorporate modern working practices such as remote meetings, and update the language throughout to be fully gender‑neutral, replacing the previous use of ‘he’ as the default.
After the formal business, guest speaker George Rogers, Development Manager at Chesterfield Canal Trust and Chair of IWA’s Restoration Delivery Group (RDG) shared fascinating insights into the changing nature of canal restoration and what is to come.
NB. The Annual Report will be added to this story once it has been circulated to members.
