Big Give - Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust

Our Big Give 2025 appeal was live 22 April to 29 April 2025 to raise money for a new lock near Cricket Lane.

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This crucial appeal aimed to raise a game-changing £90,000 in donations in just one week, generously matched to double the difference and make a possible total of £180.000.

These funds will be used to construct a vital lock, part of a 650-metre stretch of canal due to be completed in 2026 – a significant milestone in restoring the Lichfield Canal. The lock is key to managing water flow and enabling boats to navigate through a culvert under Cricket Lane.

The new section of canal will increase biodiversity by providing food, shelter and places for species to breed, planting for carbon capture and a means of flood attenuation. It will create a great new facility for local people as a traffic-free travel route under Cricket Lane.

Stage one: we received £50,000 in pledges

Some of our supporters made pledges of at least £100 – making a total of £50,000 as the first stage of the appeal – thank you!

Stage two: we were offered £40,000 in champion funds

The Big Give Champions offered us £40,000, this will be used to match fund the donations we receive during the appeal.

Stage three: we raised an amazing £157,154

The appeal ran between 22 April and 29 April with every donation doubled from our match fund of £90,000. We received £78,577 in donations (we didn’t reach the full target) and these were doubled using the match fund (£50,000 from pledges and £28,577 from the potential £40,000 champion funds).

How does it work?

Double the difference with Big Give!

Our previous Big Give appeals

Big Give 2025: Lock appeal

Amount raised: £157,154.
Total received with Gift Aid claimed on eligible pledges and donations: £167,000.

What’s next?
The designs for the lock are currently being drawn up and work is due to start early in 2026, with the aim of completing the Gallows Reach section by the end of 2026. You can see more details of the timeline on the Gallows Reach project page.

View the 2025 appeal page.

Big Give 2023: Big Dig digger appeal

Amount raised: £26,640
Total received with Gift Aid claimed on eligible pledges and donations: £31,800.

How was it spent?
We bought the first new digger in 2024 and after a long search bought the second digger in autumn 2025.

View the 2023 appeal page.

Big Give 2022: Liftbridge appeal

Amount raised: £29,312.
Total received with Gift Aid claimed on eligible pledges and donations, the total raised was: £39,000.

What’s next?
Sadly, the liftbridge was delayed as our planning application took much longer than we expected. Planning approval was received in summer 2024 subject to discharge of planning conditions, these were discharged in 2025, and work will take place in October 2025.

View the 2022 appeal page.

Big Give 2021: Hedging, trees and signboards appeal

Amount raised: £11,906.
Total received with Gift Aid claimed on eligible pledges and donations: £13,745.

How was it spent?
The money raised was for trees, hedging and wildflower seeds, information boards and publicity, and bird and bat boxes. This has been utilised along the canal route, and we still have some money left for information boards, which will be added as new sections of the canal are opened.

View the 2021 appeal page.

How does the Big Give work?

Pledges form the match pot

The first stage of the appeal is to raise pledges, these form the match pot when the appeal goes live.
Pledges are a minimum of £100 and cannot be paid until the appeal ends. This is because pledges can only be paid if they are matched by donations.

Champion funding

We can sometimes attract additional match funding from champions. These are Big Give’s partners and could be high-net-worth individuals, foundations, philanthropists, trusts, statutory bodies, companies and corporations. A Champion will commit match funds to support one or multiple charities in a given match funding campaign. Champions are sourced and managed by Big Give.

If our campaign has attracted champion funding we will highlight it in the campaign details.

The appeal

The appeal is live for one week. All online donations during that period, will be doubled (using funds from the match pot) until the target is reached.

More information

You can find out more on the Big Give website