41st Annual General Meeting
At our 41st Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on 14 September 2024, the Trust reflected on the past year and looked towards the future.
Around 150 Members joined us online to hear from Trustees and the Trust team.
Strategic focus
Jane Smallman, Chair of the Trustee Board welcomed attendees. She spoke of the challenges of the past year and invited Trustee Carol White to present a summary of the Finance Lessons Learned Review.
Chief Executive David Balharry then provided a presentation on the Trust’s strategic focus. He spoke about the decline in wild places across the UK, the urgent need to protect them, and the drivers behind the new strategic approach. The Trust’s Director of Communications, Engagement and Marketing Wendy Grindle, then introduced our three-year engagement plan.
Following these reports, Jane chaired our 41st AGM. She thanked everyone involved in the Trust for their support, and told Members: “Your generosity is critical in enabling our vital work to take place.”
2023 highlights
Jane went on to share highlights and achievements in 2023, including:
In January we acquired an 18-ha site at Kylesku, adjacent to Quinag and being managed as part of our conservation and engagement strategy.
In September 2023, the Trust took on interim management of the John Muir Way on a trial basis.
We celebrated our 40th anniversary throughout the year, sharing special publications, exhibitions and a reception attended by John Swinney MSP and a viewing of our 30-minute deer management documentary Clear on Deer. As well as regular screenings at our Pitlochry Wild Space visitor centre, the film was shown at 11 venues across the UK, from Bristol to Skye, raising awareness of the facts around deer management.
Our actions to reduce deer numbers started to show encouraging signs of tree regeneration – particularly at Quinag and Knoydart. Restoring natural woodland continued on Schiehallion through the Seed to Tree, a local partnership project. While at Glenlude we planted 5,500 native broadleaf trees and shrubs.
The Trust team’s ongoing work to maintain the habitats in our care included removing five tonnes of plastic waste from the shorelines on Skye and 700 kg of litter from Ben Nevis.
Our plans to work with partners at Charterhouse – a heritage park and wild place in the centre of Coventry – continued to shape up.
The Policy Team continued to progress our proposal for a Carbon Emissions Land Tax and petition, achieving 2,500 signatures and backing from organisations representing over a million people.
Finance and membership fee increase
Members voted to increase the John Muir Trust membership fees in 2025, and Convenor of the Finance Committee Jim Gibson presented the 2023 financial statements.
Trustee appointments
In 2024 nine valid nominations were received for five Board vacancies, and following the election process, Alison Russell, Denis Mollison and David Farquhar joined the Board of Trustees, while Clare Jefferis and Damian Aubrey were reappointed to the Board. In addition, two Trustees with specialist skills were co-opted – Eelco De Jong and David McKay. Jane thanked the valued Trustees who were demitting office.
Staff presentations
Attendees then had the chance to hear from: Digital Media Officer Natalia Barbour about the ways in which we will reach new audiences; Head of Campaigns Thomas Widrow on the wild place attributes framework; and Thirlmere Resilience Project Officer Isaac Johnstone on our work with partners to restore habitats near Helvellyn in the Lake District.
Jane Smallman closed the meeting by thanking everyone for their participation.
Questions from Members
Throughout the meeting, Members had the chance to ask the staff team and Trustees questions.