ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2026


CONVENING NOTICE

Under Rule 29 of the current Society Rules, the Trust Board has called an Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Ironworks 1895 Supporters Society Limited for Wednesday 25th February 2026 and under Rule 36, is obliged to provide notice to members in writing of such a meeting. Please consider this written notice of the AGM.

The Annual General Meeting of the Ironworks 1895 Supporters Society Limited (also known as the West Ham United Supporters’ Trust) (the “Trust”) will be held via Zoom Video Conference at 19:00 on Wednesday 25th February 2026.

The following areas of business will be dealt with at the AGM:

  1. Report on Trust performance

  2. Review of examined accounts

  3. Election of up to 5 of the members of the Trust Board


The Agenda for the meeting is as follows.

  1. Chair's Introductions/ Report on Trust performance

  2. Annual Accounts:
     Review of examined accounts  
     Resolution to disapply the requirement of the current financial year’s accounts ending 31st August 2026 to be audited.

  3. Results of elections of Directors to the Board

 
ELECTION OF UP TO SEVEN BOARD MEMBERS TO TRUST BOARD:

At the 3rd Annual General Meeting in February 2025, Nick Drane, Richard Elliott, Kevin Hind and Rachel McFetridge stood down. Also any co-opted members of the board have to stand down at the following AGM, so Sarthak Kumar and Dean Matthews also stood down. A retiring Society Board member shall be eligible for re-election.

A nomination process for the 7 vacant positions was run in accordance with the Rules of the Society. A total of 7 valid nominations were received from Robina Ahmed, Nick Drane, Richard Elliott, Kevin Hind, Sarthak Kumar, Dean Matthews and Rachel McFetridge whose election to the board was approved at the AGM.

The WHUST Board currently consists of:

Elected Members: Robina Ahmed, Andrew Byrne, Nick Drane, Richard Elliott, Kevin Hind, Mark Inskipp, Sarthak Kumar, Dean Matthews, Rachel McFetridge and Chris Wheal.

 
Under Rule 62. At each Annual General Meeting, half of the members of the Society Board elected by the members who have served the longest at the date of the Annual General Meeting each year will resign. Andrew Byrne, Mark Inskipp and Chris Wheal will be standing down at the 2026 AGM. A retiring Society Board member shall be eligible for re-election.

There are five vacant elected board positions available at the forthcoming AGM.
 
To ensure transparency and independent scrutiny of our election we are appointing an Independent Nomination and Returning Officer, and we are delighted that Neil Le Milliere has again agreed to perform this role. Neil is a longstanding member of the Exeter City Supporters Trust and its Board, who have owned the majority shareholding in their club for over twenty years, as well as being on the Football Supporters Association National Council.
 
If any member would like to contact Neil directly for any information regarding voting, elections or about Neil directly or his work with Exeter City, your enquires will be dealt with in strict confidence and Neil can be contacted by email or by phone communicated in the email sent to all members.

Each candidate is required to be a full current member as at midday on 16th January 2026 (the start of the AGM process), aged 16 or over and must be nominated by two full current members as at 16th January 2026.

To stand for election to the Trust Board, please read and complete the Board Nomination Form that can be downloaded directly here:
WHUST 2026 board nomination form - Microsoft Word format

WHUST 2026 board nomination form - Adobe pdf format


All nomination forms must be returned by 18:00 on Monday 2nd February 2026 via email to neil_le_milliere@btinternet.com
 
Board members will be a Director of Ironworks 1895 Supporters’ Society Ltd – a Community Benefit Society registered under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014.

As well as being subject to the director’s responsibilities under that Act, they will also be bound by the Trust’s Board Membership and Conduct Policy and other rules and policies as published on the Trust’s website:  
   https://www.whust.org/policies

Candidate information will then be issued to full Trust members on 11th February 2026.

Should more nominations be received than vacancies (5) then a contested election will be held when full shareholding members will be able to vote in the board elections. Full details will be included in communications on 11th February 2026.
 
Please contact secretary@whust.org with any other questions relating to the Annual General Meeting.


Yours faithfully,
WHUST Board

16th January 2026


Details of the 2025 AGM held on Wednesday 21st February 2024 can be found at:

whust.org/agm-2025

Details of the 2024 AGM held on Wednesday 21st February 2024 can be found at:

whust.org/agm-2024

Details of the 2023 AGM held on Wednesday 15th February 2023 can be found at:

whust.org/agm-2023