Save the date for our 2025 AGM!

Equal Lives
6 days ago
3 min read

Image described in caption. — Large dark blue text on a white background reads: ‘You are invited to Equal Lives’ AGM 2025!’. The ‘AGM 2025’ is circled in orange. Beneath the heading, a graphic on the left shows a dancing woman in front of a large orange calendar; she is pointing to a circled date. Next to her, black text reads: ‘Time: 10:30am. Where: Online or in person. Date: Tuesday 2^nd December ’25. www.equallives.org.uk/agm2025 .’ Beneath the graphic of the woman are four thick sweeping lines in purple, navy, orange and grey, the Equal Lives branding colours. In the bottom right corner is the Equal Lives logo: Equal Lives is written in blue text, with a tagline written in purple - Free from disabling barriers. There are three orange birds flying into the air above the writing.

Preparations for our 2025 Annual General Meeting (AGM) are in full swing! This year it will be taking place on Tuesday 2^nd December 2025, from 10:30am until 11:30am. You are warmly invited to either watch the livestream via Microsoft Teams, or to join us in person – though please note the venue is small, so we have very limited places which will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

If you are Disabled and live in East Anglia, or you are the representative of a user-led group in East Anglia, you will be able to vote in our AGM. Full details around this can be found at https://www.equallives.org.uk/agm2025.

In the meantime, we wanted to reshare this overview of the importance of AGMs from a previous blog. Below, you can also find a better idea of what to expect from this year’s AGM.

What is an AGM?

If you haven’t attended an AGM before, you might be wondering what an AGM is and why it’s such an important event in our calendar! An AGM, or Annual General Meeting, is held once a year and serves as a platform for Equal Lives' trustees to inform members about the organisation's progress, finances, and any upcoming plans and changes.

It’s also an opportunity for our members to ask questions and find out more about the organisation, and for us to find out more about you, too! As a user-led organisation, it is important for us to hear your experiences of, and views about, issues that affect you. One of the reasons we must hold an AGM is to allow for voting on certain business items. These are stated in our governing document, which is legal document that clearly states our purpose as a charity, how we carry out our work, and other rules that we must follow.

To vote at the AGM, you must be Disabled, live in Norfolk or Suffolk, or be the representative of a user-led group in Norfolk or Suffolk. Members will be able to vote in new trustees, vote to sign off the last AGM minutes and audited accounts, and vote on any other ‘special resolutions’ that might require voting on. This can be done via our survey (which we recently emailed out to our mailing list) or at the AGM itself.

What will happen at the 2025 Equal Lives AGM?

The draft agenda for this year’s AGM is as follows:

Introductions of the Board and CEO
Sign off the AGM 2024 Minutes
Overview of 2024-2025 Financial Year – Fraser Bowe (Chair)
CEO Update – Ben Reed (CEO)
Declaration of Membership Votes
Voting of the Board of Trustees
Q&A – Ben Reed (CEO) and Board of Trustees
For those of us joining in person, a chance to network over teas, coffees, and biscuits!

What access accommodations can I expect at the AGM?

If you attend in person, the venue is fully wheelchair accessible and has a hearing loop. Whilst we will not strictly enforce Covid-19 or seasonal flu prevention measures, we do ask that you remain thoughtful to the reality that some of those in attendance are likely to be immune-compromised/medically vulnerable. So, lateral flow testing, not coming to the event if you test positive or feel unwell, mask wear if appropriate and careful handwashing are all encouraged.

We will also have a BSL interpreter, who will be visible throughout on the Microsoft Teams livestream. Teams will also allow you to turn on a live transcription if desired. We anticipate that the majority of members will join via Teams, since our in-person venue is small.

If you have any access requests not mentioned above, please do not hesitate to reach out to us on info@equallives.org.uk, and we will do everything we can to facilitate them.

We hope you will be able to join us, and that you will choose to vote if eligible. Your voice matters to us!

To request to attend the AGM, or to ask any questions, please contact info@equallives.org.uk.