Trustees

Alexander’s interest in waterways has developed through his professional experience in fisheries policy and his critical intervention on the evolution of water management practices during the long nineteenth century. His doctoral research examines how literature intervened in the development, interpretation, and implementation of water policy in Victorian and Edwardian Britain, bringing literary and historical evidence into dialogue with questions of environmental governance and policy implementation. He has also lectured on waterways and related themes, and has a particular interest in their history and heritage, their environmental significance, and the ways in which community engagement can inform contemporary debates about their management.

As Policy & Communications Lead at the Sustainable Eel Group, Alexander works in environmental policy across a range of scales, engaging with the European Commission, government representatives, commercial stakeholders, community groups, and civil society organisations on the conservation and management of the European eel. He has represented the organisation at international negotiations, most recently at the CITES Convention of the Parties in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, where he worked proactively with the European Union delegation and chaired a panel supporting both a Proposal and a Resolution on eel conservation. His wider experience in planning, architecture, and heritage has supported his understanding of the various challenges facing Britain’s waterways, whilst his personal interests in art and architecture, literature, and the outdoors have given him a particular appreciation of waterways as places of history, landscape, and community that deserve greater consideration in public life.

Tiffany Gale-Haynes has spent almost two decades working on and around the inland waterways, with experience spanning boatbuilding, marina operations and the wider waterways community. A partner at Kingsground Narrowboats and Enslow Marina in Oxfordshire, she has been closely involved in the design, construction and care of narrowboats and understands first-hand many of the challenges facing those who live, work and spend time on the waterways.

Now living aboard herself, Tiffany is passionate about protecting the waterways as living, working places and ensuring they remain relevant and accessible to future generations. She is a Maritime Ambassador, Mental Health First Aider and founder of Talk-Away on the Waterway, an initiative encouraging conversation and connection across the boating community.

As an IWA trustee, Tiffany will bring practical industry experience, an independent perspective and a strong commitment to championing the waterways, their communities and their future.

Peter has a lifelong interest in canals, particularly from a walker’s and nature-lover’s perspective.  This dates from when he was taken to see Sapperton Tunnel when researching a school project.  He is a member of Cotswold Canals Trust and Herefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal Trust, his local restoration projects.

Peter has experience as a charity trustee, having served 6 years (two terms) with PM4NGOs, a US-based NGO which develops free guides in project management for the international development sector and provides on-line certifications.  He was also a trustee of the Kambia Appeal a UK-based charity that aims to improve the medical conditions in the Kambia district of Sierra Leone.

Peter is a Chartered Engineer, a member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology and a member of the Association for Project Management.

Peter’s career started out in electronic hardware design, moved into software development, and then into technical project management. Peter is Director of Project Managers Against Poverty (PMAP) which provides assistance to project managers seeking to volunteer their unique skills and experience to help reduce poverty in the UK and worldwide.

Colin became a member of IWA shortly after becoming a narrow-boat owner in 1996. He is a retired railway signal engineer, who has always had an interest in financial matters. He has been the treasurer of two engineering professional institutions as well as a number of canal based societies over the years. He is (still) a chartered engineer but most of his engineering these days is carried out on his boat keeping it working. He has attended two WRG Canal Camps and is a strong believer of the benefits of the waterways in the UK to society. He also likes sailing, but generally in the warmer waters of the Mediterranean. He is married to Claire and has two children and four grandchildren.

He joined the finance committee in early 2024 and was co-opted as a trustee and deputy chair (finance) in August 2024.

Matthew is a retired Chartered Civil Engineer with over 30 years in the construction industry working mainly within the water and wastewater sectors. His experiences, both on site as a construction manager and as a framework design manager, bring extensive knowledge in all aspects of construction methods and management with an emphasis on health, safety and the environment. He was responsible for developing and implementing transformational changes, plans and strategies within the business.

Matthew lives on the canals with his wife and dog on a 60’ electric narrowboat. He has enjoyed the waterways since childhood both with his family and within scouts. For over 20 years he lived next to the Cromford Canal in Derbyshire where he acted as an ambassador for the canal and its restoration becoming chair of the Friends of the Cromford Canal. He was integral in the purchase of “Birdswood” whilst developing a strategy for the restoration.

He is passionate about the waterways but sees on a daily basis the challenges facing the network. Whilst he is a continuous cruiser, he recognises the canals and rivers are for everyone and that must be reflected in how they are managed, restored, maintained and funded.

Paul has been boating since he was taught to sail by an uncle at the age of eleven, and has owned narrowboats on the canals for nearly 40 years.  He joined British Telecommunications (then the GPO) in 1965 and took early retirement in 2000.  Since leaving BT he has run his own limited company and worked, as a technician, in one of the country’s top grammar schools.

Paul was first elected as a trustee in 2006 and has had several spells as a trustee since.  He has been London Region Chair since 2010 and served on Navigation Committee, Cavalcade Committee and the old Promotions Committee.  He helped develop the Silver Propeller Challenge scheme and is committed to widening the membership of the Association so that IWA is recognised by others as being a ‘broad church’ representing not only the boating and heritage interests, but all other users such as walkers and casual visitors.

Mike Wills has been fascinated by the inland waterways since his teens. Studying economic history helped develop the passion, and early experiences included digging out a disused lock and helping to raise a sunken wooden narrowboat which was subsequently converted into a houseboat. Regular towpath walks and dozens of narrowboat holidays helped him to introduce lots of his family and friends to the waterways. In 2019 he purchased part of a worsted mill and wharf on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal and subsequently has restored it to create a four storey house.

He is a Chartered Accountant and has worked as a senior civil servant, a tax partner in a medium sized practice and has been engaged as a non-executive director or consultant in a number of varied companies ranging from gold refining, electronic product recycling, pet food manufacture and insurance services. Most recent experience has been in setting up, running and subsequently selling a specialised school and as a non-executive director and trustee of a Housing Association.  Mike has also previously spent some years as Chair of Governors of both a primary school and a secondary school.  He was appointed an IWA trustee and a member of Finance Committee in 2022, and IWA National Chair in January 2024.

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