Election of the Croquet England Board of Trustees
Contents...
Role of the Board of Trustees and its Members
The Board has overall responsibility for the affairs of the Organisation, with a focus on high-level policy, strategic initiatives, scrutiny and transparency. Implementation of policy is the responsibility of the Executive, which the Board appoints. The standing committees report to the Executive.
There are 6 elected members of the Board. The Board may appoint up to 5 further members to ensure, as far as possible, diversity and breadth of experience and expertise. The elected members of the Board are elected by individual voting members of Croquet England in regional constituencies, the boundaries of which were determined in 2025.
Because Croquet England is a charity, the trustees have a duty to exercise their powers and to perform their functions in the way that they decide, in good faith, would be most likely to further the purposes of Croquet England as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation. Those purposes are set out as the 'objects of the CIO' in the Constitution. They are: 'the promotion of community participation in healthy recreation, in particular, the provision of facilities for the playing of croquet' and 'the advancement of the amateur sport of croquet for the public benefit'.
Standing for Election
Membership of the CqE Board of Trustees thus offers a significant opportunity to shape the future of Croquet England, in the interests of its subscribers as a whole and for the public benefit. Croquet England Subscribers with an active interest in the future of Croquet England and who have the skills needed for this role are encouraged to stand for election. Candidates must be voting members of Croquet England and can register as a voting member by completing a simple form and declaration.
Electoral Commission
The election process is managed by an Electoral Commission, currently consisting of Ian Burridge (former Treasurer of the Croquet Association), Gabrielle Higgins (Secretary of Croquet England) and Ian Vincent (former Secretary of the Croquet Association). They are responsible to Croquet England as a whole, rather than to the Board. They maintain the election rules. They have appointed Gabrielle Higgins as Returning Officer for the 2026 elections.
Constituencies
The Electoral Commission has settled six constituencies: the Central Counties and Wales, the Eastern Counties, the Northern Counties, the South West Counties, the Weald Counties, and the Western Home Counties. The composition of each constituency has been chosen to reflect the geographic distribution of playing members of clubs affiliated to Croquet England. More detail is available in the Electoral Commission's Report.
The Transitional Trustee Arrangements
In the initial period of the existence of Croquet England (i.e. 2023 to 2025), the Board first consisted of the original trustees named in the Constitution (who were the 9 elected members of the Council of the CA as at March 2023 when the charity was registered and thus came into existence). They were followed by the "initial trustees" (the 9 elected members of the CA Council as at October 2023), one of whom ceased to be a trustee in 2024.
In early 2025, two of the initial trustees were selected by drawing lots to continue in office until 2026. Those two were Samir Patel, of the Western Home Counties constituency, and Robin Tasker of the Northern Counties constituency. The terms of office of the remaining 6 initial trustees terminated in October 2025.
Elections were held in the summer of 2025 for elected charity trustees for the four remaining constituencies. George Collin was elected for the Eastern Counties and Andrew Stewart was elected for the Weald Counties. No candidates were nominated for the South West Counties or the Central Counties and Wales, and in early 2026 the trustees appointed Roger Baddeley and John Sayce to fill the vacancies, to serve until the 2026 AGM. The 'transition period' is now over and one-third of the elected charity trustees will retire in rotation from the 2027 AGM onwards and will be eligible for re-election, provided that they are not barred by from standing by clause 16 of the Constitution because they have served for three consecutive terms. Where trustees were last elected on the same day, lots will be drawn if necessary to decide who will retire.
Any contested elections will be decided by the single transferable votes of all voting members of the CIO in the constituency.
Electoral Register
Croquet England voting members with a primary club were allocated to a constituency based on the county in which their primary club is situated, which they may change at any time. Those without a primary club were asked to select their constituency.
Members can see the constituency to which they are registered by viewing details in the CqE database (by clicking on their name when logged in). Members will be able to change the registration, if they wish, to place themselves in the constituency that they consider to be the most appropriate, if they are not already placed there.
Voting
When an election is required, all voting members will be able to vote online, or by post.
All Croquet England Subscribers (whether direct subscribers, e.g. Premium Associates, or Standard subscribers, registered through club membership) aged 16 or over who have completed the required declaration to register as a voting member will be asked to register for one of the constituencies. They will be able to click the appropriate link to their constituency for details of the candidates. Alternatively, they may request a postal ballot paper from returning.officer#croquetengland.org.uk.
Using this website
