CHAIRMAN'S COLUMN by Samir Patel Chair of the Board of Trustees
Croquet England’s published strategy [https://www.croquetengland.org.uk/ governance‐matters/] sets out themes of play, coaching and tournament officials, safety, inclusion, wellbeing, funding growth and sustainability. On 15 March, the Trustees met for a full day meeting to discuss these themes in more detail and start to consider themes, plans, priorities, and targets. There are some actions that Croquet England can quickly take forward, but there are a few overarching themes that we will consider further: 1. Coordination : Many major improvements can be achieved more effectively if we collaborate across many areas of Croquet England, our Federations and Clubs. For example, if we recruit players and develop clubs in one area, but focus our efforts on coaching and tournaments elsewhere, we don’t create the pathways for those new players to develop their play. We need to find ways to coordinate our efforts. 2. Fundraising : Whilst Croquet England has a healthy turnover, much of this is transactional (e.g. shop sales or tournament entries). The
CEO ROLE Beatrice McGlen has stepped down from her role as CEO. I, and my fellow Trustees, would like to record our thanks for Beatrice’s dedication and tireless work for Croquet England since our formation, and before that as Chair of the Executive Board of the Croquet Association since 2020. In that time, Beatrice has driven a wide range of improvements to our governance and operations, driven a much stronger focus on Safeguarding and Inclusion, and navigated the Covid pandemic. The Trustees have decided to review how this crucial role is delivered, and have therefore initiated a review to consider whether this should be as a full‐ or part‐time role, and examine if the range of tasks carried out and the organisational responsibilities are currently arranged in the most effective manner. This is with a view to advertising for a paid CEO role in the near future. Meanwhile, the responsibilities will be covered by a range of existing volunteers.
investable budget is much smaller. We identified a number of areas that would be significantly limited unless we can address this. There are roles that it is unrealistic to expect to be volunteer activities in the long term. We may be able to generate some additional funding through current activities, but we will need a greater focus on fundraising in the future. 3. Vision : We will achieve more if we can describe a common vision of where we want our sport to develop, and what we need to change to achieve that. Doing the same things, in the same way, and supported by the same committees, we will only see incremental improvements. If we are to be a much faster growing sport, with a broader – and younger – demographic than we saw from our last quinquennial survey, we will need to consider some significant changes to the way things have been. We always welcome ideas from subscribers on any issues, and particularly on any of the above.
YORKSHIRE WHEELCHAIR PROJECT CONTINUED
HOWEVER THERE ARE SOME ISSUES THAT WERE IMMEDIATELY IDENTIFIED. 1) As you can see from the images, the wheelchair used, although a standard type, has narrow hard main wheels. Inspection of the practice area by both Mike and the groundsman identified numerous very shallow wheel tracks. Considering we have had a remarkably dry and warm April 2025, this minor level of damage is too much. 2) Mike is tall, even allowing for age
and a bit of shrinkage, at least 5’ 10”. His arm length therefore is such that he is easily able to reach the ground from the sitting position. So, we are now looking for different wheelchairs with a pneumatic tyre system, preferably a wide tyre, and also looking at the arm length of our next guinea pig. A promising start though, and Chris has suggested that different types of wheelchair could be available from his source.
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