Northampton Croquet Club Trustees Annual Report
01/11/2024 to 31/10/2025
Charity # 1191519
1. Introduction
This report covers the period from 1/11/2024 until 31/10/2025. The trustees accept that they have overall responsibility for the direction, management, and control of the CIO.
2. Objectives and Activities
The object of the CIO is the promotion of community participation in healthy recreation for people of all ages in Northamptonshire and the surrounding area by providing facilities to participate in the sport of amateur croquet at both competitive and social levels (facilities means land, buildings, equipment and organising sporting activities).
The CIO is also involved in promoting croquet as an activity that contributes to both physical and mental welfare and through social interaction creates a supportive environment for its members.
The membership is engaged in social and competitive play both as individuals, and teams. The latter ranging from doubles partnerships to larger teams involved in competitive play in the regional croquet leagues (at various levels of play) and inter-club competitions.
As of the 1st of April 2023, Northampton Croquet club relocated to its new home in Roade,
Northamptonshire. The club has continued in its fund-raising efforts to further support the development of the space it occupies; during this period is has established a modest clubhouse such that members and visitors can escape inclement weather as well as take part in classroom style coaching sessions. Future plans include a substantial irrigation system for lawn care and when the membership is at an appropriate level the development of a fourth lawn.
The volunteers that assist the trustees are drawn both from the membership and those that are associated with the club, commonly these are partners of members. The club regularly runs introductory sessions and coaching to all levels and ability, and this year promotional activities and fund raising have featured extensively with two open days to introduce the club and sport to the local community.
As part of regular maintenance, the trustees regularly review the club risk registers, club handbook and key policies updating and communicating them to the membership as appropriate. These policies include Safeguarding, Equality, Disciplinary, Reserves policy and Data Protection (GDPR).
As Trustees, we have regard to the Charity Commission’s public benefit guidance and have taken it into account in all decision making. We are fully aware of our place in the wider community and believe that we have complied with our duty to have regard to the published guidance on public benefit. Membership is open to all, including those with a restricted ability to pay.
All Trustees gave their time to the Charity voluntarily and received no Honorarium, emoluments, or other benefits aside from receipted expenses.
3. Achievements and Performance
This year has been more settled than previous years as we have consolidated our fund-raising activities and focussed on maintaining and improving the facilities that we have. However, the club required a lot of volunteer effort over the hot summer with manually watering large areas of the estate we occupy. The plans for an irrigation system are becoming more critical and will be scoped out for the future especially with the growing effects of global warming. Along with the local bowls club (our neighbours) we commissioned a hydrological survey to test the viability of establishing a borehole on site and reduce water bill costs. This is unlikely to be investigated further until the supporting infrastructure to water the lawns is in place.
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On the participation front our members have been fully engaged with both competitive and social play. We entered teams in the East Anglian Croquet Federation (Regional body) leagues. These teams represent a cross section of all abilities and codes (types) of croquet, and all did well.
Members who enjoy the competitive aspect of croquet were also able to participate in tournaments and several made it through to the National finals of their class. The club hosted a new national level tournament for novice players which was also well supported by entries from qualifying club members.
At the top level of performance, two of our members continue to represent at the highest level of performance, travelling overseas to compete.
On a more social level several ‘friendlies’ were held with other local clubs and enjoyed by all with the club being well represented. We have also held our equally varied club competitions and publish the results on social media such as Facebook.
We regularly host groups for ‘Have a Go’ events during the summer. Local WI groups, a local choir, and a regular u3a group were introduced to the sport, not only providing a modest source of revenue but as importantly introducing new people to the sport and the club. The club also took part in a local primary school initiative to introduce less well-known sports to their students. This was well received such that a separate teachers and support staff event followed. We were pleased that students enjoyed their time and are in the process of working with the local secondary school so that there is the potential for continued participation for those interested. The club is actively involved in the sport’s governing body program of promoting croquet in schools and to younger people in general.
The club also supported open events for people to come and try our sport, this was well attended by the local community and from which we drew new members. We continue to publicise the club and sport through local magazines, such as the parish magazine, and other local social media outlets and have plans to continue in the coming year. The focus will continue to be on recruitment to improve the long-term sustainability of the club.
The ‘buddy’ scheme set up to help support new members by providing an established and knowledgeable member as mentor continues to operate effectively with another club member qualifying as a coach for both types of croquet to continue development past an introduction.
The trustees believe that the club is forging links with its new local community and looks forward to continuing to develop the site and promoting croquet for the benefit of its members and all those that it supports.
The year also saw us hosting competitive events for the wider croquet community and the continuation of reestablishing Northampton as a venue to enjoy top croquet.
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4. Financial Review
In compliance with the charities financial policy its current account holds sufficient funds to manage its running costs such as ground rent, affiliations, insurance, and administration support costs, whilst separate accounts hold surplus monies to assist in the longer-term development requirements. As mentioned, our major fund-raising activities took a back seat this year, with a view to plan for an irrigation system and focus on raising the required funds next year.
As at 31/10/2025 the total club funds stood at £35,815
The income for the year was £20,608 with an expenditure of £15,829
The modest increase in income arose from the usual fund raising conducted in the year with local communities, members past and present generous in their giving and the associated gift aid.
Beyond our ground rent, the expenditure largely related to the maintenance of the ground care equipment and ground care products e.g. fertilizer and seed. We also contributed to the build of a gravel path used to access the lawns. Previously such access became muddy and slippery over the wet weather/winter.
All outstanding liabilities will be settled from the unreserved funds. The trustees monitor the outstanding payments that are accrued from work commissioned or orders placed, recording the liabilities above £1,000 that will be settled prior to the next subscription round (1[st] April each year).
Given the level of income and expenditure the club continues to conduct an independent examination. It has traditionally commissioned one and will continue, reflecting the professional way the finances are dealt with and giving confidence to the membership and any interested third parties.
The trustees maintain both a business risk register and a Health and Safety register. These are reviewed regularly regarding all issues pertinent to the charity.
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4.1 Receipts and Payments Account
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4.2 Independent Examiner’s Report
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5. Structure, Governance and Management
The charity is setup as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) and controlled via its constitution.
Trustees are elected from the membership according to the process and provisions within the constitution.
The constitution sets out the eligibility requirements for a trustee and the process for those eligible to be considered by the membership. The incumbent trustees offer advice to anyone wishing to be considered regarding the role and associated responsibilities along with the Charities Commission documents including the ‘Welcome Pack for New Trustees.’
On election each new trustee will receive:
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(a) a copy of the constitution and any amendments made to it.
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(b) a copy of the club handbook and policies.
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(c) a copy of the CIO’s latest trustees’ annual report incorporating the statement of accounts.
The charity has a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 7 trustees. It also has introduced several specialist teams to assist the trustees in taking the club forward.
Northampton Croquet club is a member of the sport’s governing body – Croquet England and it also affiliates to the regional organisation the East Anglia Croquet Federation (EACF).
The trustees serving over the period of this report were:
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Trustee Role
Paul Chard Chair
Lionel Tibble Secretary
Martyn Palmer Treasurer
Archie Brown
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For convenience, the trustees meet via the Zoom video conferencing tool regularly. With special meetings set aside for risk register review or the management support teams.
The trustees are satisfied that our processes and systems are both legally compliant and adhere to the requirements of the charity commission.
The appointed Independent financial examiner for the period of this report:
John Deakin FCA Dorset House, Prestwood, Bucks. HP16 0JN
The charity has no corporate or advisory trustees. It has no trustees holding title to property belonging to the charity and no Funds are held as custodian trustees on behalf of others.
There are no reasons supporting ‘non-disclosure’ of key personnel details.
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6. Reference and Administrative details
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Charity name Northampton Croquet Club
Other name the charity uses Not applicable
Registered charity number 1191519
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| Charityname Other name the charityuses Registered charitynumber |
Northampton Croquet Club Not applicable 1191519 |
|---|---|
| Charity’s principal address | The principal office of the CIO is: Northampton Croquet Club The Leys, Roade, Northampton. NN7 2NR |
7. Declarations
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees
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Signature(s)
Full name(s) Paul Chard Lionel Tibble
Position (eg Secretary,
Chair, etc)
Chair of Trustees Trustee - Secretary
Date
29/12/2025
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