Open letter to our volunteers, introducing the Volunteer's Charter

[<<] [>>] by Samir Patel
31st July (CqE Official News)

To all Croquet England volunteers

The Trustees have recently published a Volunteer's Charter, and the recent meeting of the Board of Trustees felt that this was a good opportunity to remind all volunteers of the organisation's governance structure, our roles within that including how we are expected to behave towards each other, to players and to those outside the sport.

The commitment and dedication of you, our volunteers, is essential to the smooth running of Croquet England, and is greatly valued and appreciated. The Volunteer's Charter sets out our Shared Commitments describing both what all volunteers can expect from Croquet England, and in turn what Croquet England asks of volunteers.

The guiding principle for the Governance of Croquet England is that all powers of the charity are directly and ultimately vested with the Board of Trustees. They choose to delegate those powers as they deem appropriate to Officers and the Executive, and to other roles and committees appointed by and accountable to the Executive and subject to its decisions.

As part of that delegation, the trustees set a framework of strategies and policies. Adherence with these is essential in allowing Trustees to perform their duty to have overall control over and responsibility for a charity's management and administration, and meet our obligations to:

• make sure that the charity complies with its governing document
• comply with charity law requirements and other laws that apply to our charity
• ensure that Croquet England is carrying out its purposes for the public benefit

Volunteers and committees working within the governance, strategy and policy framework can expect the full support of the Executive and Trustees. However, the Chief Executive and the Executive Board as a whole is expected to take action where activity strays outside that framework; they will have the full support of the Board of Trustees in doing so.

This extends to how we choose to conduct ourselves. On court, we participate in a spirit of friendship and fair play, and we expect our opponents to do the same. The Codes of Conduct extends this to all situations, both online and in person. Disagreements are an inevitable, normal, and healthy part of debate within any organisation, including our own. Particularly when using email and other digital technologies, we need to remember that whatever the merits of what we think we are saying, our words are subject to the interpretation of other people. At all times, we need to communicate respectfully, responsibly, and collaboratively to protect the best interests of croquet and the croquet community.

Thank you for everything you do to help inspire a new generation of player in a safe, inclusive and diverse community.

Board of Trustees
31 July 2024