Residents seeking a general meeting of Wroxall Community Association have been told the charity has no members and that the community has no right to call one – using a Constitution that does not match the governing document published on the Charity Commission’s register.
The Commission’s register carries a 1988 Community Association Constitution, under which membership is open to any Wroxall resident aged 18 or over, and 20 members can require a meeting to be called.
The document WCA supplied to a resident this week is a Declaration of Trust. It contains no membership provisions at all.
The request for a meeting
Joanne Cresswell, a Wroxall resident, wrote to WCA on 11th September 2026 asking for an Extraordinary General Meeting. She followed up on 22nd September, asking that the agenda include a vote of no confidence in the remaining trustees and a vote on their removal from office. She says the request is supported by more than 200 verified resident signatures.
WCA replied on 23rd September,
“Please note that Wroxall Community Association is not a members’ organisation; it is an open charity to manage and operate a building, offering facilities for the community.”
It added that there is “no membership, whether subscription, automatic, or assumed by residence,” and that the charity’s “structure and constitution do not have the ability for people in the community to call a general meeting nor have a vote of no confidence.”
The trustees attached a copy of the Declaration of Trust to that email.
Two different documents
OnTheWight has seen both the 1988 Constitution and the Declaration of Trust.
The version on the Charity Commission’s register was adopted at a public meeting at Wroxall Community Centre on 15th December 1988. Clause 4 makes membership open to individuals aged 18 or over living in Wroxall. Clause 10(b) provides that the Secretary must call a Special General Meeting within 21 days of receiving a written request signed by at least 20 members. The charity is run by a General Committee including twelve representatives of individual members elected at the AGM, plus a Chair, Vice-Chair, Treasurer and Secretary.
The Declaration of Trust supplied by WCA has no membership clause and no mechanism for residents to request a meeting. The charity is administered by trustees, who appoint their own successors by resolution at a special meeting.
What appears to have happened
The Commission’s register holds a further document dated 2022 – a single page, being page 11 of 11, carrying dated signatures. That page appears on the same headed paper as the Declaration of Trust WCA supplied, and matches its signature page.
That suggests the Declaration of Trust was adopted around 2022, but that only its signature page was filed with the Charity Commission rather than the full document. The substantive text on the public register therefore remains the 1988 Constitution.
Clause 32(c) of the Declaration of Trust requires trustees to send the Commission “a copy of the constitution effecting any amendment” within three months of it being made.
Asked by Ms Cresswell when the document was adopted, WCA replied,
“The constitution has not been updated recently. This is a PDF version that was downloaded for easy sharing; however, the signed version is in the office and can be verified.
“This is the constitution we have been operating under for several years.”
The practical effect is that for around four years, residents checking the public register would have found a Constitution giving them membership rights, while the trustees say they have been operating under a document that gives them none.
The charity’s response to the petition
In the same email, the trustees said they were “listening to the community in several forms” and were discussing the situation with hall users, residents and volunteers.
Referring to the petition, they wrote,
“The views of the people in your petition are important alongside all these other methods.
“It is worth noting that Wroxall has a population of 1,709 according to the 2021 census.”
The email concluded,
“This is our last communication on this matter.”
What the resident says she was told
Ms Cresswell said in a public statement that she spoke to the Charity Commission on Thursday morning. She said she was advised that the governing document held on the Commission’s records is the relevant document, and that WCA “cannot simply change from a members’ charity to a non-members’ charity without following the proper legal process for changing its governing document.”
She has given WCA until 2nd October to announce an EGM, saying that otherwise she will return to the Commission and seek enforcement.
OnTheWight has asked the Commission to confirm what documents it holds for the charity.
At least five trustees
Whichever document applies, both raise questions about the charity’s current position.
Clause 9(1) of the declaration of trust states: “There must be at least 5 trustees.” WCA currently has two – Chair Jon Steele and Treasurer Mic Prior – following three resignations and the removal of a fifth trustee, Donna Walton, on 10th September 2026.
Clause 9(4) requires trustees to give each new trustee a copy of the Constitution on first appointment. Donna Walton said publicly that she was not provided with it when she asked while serving as a trustee.
Neither document contains an express power allowing trustees to remove another trustee. The Declaration of Trust lists four circumstances in which a trustee ceases to hold office: disqualification, medical incapacity, six months’ unexplained absence, or resignation. The 1988 Constitution provides a procedure for terminating a person’s membership, requiring that the individual “shall have the right to be heard by the General Committee before the final decision is made,” with a right of appeal to an independent arbitrator.
WCA has said the removal was “fully in line with our constitution” and was notified to the Charity Commission with supporting evidence.
Commission assessment
The Charity Commission has told OnTheWight it is “actively assessing” concerns raised about Wroxall Community Association, and that it is aware of the trustee resignations and is “considering all relevant information as part of our assessment.”
It said it could not comment on specifics while that assessment continues.
On trustee numbers, the Commission said,
“Charities must follow their Governing Document with regards to the number of trustees in post.”
On removals,
“Charities must follow their Governing Document with regards to any recruitment or removal of trustees.”
Questions put to WCA
OnTheWight has put questions to WCA about which document it considers its operative governing document, when the declaration of trust was adopted and by whom, whether the full document was filed with the Commission, how the charity accounts for having two trustees against a stated minimum of five, and under which clause Ms Walton was removed.
WCA had not responded by the time of publication but we will update this article when we receive a response.
