Welcome to the Independent State of Cuckfield website!
The Independent State (ISOC) is a local charitable organisation, as well as being a sovereign country.
The state was established by a Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1966, in response to the annexation of the land used for the annual Donkey Grand National at Whiteman’s Green (which had been used to raise funds for the local community).
With the Donkey Races effectively banned, a hard core of revolutionaries issued the proclamation of UDI – and established the first election for Mayor, making ISOC the first “mayorality” (cf principality) in the world.
The mayor for our 58th year, is Jem Lee, who was reelected in October 2024. (He set an all-time record for 2023’s election with over 1.6 million votes.)
Aims
The aims of the Independent State are to ensure the welfare of all Cuckfield’s citizens, young and old, and to protect the local surroundings.
It raises money through the mayoral election and distributes all that election money to various organisations, groups and charities based in Cuckfield and the surrounding area, to the benefit of the community.
Funds
All the money raised by all the candidates goes into the funds for distribution to local good causes. The running costs of the Independent State of Cuckfield itself and its events are covered by raising money outside the Mayor’s Election.
Citizenship
The Independent State of Cuckfield does not operate a formal membership list and so there are no membership fees! All Cuckfield residents are automatically members (or citizens) of the Independent State of Cuckfield.
- The duties of citizens are to spread the message that the fundamental purpose of the Independent State is to raise money at each year’s Mayor’s Election and to support ISOC events in any way possible, for example by actively helping, by coming along, or even just by telling family and friends when events are taking place!
- And everyone is encouraged to vote and vote often!