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Brian's forty-seven years of broadcasting, his passion for England and its great national sport of cricket along with irrepressible sense of fun brought him into the hearts and minds of millions of people worldwide. For more information on the man himself visit www.johnners.com
As a memorial his family, together with many eminent members of the cricketing and broadcasting world, set up a Trust Fund to further the causes that were close to Brian's heart. A members club, The Johnners Club was also established in his memory and the Trustees are selected from the members of The Lord's Taverners.
'Johnners was right at the heart of English Cricket – lets aim to keep that heart beating'. Dennis Silk CBE, BJMT Founder Vice Patron
Established in May 1995, The Brian Johnston Memorial Trust (Registered Charity No. 1045946) supports the following key initiatives:
Brian Johnston Scholarships
This scheme provides promising young cricketers in need of financial support to achieve their potential and further their development towards County and National representation. Scholarships are awarded on the recommendation of the ECB Performance Department.
A report of our 2009 activity is available here.
A report of our 2008 activity is available here.
Cricket for the Blind
‘Johnners’ became the eyes and ears for thousands of people affected with visual impairment. The Trust supports visually impaired and blind cricketers.
In 2009 The Trust gave three grants of £5,000 each to the following Cricket Associations:
- North Regional Visually Impaired Cricket Board (NVICB)
The NVICB was awarded a grant to go towards their ‘Developing Youth Cricket’ Project. The NVICB is dedicated to steering the development of Visually Impaired cricket across the north of the country. The BJMT grant will go towards taster days to introduce a large number of young people into the sport of visually impaired cricket across the entire north of the country including Manchester, Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire.
- Blind Cricket England and Wales (BCEW)
The BCEW have been awarded a grant towards their ‘International Introduction Weekends’. These are weekends designed to introduce young players to the international version of blind cricket.
- Cricket for Change
Cricket for Change has been awarded a grant for its ‘Hit the Top’ programme. Hit the Top offers the opportunity for visually impaired school children to participate in out of school cricket clubs. The grant will go towards the cost of resources for the In-School Coaching Programme, Integration Days and the Hit the Top Festival Day at MCC Indoor Cricket School.
Johnners Dinner 2009
“Johnners pays tribute to Bearders”
The Long Room at Lord’s was packed to capacity for the annual Johnners Dinner on 20 October. The central theme of the dinner was to pay tribute to the late Bill Frindall, who died so sadly earlier in the year.
Immortalised by Brian Johnston as “The Bearded Wonder” or “Bearders”, Bill Frindall was the longest serving member of the Test Match Special commentary team, having made his debut in 1966, and served as scorer and statistician in a total of 377 Test Matches since then. The Dinner was expertly hosted by Christopher Martin-Jenkins and the TMS team turned out in force to pay their respects to a much loved friend. Moving and, at the same time, amusing and witty, tributes were made by Jonathan Agnew, Vic Marks, Peter Baxter, Shilpa Patel, who took over from Peter as producer of TMS a couple of years ago, and Malcolm Ashton, who has replaced Bill as the scorer. Further recorded tributes were made by Henry Blofeld and Richie Benaud, who were both abroad and unable to attend.
The Lord’s Taverners was, as usual, well represented by, amongst others, President, Chris Tarrant, who made a most entertaining and moving personal tribute of his own, and Chairman, John Hooper, who announced the launch of the Bill Frindall Scorer of the Year Award, in association with both The Taverners and BJMT. The object of this Award is to encourage youngsters to take up the skill, and follows two other Lord’s Taverners initiatives, the Centurions and Captains Awards which have been successfully launched recently.
As always, the Johnston family was much in evidence, and we were especially delighted that Pauline was able to be with us following her horrendous back injury earlier in the year. Barry Johnston opened the evening as usual with a few words of welcome, and Brian’s daughter Clare and grandson Nick were also present. It was also a great thrill to welcome, as one of our guests, our most famous of all the previous Johnners Scholars, Adil Rashid, proudly sporting his new England blazer. Congratulations to him on his many achievements on the field during the last year or so, and we look forward to him making his Test debut in South Africa during the winter.
Neil Burns introduced the NBC Denis Compton Award to the outstanding young cricketer of the season to James Taylor of Leicestershire, who collected the Award from Denis’s widow, Christine. We are indebted to Neil for this traditional part of the event, and for his ccontinued support. Neil Durden-Smith showed that he has lost none
of his auctioneering skills, and our thankks go to him and all who both supplied and purchased auction items, which helped to make the eveniing such a finnnancial success.
The overwhelming feeling of all who attended seemed to be that it was a hugely enjoyable and emotional occasion, and a fitting tribute to a great man.
Membership
The Johnners Club now has over 350 members, and a further 100 regular supporters. The Trust’s income is boosted significantly from the proceeds of the annual Johnners Club Dinner, Member Subscriptions, and general donations.
Membership is available to individuals who wish to support the Trust's objectives. Benefits include:
- Right to wear the distinctive Johnners tie or ladies scarf
- Access to tickets for Test Matches and other major matches at Lord's as a privilege kindly granted by MCC
- Priority booking for the Annual Dinner in the famous Long Room at Lord's
- Right to invite guests to Johnners Club events (subject to availability)
Standard membership costs £50 per annum. However, you may wish to make a one-off charitable donation of at least £1,000 and be made a Life Member. Either way, a warm welcome awaits you and we encourage you to contact us for an application form and further details.
Click here to download the latest Johnners Club newsletter.
For further information contact:
Amanda White
Membership Secretary
Richard Anstey
Trust Administrator
Tel: 020 7821 2828
Fax: 020 7821 2829
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