Johnners Trust Closure and Legacy Funds Notice

Dear Friends and Supporters, 

After thirty hugely successful years, we closed the doors on the Johnners Trust on 30 September 2025. This was part of a planned closure, which we communicated to all of our members and supporters over the past year. My fellow Trustees and I, along with Brian Johnston's family, are extremely proud of all that we achieved during the lifetime of the Johnners Trust, awarding cricket scholarships and grants worth more than £1million. It was great to celebrate those achievements with Aggers and so many of our friends and supporters at the final Johnners Dinner in the Long Room at Lord's in November 2024. 

The £100,000 of funds that remained in our accounts after our closure have been transferred to our partner charity, Lord's Taverners, to put in place a dedicated VI Cricket Programme for young people living with visual impairments from 2026 onwards. These funds will be matched by the Taverners as well as other organisations to ensure many young visually impaired or blind people can participate in and enjoy cricket for many years to come. We felt that this was the most appropriate legacy of the Johnners Trust following our closure. My fellow trustees and I have also agreed that any future funds from continued donations, including legacies that would have been given to the Johnners Trust, will be redirected to the Lord's Taverners, where it will be restricted to further fund this exciting new VI Cricket Programme in memory of Johnners. 

That leaves me to finish by saying, a big Thank You to everyone who supported, played a role, and made the Johnners Trust the successful charity that it was for three decades. 

Many kind regards, 

Barry Johnston, 

Chair of the Johnners Trust and on behalf of the Johnston family.