Meet the new Chairman
Tim Luckhurst was unanimously named as the new Lord’s Taverners chairman last month and he stressed that he and the Board of Trustees are looking forward to continuing the ‘phenomenal’ work of the charity with disadvantaged and disabled young people across the country.
With cricket running through his veins and more than three decades of experience with leading roles within the finance and charitable sector, Tim led his first trustee meeting as Chairman last week and he explained that all left the room with a clear goal in mind.
“The Lord’s Taverners is a phenomenal charity and as a Board of Trustees, our role is to make sure we help it do more incredible things,” he added. “There are some amazing people on the Board with fantastic skill sets across many professions and our role is to make sure that we support the dedicated, professional and passionate staff at the charity so we may continue our life changing work.
“The Lord’s Taverners was formed as a club and it has been doing amazing work across seven decades. But now it is a leading national charity and while our focus used to be very much around grant giving, we are now running our own award-winning programmes and the results we achieve from them are clear to see in terms of increased activity, mental well-being and social impact. And, as a Trustee Board, we are united in our goal to drive these programmes forward and widen their impact.”
Tim’s support of the charity came through his Father, the former Kent and England opening batsman Brian Luckhurst, and close family friend Mike Denness.
It is that link that saw the Luckhurst and Denness families comes together to create the Denness Luckhurst Foundation in 2013 with five golf days held to date which has helped raise £75,000 in support of the Lord’s Taverners and another charity. "Our golf days have hugely benefited from the help of Chris Cowdrey, it's just lovely to see three Kent cricketing families working together for such good causes.
“All were huge supporters of the charity and many of my earliest memories are of them in action on the cricket field so the Taverners has always been very close to our family’s hearts,” Tim explained. “We wanted to honour their memory with the Foundation, supporting the Taverners was the obvious choice.”
Still a keen cricketer, Tim was due to captain Kent over 50s this year and still plays league cricket for Tunbridge Wells Cricket Club.
He added: “Cricket has always played a huge role in my life and I know the benefits that sport and being part of a team can bring to young people, and that is why I initially became a Trustee of the charity because I want to contribute. I’ve been fortunate enough to have some great experiences in life and across business and I also worked at a charitable housing association for a year which gave me a much better understanding of finances in the charity sector and hopefully all of that experience will help the charity.
“Times are challenging at the minute, but I can assure you we have a dedicated team of staff and a Board of Trustees who are working hard to make sure that this charity can continue its fantastic work when it is safe to do so.
“By working together across all areas of the charity, collectively as Trustees, staff, members and supporters, we can continue to make such a life changing impact on the young people we support.”