The Johnners Trust Awards Panel met by Zoom on 16 April 2021 and once again we agreed to support Blind Cricket England and Wales (BCEW) both for their annual Development Festival at Leicester University and their flourishing women and girls programme throughout the country. The total funding for both these applications was in excess of £17,000. The ongoing discussion about the future development of visually impaired cricket in England and Wales, involving the ECB, BCEW, the Johnners Trust and the Lord’s Taverners, is still a work in progress.
We also agreed in principle to grant Johnners cricket scholarships to a number of talented young cricketers in need of financial assistance to help them progress in the game. However, because of the pandemic leading to the late start in cricket activities throughout the country, we were advised by David Graveney to defer such awards until later in the year when the element of need would become clearer. The panel did agree to support an application from Cricket East (Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire) for scholarships to be awarded to 15 talented young cricketers (both girls and boys) on the Wicketz programme; these young players cannot afford the cost of kit and travel and have been selected for county age group representative squads.
Awards Panel
Despite the pandemic over the past two years, the Johnners Trust has continued to operate as actively as possible in the circumstances. In April 2021 we duly held our awards panel meeting via Zoom, when we once again agreed to support Blind Cricket England and Wales (BCEW) both for their annual Development Festival at Leicester University and their flourishing women and girls programme throughout the country.
The total funding for both these applications was in excess of £17,000. David Gavrilovic, the vice-chairman of BCEW, reports that after a year lost to Covid-19 the BCEW Johnners Trust Development Festival returned in 2021. More than 50 players representing clubs from across the country came together in Leicester for two excellent days of cricket played in the best of spirits. Bradford & District won the tournament after going through the weekend unbeaten.
The ongoing discussion about the future development of visually impaired cricket in England and Wales, involving the ECB, BCEW, the Johnners Trust and the Lord’s Taverners, is still in progress. There have been delays caused by the pandemic, but hopefully some real progress will be made shortly.
We also agreed in principle to grant, as usual, Johnners scholarships to talented young cricketers in financial need to help them progress in the game. Because of the pandemic leading to the late start in cricket activities throughout the country, we were advised by David Graveney to defer such awards until later in the year when the element of need will have become clearer. The panel did agree, however, to support an application from Cricket East (Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire) for scholarships to be awarded to 15 talented young cricketers (both girls and boys) on the Wicketz programme. These young players cannot afford the cost of kit and travel and have been selected for county age group representative squads.
Although David Graveney has now retired from his position as National Performance Director of the ECB, we are delighted that he has offered to continue to advise on and operate this most important part of our funding. Nobody in the game knows more about the emerging young players than he does.
Annual Dinner, Monday 8th November 2021
At our annual dinner on 8 November in the Long Room at Lord’s, we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Trust and I am delighted to report that the dinner was a sell-out. We raised an excellent £18,000 towards funding our Johnners scholarships.
We were greatly looking forward to having Ted Dexter, the legendary Test cricketer and England captain, as our speaker, but as you will know he sadly passed away earlier in the summer. However, we were delighted to that his widow Sue Dexter agreed to join us together with Johnny Barclay, the former Sussex captain and Director of the Arundel Castle Cricket Foundation.
Unfortunately David Gower, one of our Vice Patrons and former England captain, was not able to join us due to work commitments at the T20 World Cup. Sir Tim Rice, another Vice Patron, very kindly agreed to stand in for David to help us celebrate this great landmark.
Richard Anstey
Secretary of The Johnners Trust
The Johnners Trust Awards Panel was able to hold its annual meeting on 17 April 2020, albeit via Zoom, and we were delighted to welcome our new Trustee, the experienced presenter, sports journalist and cricket commentator, Alison Mitchell. Despite the lack of foreseeable cricket at the time, we agreed to make the following awards:
The Panel kept their options open to make further awards in the event of cricket activity resuming, both in the cases of scholarships and blind cricket.
I hope you and your families are keeping safe and well during these difficult and challenging times. At least the series against the West Indies has now commenced, albeit behind closed doors. At last some real cricket to look forward to!
Despite the lockdown, our Trustees have been extremely busy and proactive in a number of different ways.
Change of Name
Firstly, after twenty-five years we have decided to change the name of the Trust. Henceforth we will become The Johnners Trust, which we feel is much less of a mouthful than the present name. We do hope you will all be happy with this change!
Annual Dinner, Monday 9th November 2020
It will come as no surprise to you, I am sure, that we have decided to cancel our dinner at Lord’s this year. The MCC have informed us that they do not anticipate making any revenue from any events this year, as they believe that social distancing will make this very difficult, if not impossible.
Even allowing for the recent relaxation of lockdown rules throughout the country, there seems little likelihood that events such as our dinner will stand any chance of returning to normal in the foreseeable future. This is extremely disappointing, bearing in mind it would have been our 25th anniversary dinner with one of our Vice Patrons, David Gower, and also the great Ted Dexter lined up to join us. We obviously hope they will still be able to join us in 2021 and the date for next year is Monday 8th November – a bit early I know, but let’s live in hope and make a note in your diary now!
We are considering whether other options might be possible, not only to launch the new logo and name of the Trust, but also to keep you all involved with the Trust as far as possible. For instance, maybe a virtual event such as an online cricket forum later in the year with, Covid permitting, a cocktail party in the spring. We will fully explore such possibilities and let you know.
Awards Panel
We were able to hold our Awards Panel meeting in April, albeit via Zoom, and despite the lack of foreseeable cricket at the time, we agreed to make the following awards –
The Panel kept their options open to make further awards in the event of cricket activity resuming, both in the cases of scholarships and blind cricket.
Lord’s Test Match Tickets
It is obviously very disappointing that no cricket has been played at Lord’s this summer and refunds are in the process of being made for those who purchased tickets. However, I am sure you will appreciate that with all the staff at the office working from home and some furloughed, the repayments are taking a bit longer than usual.
Best wishes and I hope that at least we get some live cricket to watch soon.
Richard Anstey
Secretary of The Johnners Trust
The BJMT Awards Panel met on 17 April 2019 at the Lord’s Taverners offices in London to make the annual Brian Johnston Scholarship Awards. A total of more than £45,000 was given in scholarships, grants and awards to help promising young cricketers to fulfil their sporting potential. We are very grateful for the generosity and support of all our Johnners Club members, who have enabled us to make these awards.
(1) ECB Recommended Scholars.
On the recommendation of the ECB Performance Department, Brian Johnston Cricket Scholarships totalling £25,000 were awarded to the following young cricketers to assist them with travelling expenses so that they can attend their coaching and training sessions:
Bedfordshire
Buckinghamshire
Cheshire
Cornwall
Cumbria
Durham
Glamorgan
Gloucestershire
Hampshire
Isle of Wight
Kent
Leicestershire
Northants
Somerset
Surrey
Cricket Wales
Warwickshire
Worcestershire
(2) Blind Cricket.
The Brian Johnston Memorial Trust is proud to continue its support of cricket for the visually impaired and a grant of £9,110 was awarded to Blind Cricket England and Wales towards the cost of funding their ninth annual development weekend at the University of Leicester in September 2019, designed to introduce players and teams from around the country to blind cricket.
An additional grant of £8,050 was awarded to fund the UK Women and Girls VI Programme that offers blind and visually impaired school girls throughout the country the opportunity to learn about the game and participate in out-of-school cricket sessions in Berkshire, Worcestershire and Yorkshire, and in their new group in the West Country.
The BJMT also agreed to grant £4,000 towards funding the BCEW BJMT International Ball Challenge Cup involving about 50 players and taking place in June 2019 at Loughborough University.
The BJMT Awards Panel met on 17 April 2018 at the Lord’s Taverners offices in London to make the annual Brian Johnston Scholarship Awards. A total of more than £40,000 was given in scholarships, grants and awards to help promising young cricketers to fulfil their sporting potential. Once again we are grateful for the generosity and support of all our Johnners Club members, who have enabled us to make these awards.
(1) ECB Recommended Scholars.
On the recommendation of the ECB Performance Department, Brian Johnston Cricket Scholarships totalling more than £18,000 were awarded to the following young cricketers to assist them with travelling expenses so that they can attend their coaching and training sessions:
Buckinghamshire
Durham
Glamorgan
Gloucestershire
Kent
Leicestershire
Somerset
Surrey
Sussex
Warwickshire
Worcestershire
(2) Blind Cricket.
The Brian Johnston Memorial Trust is proud to continue its support of cricket for the visually impaired and a grant of £8,850 was awarded to Blind Cricket England and Wales towards the cost of funding their ninth annual development weekend at the University of Leicester in September 2018, designed to introduce players and teams from around the country to blind cricket.
An additional grant of £8,270 was awarded to fund the UK Women and Girls VI Programme that offers blind and visually impaired school girls throughout the country the opportunity to learn about the game and participate in out-of-school cricket sessions in Berkshire, Worcestershire and Yorkshire. This includes funding towards a Development Tour of a Women and Girls blind and visually impaired cricket team to Barbados.
(3) BJMT Elite Spin Bowling Programme.
The Brian Johnston Memorial Trust has also agreed to one final year of sponsorship for the BJMT Elite Spin Bowling Programme in association with the ECB. All eighteen of the first-class Counties and UCCEs are now participating in this programme that aims to encourage and develop the art of spin bowling in England and Wales by providing funds for additional coaching at Academy level.
We are thrilled that our former Johnners Scholar Anya Shrubsole has become the first female cricketer ever to be featured on the cover of Wisden. It is a great honour and very well deserved. Anya is a wonderful ambassador for women’s cricket and we wish her even more success in the future.
The BJMT Awards Panel met on 26 April 2017 at the Lord’s Taverners offices in London to make the annual Brian Johnston Scholarship Awards. A total of £45,000 was given in scholarships, grants and awards to help promising young cricketers to fulfil their sporting potential. Once again we are grateful for the generosity and support of all our Johnners Club members, who have enabled us to make these awards.
(1) ECB Recommended Scholars.
On the recommendation of the ECB Performance Department, Brian Johnston Cricket Scholarships totalling more than £15,000 were awarded to the following young cricketers to assist them with travelling expenses so that they can attend their coaching and training sessions:
Buckinghamshire
Durham
Gloucestershire
Hampshire
Kent
Leicestershire
Somerset
Surrey
Warwickshire
Worcestershire
(2) Blind Cricket.
The Brian Johnston Memorial Trust is proud to continue its support of cricket for the visually impaired and a grant of £8,600 was awarded to Blind Cricket England and Wales towards the cost of funding their eighth annual development weekend at the University of Leicester in September 2017, designed to introduce players and teams from around the country to blind cricket.
An additional grant of £9,000 was awarded to fund the BCEW Women and Girls VI Programme that offers blind and visually impaired school girls throughout the country the opportunity to learn about the game and participate in out-of-school cricket sessions in Berkshire, Worcestershire and Yorkshire.
(3) BJMT Elite Spin Bowling Programme.
The Brian Johnston Memorial Trust has agreed to continue its sponsorship of the BJMT Elite Spin Bowling Programme in association with the ECB. All eighteen of the first-class Counties and UCCEs are now participating in this programme that aims to encourage and develop the art of spin bowling in England and Wales by providing funds for additional coaching at Academy level.
The BJMT Awards Panel met on 20 April 2016 at the Lord’s Taverners offices in London to make the annual Brian Johnston Scholarship Awards. A total of £50,000 was given in scholarships, grants and awards to help promising young cricketers to fulfil their sporting potential. Once again we are grateful for the generosity and support of all our Johnners Club members, who have enabled us to make these awards.
(1) ECB Recommended Scholars.
On the recommendation of the ECB Performance Department, Brian Johnston Cricket Scholarships totalling more than £14,000 were awarded to the following young cricketers to assist them with travelling expenses so that they can attend their coaching and training sessions:
(2) Blind Cricket.
The Brian Johnston Memorial Trust is proud to continue its support of cricket for the visually impaired and a grant of £8,000 was awarded to Blind Cricket England and Wales towards the cost of funding their seventh annual development weekend at the University of Leicester in September 2016, designed to introduce players and teams from around the country to blind cricket.
An additional grant of up to £10,000 was given to fund the further development of Female VI Cricket in the BCEW’s girls-specific cricket initiative that offers blind and visually impaired school girls throughout the country the opportunity to learn about the game and participate in out-of-school cricket sessions.
(3) BJMT Elite Spin Bowling Programme.
The Brian Johnston Memorial Trust has agreed to continue its sponsorship of the BJMT Elite Spin Bowling Programme in association with the ECB. All eighteen of the first-class Counties and UCCEs are now participating in this programme that aims to encourage and develop the art of spin bowling in England and Wales by providing funds for additional coaching at Academy level.
Three generations of Johnners! Brian Johnston, his eldest son Barry and granddaughter Olivia photographed at the annual Johnners Dinner in the Long Room at Lord’s Cricket Ground on 7 November 2016. This was the first time Olivia had ever visited Lord’s, where her grandfather commentated on BBC television and radio at every England Test match for nearly fifty years.