“The only place I don’t feel alone”: Stoke-on-Trent charity faces permanent closure after 54 years

On a Tuesday afternoon in Stoke-on-Trent, a woman in her seventies sits in a room with a handful of strangers. She hasn't really spoken to anyone since her husband died eight months ago. She almost didn't come. But she did. And for the first time in nearly a year, she doesn't feel quite so alone.

That room belongs to the Beth Johnson Foundation - a charity now facing closure in August 2026 unless support is secured.

For more than half a century, the Foundation has been one of Stoke-on-Trent's quietest and most vital forms of community support - helping older people through dementia, bereavement, isolation, and the slow erosion of confidence that can come with later life.

Founded in 1972 and named after a local nurse and Red Cross volunteer who spent her life volunteering to care for others, the charity has spent 54 years doing the kind of work that doesn't make headlines - until now.

Inclusive technology support that helps people navigate a digital world - from everyday IT to understanding social media. Health and wellbeing support, covering cooking on a budget, exercise and living well with long-term conditions like dementia, disability and mental health challenges. Creative communication that uses storytelling, arts and poetry to build connection, find your voice and bring communities closer together.

For many of those it supports, these aren't supplementary services. They are the primary source of connection in their lives.

"Every day we see the difference that simple human connection can make," says Sue, Chief Executive of the Beth Johnson Foundation. "For many people, this is the only place they feel heard, safe and valued."

One person who has attended a bereavement support group described the impact of the charity’s work:

“You sit at home thinking you’re the only one going through this awful time. But coming here and realising there are so many others… It has made me feel much less lonely. Now I have people I can talk to who understand. I’m not alone anymore.”

The threat to that work came suddenly. For 54 years, the Foundation's core funding was provided by the Beth Johnson Endowment Trust - a separate charity established specifically to sustain its work. Following a change in management, the Endowment Trust withdrew that funding. No replacement has been secured.

Without it, the Foundation is no longer financially viable. Services have already begun to close. Unless urgent support is found, the charity will cease all operations in August 2026 - ending more than five decades of continuous service to older people across the region.

For the thousands of people who have walked through its doors, the loss would be deeply felt. The everyday support that helps people navigate loneliness, cope with bereavement, and manage the challenges of living with dementia would simply disappear - along with the relationships, the familiarity, and the trust that has been built over years and cannot be quickly rebuilt elsewhere.

The Foundation had also been developing new programmes - around inclusive technology, creative wellbeing, and everyday health support - designed to help even more people in more accessible ways. That future, too, would be lost.

There is no straightforward replacement waiting to step in. What the Beth Johnson Foundation provides is specific, local, and deeply human - built on five decades of presence within Stoke-on-Trent communities, and the kind of quiet, consistent care that takes years to earn.

The Foundation is now calling for support from individuals, businesses and organisations who believe older people in Stoke-on-Trent deserve better.