IT IS the last day to help rescue UK disability charity the Jubilee Sailing Trust (JST).

The charity faces closure unless it can find the last £200,000 today from this week's £1m appeal — and trustees will meet on Monday to determine the organisation’s fate.

The trust, which was founded by a grant from The Queen’s Silver Jubilee Fund in 1978, owns and operates two globally unique, purpose-built tall ships that are fully enabled for people with disabilities.

Named Lord Nelson and Tenacious, they are two of the last four remaining UK flagged, square rigged ships on the sea.

Duncan Souster, trust chief executive, said: "The JST has been a world leader on inclusive adventure since its inception and has played an important role in changing the perception of people with disabilities, long before these issues were in the public eye.

"Our work is transformative and life changing for the thousands of people who sail with us. It is so important it continues for the benefit of generations to come.”

The 40-year-old charity has taken nearly 50,000 people to sea, many of whom have physical disabilities, intellectual disabilities, or faced other challenges in their lives.

The charity has a challenging business model, with two expensive ships to operate, and has been operating without any significant reserves for some time.

Despite recent progress improving its financial footing, it has been hit by short-term cash flow issues brought about by the deferral of some partner projects to 2020 and unplanned engineering issues on both ships.

To support the emergency appeal, visit jst.org.uk/emergencyappeal/