This fund was set up after the loss of John Farley in September 2007, who spent a life in aviation, and always wanted everyone to have a chance to experience flying - not just the few. John always took the time to talk to people and show them around aircraft, and promote aviation to all, no matter who they were or their background. He always wanted to give young people the opportunity of flight, many of which would not be in a situation to afford such a luxury. This is why we, his family, have set up the Fund to carry out his wish.

Born in 1944 in Lower Kingswood, Surrey, John grew up with two loves - electronics and aviation.

Electronics
John became an apprentice (Your Fired!) Radio Service Engineer with Messrs. Hastings Limited in Lavender Hill, London on 20^th February 1961 and continued until he completed the apprenticeship on 14^th June 1965. During this time he worked with the various BBC research facilities including Kingswood Warren, pioneering today's transmission techniques. Whilst serving his apprenticeship he did get up to mischief. We can relate two instances where havoc was caused. Firstly, with the advent of Stereo records and Hastings being a very large shop on a corner, he along with another engineer opened windows at either end of the workshops on two sides, placed speakers next to the windows and caused traffic to stop by playing the sound of fire engine bells. This brought all the traffic to a standstill on the roads, with people getting out of their vehicles to look for the invisible fire engines. This was done on more than one occasion!

Another instance vivid in our memory is when they blew up a staff toilet. They intended to just blow up the toilet bowl (why we never found out) but ended up with such an explosion that it blew the cubicle doors off. Fortunately, no one was hurt but we do not suggest anyone try it!

He also featured in ATV's consumer programme 'Warning Voice' on 16^th March 1962 and was paid the princely sum of £2 2s.0d. It showed him repairing a television.

When his apprenticeship finished his family moved to Sompting in West Sussex and John continued his employment with Horton and Sons Ltd., St. Mary's Road, Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex. (Strangely, another business on the corner of two roads.) This business sold television sets, radios, record players and radiograms. The business bought the fish shop next door and made it into the record department and in 1967 Janis came to work there and that is how she and John met. The shop was run by three brothers - Dennis, the eldest, who was the main salesman in the shop, Peter, the middle brother, who did the office work and David, the youngest, who was an engineer. The atmosphere was always happy, sometimes quite hilarious, especially when The Jungle Book music was played, and they all danced round to the music like monkeys. The shop being on a corner with floor to ceiling glass and fully lit, these antics could be seen by all. Sometimes Peter was called upon to serve in the shop when it was very busy and he suffered many exploding cigars. At the time unknown to him, one of the engineers would push the head of a Swan Vesta into the cigar not knowing at which point it would flare up. He would also find nasty smells coming from somewhere in his desk and find that rotting fish or meat had been placed at the back of it. On the occasions when there was snow, it was closing time and the shop was dark, unsuspecting commuters walking away from the shop, would be hit on the back with a snowball. Those who threw them had ducked back inside the doorway and could not being seen by the person they hit. The welcome feel of the shop was such that it was always packed out regardless of the day of the week. Janis worked there until their marriage in 1971 when she left having moved to Storrington and worked in Flemings, the local chemist. John stayed there for another year and then went to work for Ken Johnstone's in Steyning, until he started his own business, Airwave Electronics, in January 1978. During the Airwave years, a great deal of his work involved the residents at RAFA Sussexdown in Storrington. There he not only did he do work for them but would visit many of the residents just to talk and reminisce with them. The business was transferred to Barkers of Tarring in 2002, when the aviation commitments became too much to run two companies.

Aviation
John was about two years old when he stared to show an interest in aircraft. His father Bert had a haulage company and used to take John on his rounds, stopping at Croydon Airport so he could watch the aircraft. When he was old enough to build his own models, his father used to take him to Epsom Downs to fly them.  He progressed to building and flying his own designs of scale models and working on pioneering radio transmitters for them. (We still have every model he made which are still in flying condition.) He was also associated with modeling companies such as Sky Leader at Croydon, before moving on to the full size aircraft. John also taught both his children, Helen and Neil, how to build from scratch and fly their own models and took them to Epsom Downs to fly them.

The modeling continued into the 1990's. From an early age his father took him to airshows and in the early '70s he became friends with Martin Hanks of the Aero Book Company, at the Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden Aerodrome. At that time the books were sold from an old blue caravan from that site. He became more involved with the company over the years until 1991 when the Farley family took the whole company over. Over the next few years they revitalised the company and instead of doing one airshow a month during the season at Old Warden, they started taking the book stand to more venues all over the country. After a few more years they were at an airshow every weekend from the end of April until mid-October and on some occasions split and did two different airshows on the same weekend. The stand evolved at one point to three different marquees but always two, with the last airshow season being in 2006. 2007 was going to be a year off to do other work and in 2008 back to the airshows again. Unfortunately, John's untimely death has meant that the Book Company will no longer be going to the airshows but is still trading via the Internet. 2009 will see the 20^th Anniversary of the Shoreham Airshow, which Aero Books had been involved with since the beginning. The first year there were three stands on the hard standing outside the Terminal building, including Aero Books and someone selling and demonstrating leathers/dusters. Over the years, as the airshow evolved, so did Aero Books. Whilst Aero Books has not been trading at the show for the past two airshows, the family did attend the 2007 show just six days after losing John and then in 2008, Neil and Janis were invited to the RAFA VIP tent. Although the weather was not too good on the Sunday they were again able to watch the display in full. Having spent so many years on the airshow circuit, they were always working inside the marquees and saw very little of what was going on outside. We should however point out that John always AWOL from his post on the stand as soon as the flying displays started. This sometimes left Janis desperate for a 'comfort break' and Neil on his stand faint with lack of nourishment. Many friends and customers would walk past during the afternoon and shout out 'He's left you on your own again, has he?' or words to that effect. Strangely enough he never tended to be that far away but always out of sight when they needed to find him. John would, of course, swear blind that he had been on the stand all day!

In the early 1990's John was involved with the Short Sunderland at Calshot before it went to America, and also helped train pilots to fly floatplanes for their British floatplane rating in West Sussex, with a Piper Super Cub which was the only floatplane in the country at that time. During this time he also helped with floatplane pleasure flying, which was the first time it had happened since just after the end of World War Two. In 1996 John, his wife Janis, and son Neil, made up part of 'Team Merlin' who operated the World War One Vickers Vimy Bomber replica around the airshow circuit. In the late 90s, John and Neil helped to rebuild and make airworthy a homebuilt aircraft which had been owned by Mr. George Shield. This was a rare opportunity to work on an aircraft that had not only been designed by Mr. Shield but also built and flown by him. The new owner of the aircraft was able to take it to a number of airshows to show it off over some years. In 2002 John was able to purchase a Miles Messenger aircraft which was a dream come true for him, as he had known two members of the Miles family for some years. This was one of the aircraft that he had always been interested in. The aircraft had participated in numerous air races including winning the King's Cup Air Race in September 1954 at an average speed of 134 mph and it had also appeared at the beginning of the film '633 Squadron'. The aircraft has been stripped down and worked on and was at a point of being put back to flying condition before John died. The family, however, are carrying on with the project. Once completed and in flying condition - hopefully in 2009 - the aircraft will be taken to airshows around the country, to give pleasure flights raising money for the Fund.

John was full of strength and energy and as was the case with everything he did in life, he did not expect anything back in return for what he gave others. He will be missed by all that knew him, but his legacy will go on through the aircraft he had, and the setting up of the memorial fund to help disadvantaged young people to experience flight.

The family intends to purchase another aircraft to be adapted for disabled children to get into easily and that aircraft will hopefully be flying in 2009 but at the moment details are still under wraps. The first scholarship has been achieved and now that the family have more time to commit to the fund a committee is to be set up and vetting of possible candidates will start early in 2009.