Museum talk on Shoreham's pioneer aviator

Pioneer aviator Cecil Pashley was involved from the very early days of flight, with joy-riding and air races at Shoreham, as well as the development of planes.

He was involved with Shoreham Aerodrome from its opening in 1911 and later helped to revive its fortunes.

Bill Gage, assistant West Sussex county archivist, will be the guest speaker on Friday, March 28, at 1pm, in the upstairs gallery of the museum, in Middle Street.

Liza McKinney, Friends of Marlipins Museum treasurer, said: “This is a story of a true Shoreham legend, a pioneer aviator of the first generation, a man who helped revive the fortunes of Shoreham aerodrome.

“In a career spanning seven decades, he flew nearly 20,000 recorded flying hours and countless more. He was an ace amongst flying instructors who taught over 1,600 people to fly, including pilots of both world wars.”

Mr Gage has been at West Sussex Record Office for the past 43 years and was responsible for the records management service and various archive collections.

He normally writes and lectures on railway history but added the Pashley talk to his list following the retirement of colleague, Alan Redman.

Mr Gage said: “The research carried out by Alan is so extensive that it shouldn’t be wasted and anyway, the photographs are just such superb quality that they need to be seen by a wider audience.”

Mr Gage is now concentrating on various archive collections, such as hospital archives and railway records, including the production of a fourth DVD in the series, Southern Steam, devoted to railway archival footage of the days of steam in southern England.