Donate an Artefact

From the inception of FAST, the generous donation of every kind of item by individual members of the public, many of them previous employees of the RAE, has enormously enriched the Museum’s Collection. These donations have helped to illustrate and record all the scientific, technological and social history of the Royal Aircraft Establishment and its outstations (Bedford, Malvern, Westcott, Aberporth etc).

Should you wish to donate an item to FAST please Email the Museum Manager or phone 01252 375050 during Office Opening hours (Tuesday or Thursdays between 10:00 and 16:00 hrs).

Upon receiving your donated item we will enter that item on our Museum Donation Form.  It is given an individual artefact number, photographed and entered into the Artefact Database, so you can rest assured that we will value and look after your donation. Similarly for any form of paperwork – photographs, reports, letters, brochures, posters etc – all will be entered onto the appropriate databases.

Like most Museums we have a strict Acquisitions and Disposals Policy and these conditions are approved by National and County Museum Services so, again, we ensure that your donation is safe with us as part of the Heritage Collection.

We continue to welcome donations from the public or organisations. If you have an item that you think might be of interest, please consider the following points:

• We collect every type of item including objects, books, documents, photographs, films, sound recordings, posters and works of art.
• We collect things primarily related to the history or heritage of the Royal Aircraft Establishment and its outstations; and secondly things that are related to the wider history of aviation (e.g pilots Flying Log Books); or things that have been produced from Industry where the research on that item originated at Farnborough or its out stations.
• Due to limitations in display space in the Museum, we may not always be able to display your item, although we change displays regularly to try and show the breadth and depth of the Collection – so your item has a good chance of display – but, whatever the case, it in no way degrades the importance of your donation to FAST;
• If we accept an item from you for the Collection we may then lend it temporarily to other Museums or Exhibitions, under our Control of Loans Procedure & Agreement.
• We are unable to give valuations of items.

We look forward to hearing from you!