Ollie Pennington welcomes Linda Thornton with Peter Thornton and Ground school instructor Ian Brookes
Bournemouth airport based pilot training centre Airways Aviation has announced its first charity of the year. The choice is the successful John Thornton Young Achievers Foundation (JTYAF), founded by parents Peter and Linda Thornton, in memory of their son Lt John ‘JT’ Thornton RM, from Ferndown, who was killed in southern Afghanistan on 30 March 2008.
Ollie Pennington, managing director of Airways Aviation UK, says that the inspiring work of Peter and Linda with the foundation, which in 2014 has allocated over £70,000 to projects and support the ambitions of youngsters across the region, ensured that their choice was unanimous amongst the pilots and instructors.
“It’s the first time we have pledged a year of support to a charity. We will help to fundraise with activities and donations throughout the period to support of the foundation’s focus on young people,” said Ollie.
Linda Thornton said that the support from Airways Aviation will be a great benefit to the charity and the young people they help in the community: “This is tremendous news and we thank the Airways Aviation for setting aside budget and offering their time to support us. We are developing fundraising ideas, even a potential flying scholarship, which could be awarded to someone with the appropriate ambition and attitude.”
