THINGS WE DO
Currently, FLY Festival operates on a core offer of performance, talks and community workshops in a variety of venues from theatres and arts centres to museums, historic sites, schools, colleges and universities.
The core activities below consist of Jenny’s show, talks from Jane and Amanda, and school workshop days. They are directly inspired by Amy, however, Amy’s story opens up opportunities for discovery in all sorts of fields. Amy’s career and interests were varied; flying, engineering, writing, car-racing, gliding, her time as President of the Women’s Engineering Society, her service in the A.T.A, her life-long support and advocacy for young people….did you know there is an Amy Johnson Cup for children in Hull who have shown extraordinary bravery? Amy was given some gold by children while she was in Australia and on coming home she had it melted down and made into the cup!
As our festival grows we aim to commission new work inspired by Amy’s rich legacy and exploring the different disciplines of Aviation, Engineering and the Arts.
The basis of FLY is participation and the importance of Connection. It’s what Amy created in the world through her adventures. She knew flying could bring people together from all parts of the globe.
We’ve listed our core activities here which, as professional practitioners, we’ll continue to deliver as part of our individual practice. It makes sense to showcase them together here and celebrate what we’ve already achieved!
Below these you’ll see projects that Jenny, Jane and Amanda have been busy with in the years leading to this adventure of FLY Festival.
Please take a look and if you’re interested in booking anything please get in touch.
PERFORMANCE
A stunning one-woman show, ‘Amy Johnson: Last Flight Out’ written and performed by Jenny Lockyer, directed by Vern Griffiths. First performed in 2017 for Croydonites Festival, this show was inspired by an exhibition on Amy at Croydon Airport.
Amy Johnson had her ambitions and she flew at them. Born in the year the Wright Brothers made history and into an age where the romantic heights of flying captured her heart she became only the second woman in the world to train and qualify as a ground engineer and then, in 1930, the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia. She lived her life for adventure and the future of aviation.
In January 1941, at just 37 years old, Amy was killed while serving her country on a routine flight for the Air Transport Auxiliary. In her short time she achieved so many great things but this 'lone girl flier' achieved them while faced with challenges of all kinds. In this stunning performance we meet Amy in a world of mixed memories, desires, wishes and ambitions and as we find out about her life we can start to see how the pieces fit and the tools Amy used to engineer her dreams to reality…
2026 UPCOMING DATES:
After touring the country with The Flying High Tour, supported by Arts Council England, Jenny’s next performances with postshow Q&As are in association with Rural Arts:
Friday 27th February - Friarage Theatre, Yarm
Saturday 28th February - Grewelthrorpe Village Hall, Grewelthorpe
Sunday 1st March -Terrington Village Hall, Terrington
Book for any of the above HERE
Saturday 7th March Sheppey Little Theatre, Isle of Sheppey
Book HERE
TALK
AMANDA HARRISON: SOLO2DARWIN
Amanda is the true spirit of adventure. Having been told at an early age that she would “only ever be good for stacking shelves”, she never gave up on her dream of being a pilot. From small beginnings, she has successfully navigated a twenty-year journey towards her biggest dream - solo pioneering a vintage airplane across the globe. No stranger to diversions and emergencies, Amanda has faced challenges of dyslexia, cancer, and a commercial pilot career in a male-dominated world.
Amanda believes that ordinary people can do extraordinary things and is a living example of this. She is passionate about inspiring others to keep their dreams alive and live them. Not everyone has to learn to fly, just follow your own dreams.
TALK
JANE DELAMAINE: The Life and Death of Amy Johnson
Jane Delamaine ,founder and Director of the Amy Johnson Project has dedicated the last 13 years to bringing Amy back to life for a whole new generation and not allowing her memory to slip out of history.
In ‘The Life and Death of Amy Johnson’ illustrated talk, Jane takes you on the journey of Amy’s life, incredible achievements and tragic death, where possible using Amy’s own words to tell her epic story.
This powerful tribute to the iconic aviatrix evokes laughter, tears and immense admiration for the lone girl flyer of the 1930s. Leaving audiences astounded and in awe, it cannot fail to inspire and empower.
AMY JOHNSON SCHOOL WORKSHOP DAY
WITH Jenny Lockyer
for Y2-Y6
Children apply their natural skills as thinkers and do-ers in this day full of activity designed to ignite their imaginations. They’ll experience the story of Amy Johnson’s incredible solo flight from England to Australia in her beloved Gipsy Moth, Jason, the challenges she faced along the way and the skills she needed to look after herself and her plane.
The young engineers explore to the best of their abilities; discovering the principles of flight, plotting flying routes across the world, creating Amy Johnson handbooks, and constructing their very own models of Jason before flying all the way to Australia, just like Amy! (No passports required!)
This is a very special workshop day where children are given autonomy to discover in a clear, structured, and exciting way. It’s a day for learning, experiencing, and making memories.
‘Make your own Jason the Gipsy moth’ COMMUNITY WORKSHOPS
WITH Jenny Lockyer
for VENUES wishing to host an exciting session for families or visiting groups.
Available as a morning or whole day of activity, families and groups can attend this workshop to construct their own models of Amy’s beloved Jason, finding out key facts about Amy along the way.
Jenny is on hand throughout to insturct and all materials are provided. All else that’s required is a space and tables.
The photo is of a very busy workshop at London Croydon Aerodrome Hotel in partnerhsip with one of Croydon Airport’s open days…
‘Jason FLies Again’
To celebrate the 90th anniversary of AMy’s flight to Australia
Jenny invited children across the world to make a model of Jason, film themselves with the model and send in the footage. The film we managed douring the lockdown was pretty wonderful espceically as we forged a connection in Darwin, which has numerous places named after Amy.
‘The Amy Johnson project’
Created to commemorate and celebrate AMy in Herne Bay
It was off the coast of Herne Bay that Amy bailed out of her Airspeed Oxford on that freezing cold January day in 1941. Her death has been surrounded by all sorts of theories as her body was never found, officially. Jane Delamaine was moved to raise the town’s awareness of Amy after reading the biography, ‘Amy Johnson, Queen of the Air’ by Midge Gillies. Jane set up the Amy Johnson Project, rasied funds and commissioned two beautiful bronze statues of Amy, crafted by Stephen Melton. One is in Herne Bay where Amy died, the other stands in Hull, where Amy was born. Alongside the statue which is on ground level for all to see clearly and be up close to, there is an information board and a biplane bench where many groups of children have sat to learn about Amy. In the years since its installation, Amy’s statue has attracted the attention of thousands of people along the promenade of Herne Bay, and many people, local and otherwise now know Amy’s name and achievements because of the project.