Paul Farley was an active member and trustee of the Exeter City Supporters’ Trust from the early days of supporter ownership before becoming instrumental in the inception and evolution of the club’s museum and digital archive.

A former teacher at Exeter College, and inheriting an interest in Exeter City from his father, Paul - together with his wife Frances - became an active volunteer at St James’ Park in the early days of supporter ownership. From finding himself weeding and painting just to make sure the club could continue playing, Paul was to become increasingly involved with the governance of the supporters’ trust and was first elected to the trust board in 2010. Leading the community sub-group for several years, and with Frances having served on the Exeter City AFC board between 2004 and 2013, Paul was to follow in her footsteps by acting as a club director from November 2014 to January 2019. 

Perhaps unbeknown even to himself at the time, it was during his term on the club board that Paul’s life took on a whole new turn when he was one of six volunteers who agreed to form an Exeter City history group in May 2015. As well as a general aim of raising awareness of the club’s history amongst supporters, the group set a series of tangible objectives including setting up a museum at the ground and developing a set of written, aural and visual digital resources. 

Working under the aegis of the Exeter City Supporters’ Trust - and with the help of the University of Exeter, the South West Heritage Centre, the Heritage Lottery Fund and various other bodies and funds - each objective was achieved over the next few years under the guidance of Paul who became the museum’s curator and chair of the charity established to manage the project and its works. As with so many other Exeter City projects of the era the importance and value of voluntary effort, involving many willing helpers, was central to the project’s success.