With great sadness we announce the passing of Mr Frederick Lane, our founder and Chairman

Mr Frederick Lane 08.08.1931 – 31.01.2024

It is with great sadness we announce the passing of our founder and Chairman Mr Frederick Lane. Fred Lane was a key figure and inspirational leader within the Electronics Distribution Industry for nearly 60 years. He will be greatly missed by the directors and all staff at FC Lane Electronics, Lane Motorsport and Weald Electronics, the group of companies he led. We all extend our deepest sympathy to his wife and family at this sad time.

We are a private, family-owned company and have been trading for over 50 years, still prospering in the rapidly evolving environment that is today’s world of electronics. Industry elders may recall 1966, the year that Fred Lane established our company. The highlight of the year in the UK was an England World Cup victory – particularly appropriate for Fred Lane, since his off-duty passion has always been football. He was a topflight Sussex referee and in 1969, Fred Lane had the honour to be one of the officials at the FA Cup final between Manchester City and Leicester City, Manchester City won 1 – 0.

Fred Lane had already gained a great deal of experience in the electronics industry when he established FC Lane Electronics from the time he had spent running a division of a sizeable electronic components business. He worked with a variety of device types, managing sales across the UK as well as a number of overseas markets. One of the primary reasons why FC Lane has been so successful for so long was his decision from the outset to specialise in just one type of component - the connector.

Time has shown this to be a wise decision as connectors are an essential part of almost every electronic product or system. As the electronics industry has rapidly evolved throughout the decades that followed, the connector industry developed newer, more sophisticated, and smaller products to keep pace with and help the industry’s development process. From the first day, Fred Lane ensured his company remained at the forefront of interconnection technology.

Starting life in outbuildings behind a public house gave no indication as to how his company would grow into the multi-million-pound operation it is today. But, as any good businessperson knows, careful planning from day one allows a business to spend valuable resources on the right things – people and product. This is a philosophy that Fred Lane followed throughout his company’s 50+ years and which today sees FC Lane Electronics employ 70 people with a finished product and parts inventory level approaching £9 million.

The company quickly expanded into premises in the centre of Horsham in a building due for short-term redevelopment before finding its eventual home at Slinfold Lodge. Combining traditional office environments with modern assembly and test facilities, Slinfold Lodge itself is an imposing country house set in its own grounds and is surrounded by a golf course. Slinfold Lodge remains to this day the headquarters for FC Lane Electronics and the connector manufacturer Weald Electronics, which together make up Fred Lane’s Lodge Group and fitting legacy.