Daughter of Preston architect behind famous 'bubble' classroom launches pillow appeal for Royal Preston Hospital - after visionary dad becomes seriously unwell

Jane Mills decided to fundraise to buy pillows for the ward after her dad Mike Bracewell, 86, – designer of Kennington Primary School’s famous plastic classroom – spent six days in hospital.

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The appeal captured people’s imagination so much that she’s now smashed her initial £108 target, and hopes to send additional money to the hospital for extra improvements.

Jane’s inspiration

Jane, 50, from Penwortham, said: “Recently my dad was extremely poorly and was admitted to RPH via A&E. The doctors, nurses, and staff were utterly amazing, and most likely saved his life that night.

"There were some extremely poorly people in that ward, all exhausted, and all without a pillow for some small amount of comfort.

"My dad was in A&E for around 30 hours and when I asked a nurse for a pillow, he said they were like golddust there and came back with a pillowcase stuffed with blankets.

"I just thought it would be nice to give something back, and so I decided I wanted to get 14 medical-grade pillows – one for every bed in the ward.”

Response

Since launching her Go Fund Me appeal earlier this week, donations have sailed past the £108 mark for the pillows, with kindhearted strangers wanting to help.

On Thursday, Jenny Turner, owner of Marylands Nursery in Penwortham, donated £250 on behalf of the 33 pre-school children leaving her class.

Jane said: “This act of kindness really made me quite emotional.”

The extra money will be donated to the hospital’s chartiable donation, which invests in equipment to add comfort to patients.

Jane said her father, also from Penwortham, was “so grateful” to the medical staff and to everyone who has donated money.

The plastic classroom

Mike Bracewell’s career saw him team up with fellow Lancashire County Council architect Ben Stevenson to create ‘The Bubble’ at Kennington Primary School.

It was the first fully structural plastic building in Britain and won Lancashire County Council’s Architects’ Department the 1977 Building Innovation Award from Building Magazine.

It was feted by the national media, with The Guardian describing the educational pod as “space age”, and gained Grade-II listed status in 2017.