Clarke to open £2.7m building named after him

The new building at Blue Coat school

WORLD-renowned stained-glass artist Brian Clarke is to open the new £2.7 million building named after him at Blue Coat School.

Brian, who designed the roof of the Spindles shopping centre, will make a special journey to his home town from London for the event next week.

The new school building will house maths and social sciences classroooms. In honour of the addition the school decided to rename its various buildings after prominent modern and historical Oldham people.

Students, staff, and governors chose the world famous artist for the new building, while school founder Thomas Henshaw was chosen for the historic main building and others were named after VC heroes John Hogan, Thomas Steele and Walter Mills, test tube baby pioneer Patrick Steptoe, author Maisie Mosco, suffragette Annie Kenney, industrial giants the Platt Brothers and computer pioneer Geoff Tootill.

Brian Clarke’s major works include a huge “pyramid of peace” in Kazakhstan, the Royal Mosque at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, and a shopping centre in Rio de Janeiro.