GENEROUS pupils of Bishopshalt School and their families have raised £30,000 in a year for Hillingdon Hospital.

The money will go to the hospital trust’s Great Expectations Appeal, to refurbish the maternity unit.

Former headmaster David Bocock, who retired last July, began the fund-raising to mark his 40 years in teaching.

Mr Bocock said: “I have taught Hillingdon schoolchildren for over 40 years and I can think of no better cause to mark my retirement than helping Hillingdon Hospital maternity unit, where the vast majority of my pupils were born and subsequently had their babies.”

The money was raised through non-uniform days, cake sales and a summer fête, and by asking other borough schools for their support. One teacher even had his beard waxed to raise funds.

Andrew Peel, Great Expectations Fundraising Manager and a former pupil at Bishopshalt in Royal Lane, said the donation would move the trust a step closer to its target.

The maternity unit needs a full-scale overhaul and modern equipment, including patient cardiac and vital sign monitors, foetal heart monitors, new birthing stools and rocking chairs, to make labour less intensive.

Mr Peel said the trust was planning a ‘home-from-home’ environment for expectant mothers and their partners.

Mr Bocock and his successor at Bishopshalt, Kim Rowe, along with Beth Gray and Tom Rees of the school’s charities committee, presented the cheque to maternity staff.

You can donate to Great Expectations by visiting the Just Giving web page - http://www.justgiving.com/Great-Expectations-Hillingdon