Remembering Mike Fleetwood

We were very sorry to hear of the recent passing of one of our long-standing supporters Mike Fleetwood.

At the request of his partner, Barbara, we have set up the dedicated form below for those of Mike’s friends who wish to make a donation to the Bevan Foundation in his memory.  

Mike grew up in London and Chester. He was captain of London University Football team and very nearly became a professional footballer. He spent two years in the RAF and he trained to become an architect at the Bartlett School.

His professional life as an architect took him to different parts of the UK, a stint as the buildings editor at the Architects Journal (AJ), and a lengthy period in the USA. He continued to write regular articles for the AJ for several years. It was his experience in Chicago that had a marked influence on his political perspective, working in disadvantaged neighbourhoods on community renewal schemes.

Mike subsequently returned to London and involved himself in radical neighbourhood planning and housing work, jointly founding Community Action magazine and working as part of the Shelter Community Action Team (SCAT). It was this work that brought him to South Wales in the early ‘70s, and was the platform for setting up the Cardiff Housing Action group and the South Wales Association of Tenants campaigns.   Different campaigns included stopping demolition in Newport, fighting the Hook Road scheme in Cardiff, and direct action work on damp and disrepair across numerous estates across South Wales and the Valleys. He managed to get a criminal record for large sized graffiti about property speculation in Cardiff City centre! Later on he practised again as an architect on different renewal and improvement programmes in Cardiff.

He became a lecturer in Interior Architecture at the University of Wales Institute Cardiff in the early ‘80s, and for many years devoted himself to teaching, finally becoming Course Director.

Meanwhile Mike was an ardent lover of jazz, modern and contemporary art and architecture; he created a wonderful garden and planted a hillside of trees at his home in the valleys. He was a longstanding supporter of the Bevan Foundation and always retained his radical politics.

If you would like to make a donation to the Bevan Foundation in Mike’s memory, we would be extremely grateful. Thank you.