League of Friends Archive News Desk 2015-2016

Christmas Gift Allocation 2016

 

6th December 2016

 

The annual Christmas gift allocation took place on Tuesday 6th December.

League volunteers Peter & Dorothea Standley & Pauline Richardson visited the wards with Christmas cheer and a big thank you to all the staff.

Our Thanks to John Richardson for capturing the days events.

The full story can be found here:-

 

Christmas Gift Allocation 2016

 

Radio Heatherwood Goes Off-Air

 

3rd December 2016

 

The first radio at Heatherwood can be traced back to the late 60's when the then works foreman (Bill Berry) was providing a record request program from a room in the admin building.

The league of friends has been funding and supporting this service for over 40 years.

3rd December 2016 the service is off air permanently as the service is no longer required by the trust.

The last song played by the radio service is Neil Diamond Beautiful Noise this was chosen to represent the upbeat nature of the radio and how it's service was always about raising patients spirits.

The league would like to send a heartfelt thanks to all those volunteers who helped provide the service all the sponsors and local business for their wonderful support.

In addition to the loss of Radio Heatherwood, the Rhapsody Wi-fi was also turned off as with no premises for the radio it was impossible to maintain this well loved service for the patients of ward 4.

 

The Final Broadcast

 

League Secretary Stands Down

 

24th October 2016

 

After 26 years supporting the League of Friends secretarial role, Peter Davidson-Smith stood down at the AGM meeting today.

Peter first became correspondence secretary in 1990 and in 2005 took over as full secretary.

The League committee thanked Peter for his many years of voluntary service to the committee. Peter was instrumental in the promotion of the league on the internet and recognising volunteers service with the introduction of long service certificates.

Peter has been a member of the League since 1980 working on Radio Heatherwood.

Peter will continue to maintain the web presence for the League.

The role of secretary has now passed to Mrs Pauline Richardson.

 

Back to Top

 

Hospital Radio Heatherwood Final Transmissions

 

3rd September 2016

 

Today Radio Heatherwood begins it's final broadcast as we begin a three month transmission using our new internet shoutcast service.

As a prelude to the closure of the hospital radio service this final transmission showcases the technical achievements obtained by the station and it's volunteers.

This launch of the internet service is tinged with sadness as after forty years the radio station will close on the 3rd December 2016.

Our facebook page gives the background to the closure of the hospital radio service at the end of the year.

 

Radio 40
Years and Out

 

Hospital Radio Heatherwood 40 Not Out ?

 

10 June 2016

 

Today is the birthday of the launch of the regular radio service at Heatherwood Hospital which started on the 10th June 1976.

The radio service owes its history to the aims of one man “Bill Berry” a local man in Ascot who worked at the hospital in the works dept. He was also involved in other charitable deeds in the Ascot area.

Our radio history web site page gives the background to the launch of the hospital radio service.

 

Birth Of A Hospital Radio Station.

 

40 years is a fantastic achievement for a hospital radio made possible by many different sponsors, members of the public, presenters and not forgetting the hospital staff and the league of friends.

Thousands of patients have benefited from the service and we have enabled fund raising and promotion of the hospital, league of friends and provided life experiences for hundreds of volunteers.

We owe our thanks to all those who have contributed in their own way. We have included here 40 pictures just some of the events faces and deeds which have shaped our history.

Where Are We Today?

Celebrations of our 40 years service are subdued as we await decisions.

If you have been following our progress on the radio history web site, you will see for the last year we have been making preparations to provide an internet radio stream. In February this year we completed all the technical preparations including a new twitter service which keeps everyone up to date with what’s playing. @RHMusicrequests this has been running and to date over 16,000 tweets have been made with interest from over 100 users. A test radio stream is also running and allowing us to deal with any problems (Not open to the public yet ).

Striving towards providing an internet stream is so what ever is thrown at us with the changes destined for the hospital site, We won’t be worried about cables being cut and whole areas without service. The added dimension of internet broadcasting, family and friends will be able to make requests and dedications to patients and vice versa, the internet will allow them to be heard by them for the first time no matter where they are. Over the last four years our Wi-fi service for ward 4 has proved to us, that being able to reach patients or staff, you stand a better chance if you can be available on their smart phone, tablets and iPad's.

We were hoping to launch the new internet radio service today, but circumstances beyond our control have prevented us from going live.

The very future of the hospital will determine our future, as we await confirmation we will be required in our current premises until the re-build and in the new facilities.

Coming Soon ?

At this stage we would like to think that all the issues can be resolved and the new internet service will launch within our 40th Year.

Happy Returns Radio Heatherwood

40 Today

 

Christmas Gift Allocation 2015

 

December 2015

 

The annual Christmas gift allocation took place on Tuesday 1st December.

League volunteers visited the wards with Christmas cheer and a big thank you to all the staff.

Our Thanks to John Richardson for capturing the days events.

The full story can be found here:-

 

Heatherwood Christmas Gift Allocation 2015

 

Patient Recollections

 

April 2015

 

A new page has been added to our site recently from former patient Michael Enever.

 

Michael Enever Memory lane

 

Michael recalls his stay at Heatherwood in the 1950's

The league thanks Michael for sharing his memories with us.

 

Back to Top

 

Web Site Update

 

April 2015

 

The league of friends web site is given an update to cater for the new requirements of the internet.

Visitors to the web site with any mobile device will now see a clearer page image without the need to zoom in when first landing on the page.

 

Radio Heatherwood History 2014

 

January 2015

 

The deeds of the radio staff volunteers for 2014 has just been posted today.

Three new pages have been added to the radio history web site.

The league of friends has a vested interest in the success of the radio station and thanks all those volunteers who maintain the hospital radio.

For the full story:-

 

Radio History 2014