Stories and snippets of information taken from the staff newsletter and from behind the scenes.
A look back at 2010 at Radio Heatherwood and all the events of the year.
The reduction in services at the hospital continue to effect the services provided by the league. The trolley shop closes, AM transmitter switched off and training suspended until further notice.
The year started for the radio with the knowledge that the hospital as part of their turnaround plan would want the radio station to re-locate from it’s current premises. In light of receiving this information at the end of 2009 it was decided all recruitment and staff training would cease until further notice.
In February confirmation was received, that the radio station will have to move if the development plan moves ahead.
In February this year the WRVS were asked to vacate their premises in the main reception in Maternity.
The leagues own trolley shop which had been operating since 1972 also ceased trading this year as fewer and fewer patients/wards sealed the fate of the trolley shop service.
This also meant the loss of over 22 volunteers from the league.
The station received a request to promote, the Help the Heroes tattoo in March. The station added the info to it’s web site and also promoted the event during it’s live shows.
Katie Ayers team leader from Mondays received her 5 year long service award.
April and the am service celebrated 22 years of broadcasting originally installed in 1988.
The station secretary continued throughout the year to publish new pages on the web site detailing the radio's history.
The main radio web site was separated from the history files and these are now on a subdomain for the radio.
By the end of the year, new pages added to the web site detailed the history up to the end of 1995.
The loan radio's which were removed from the wards in 2003 were taken out of storage and the donation plaques removed and the rest of the radio's were then scrapped.
It was never ever going to be a viable option to return them to the wards due to infection control etc.
2010 was a very busy year for the station management and as the year unfolded there was much to do and organize
For further information about this year:- Follow the links
A former patient from the hospital Margaret white who is in her 80’s had a stay in ward 10 in 2007 and ever since has been making small donations and sending dedications to the radio.
In August this year after yet another letter and donation, we posted out a league 50 years anniversary mug. This is the first time a mug has been given to a patient outside of the hospital. She Writes:-
Dear Maestro's
Nice one at the end of July and the sun is still shining for me with my pacemaker at 83 which i have had for three years now.
A get well message please for everyone in all hospitals, hope the staff who moved from ward 10 are nicely settled at Wexham.
Can you play Mahalia Jackson my friend, also walking in sunshine and jimmy young miss you.
Joy to all and thanks.
This year Station secretary and engineer completed thirty years service to the station.
In September a buffet and presentation took place at the radio station and this allowed staff to talk about the future of the radio and to exchange ideas.
It was during the get together staff were informed that we intended to turn off the am service during the Christmas shutdown.
Presenter celsio d'souza was awarded his five years long service certificate at the buffet.
Back to TopIn October the bed head system is now down to one radio channel only which is Radio Heatherwood. Earlier in the year it had dropped from 4 to 3 with the radio service changed from the default.
At the end of October David & PJ took time out to inform Barbara(Nurse) on ward 4 who was an avid user of the am service that the am radio service would be turned off at the end of the year.
After a review of the site it was considered that ward 4 was now the only user of the service and that patients were not having long stays, as when the service first started and also it was now very difficult to purchase any personal radio which had the am facility.
As the year progressed the station frequency was removed from the Jingles promoting the service.
At the end of November the web site carried the info about the turn off of the AM service. In addition the maintenance company were informed of our intentions. They informed us we were the last installation to be still using the service.
We were the 6th site to be set up when we started.
The AM transmitter was turned off on New Years Eve at 7.02am
In November the station secretary Peter Davidson-Smith and Manager Dave Smith were recipients of the Pride of Bracknell award in the category of creative heroes.
In recognition of their long service to, the radio. Station staff nominated the boys and Ian Butcher from the Saturday team went along to collect the awards on their behalf.
In November the trust were not granted the removal of the protected status from the designated area of the site. This prompts the question what happens to the radio and other buildings which were due to be demolished etc ?
The SFAT continue to sponsor the radio service and despite the removal of the forthcoming am licence they still support the PPL licensing requirements of the station.
The station is now only reliant on three wards providing patients, ward 1 day surgery, ward 4 orthopaedic and ward 8 elderly. It proves difficult to gain access to ward 8 waiting for someone to open the door. Ward1 day patients mainly and on a Saturday ward 4 is taking in day patients.
The turnaround in patients on ward 4 is enormous, where a patient might only have a couple of days or a day has made the request collecting fall to less than 10 per broadcast.
On a Saturday we have reduced the live sessions to mostly 1 or 2 hours.
The days of patients having long stays and the radio staff building a relationship with those has long gone.
Also affecting the listener ship is the lack of headphones in the bed head units. As each bed gains a new patient the majority of terminals remain without headsets. Whilst radio staff can provide the headsets most patients are still not comfortable with the technology and would sooner sit in silence.
Christmas and Margaret White continues to think of us with a donation of £5 and a list of songs to be played.
As the year draws to a close, the stations future looks more un-certain.
This has been the most challenging year in the radio stations history. Our small amount of volunteers testimony to the outcome of events beyond our control.
Our thanks go to all our volunteers, sponsors and listeners who have supported us in 2010
Staff Joining This Year 0 Staff Leaving 1
Current Staff 8
Archive Gems
Just some extra's we found:-
Creative Heroes
Station Manager Dave Smith and Engineer PJ Davidson-Smith
John Murphy Wrote:-
From the very start it was clear to me that both David and Peter go beyond what most people would do in helping others.
Peter has spent countless hours transferring music from vinyl and CD to a computer based play out system so that the hospital can now offer patients programme's to listen to 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
He is also responsible for creating web sites for both the hospital radio and League of Friends. His dedication sees him continue to update the web site with information spanning the last 30 years and this will continue.
David is no less active. He leads the hospital radio with discipline and structure. Both he and Peter steadfastly maintain the importance of the patient when managing the station and make sure that new volunteers appreciate this.
I know David also runs a separate charity that provides short holidays for the elderly where he will personally escort them to places around the country.
Frankly this service itself deserves recognition for David but add in the work he does at Heatherwood Hospital and I don't believe I can think of anyone more deserving of recognition.
Dave Smith says;-
“I am honoured and gob smacked really. We would not have been able to have done this and achieved so much without the help and the faith of the people around us. It is as much of an award for the radio station and the League of Friends as much as it is for us individually.”
Bracknell News Wrote:-
There were joint winners for this award: brothers Peter and David Smith, who could not be there on the night, and Sandra Bright.
In a message read out by Steve Hyland, Peter and David Smith, who were nominated for their work spanning 30 years with the radio station at Heatherwood Hospital, said:
“We want to congratulate all the other unsung heroes in their chosen endeavours.”
2010 That Was The Year That Was!
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