Stories and snippets of information taken from the staff newsletter and from behind the scenes.
A look back at 2012 at Radio Heatherwood and all the events of the year.
The hospital learns that there will still be a presence on the site but this will be very much reduced from it's heyday. Public consultations are still taking place and the results will not be known until well into 2013.
As 2012 ushers in, the radio still very much reduced with only access to patients in ward 8&1 and as the year progresses patients are not kept in ward one overnight but are moved to the new ward 4. This without any radio services.
Our Monday team of Katie Ayers and Jenny Gallagher still come in and maintain a presence throughout the year despite broken bedhead's and a lack of headphones.The Saturday team was reduced to attending for maintenance only and with no programs being broadcast.
On the 8th February Katie Ayers completed 7 years service.
In early March the Victoria hall fund sponsored another years music licence of £200.
In March after talk of re-opening the old ward four was muted we visited the ward to see if the radio services were still intact but not surprisingly all of the bedhead's and associated cabling and sockets had been removed.
After a meeting of the league of friends in February and the absence of a representative of the trust being in attendance, a letter was sent to the hospital representative detailing the impending demise of the radio and implications for the main league of friends survival.
Back to TopOn-line request received:-
New On-Line Request And Dedication From Mrs Sherida M Bedford-Pinder
Who is from Florida,USA
Patient/Staff Details
The request to be played for Pat Bedford
Message Details
We hope you are recovering quickly and will soon be home, Much Love From Sherida,Joe,Jordan and Gabrielle.
***** To Be Broadcast On:- Monday 7.00PM till 10.00PM *****
My reply:-
Thankyou for completing our on-line request form. The radio service is only broadcasting currently one night a week on a Monday evening. Today was a bank holiday and staff were not in attendance.
Your message will be held over until next Monday when we will be able to fulfil your request.Apologies for the delay.
Her Reply:-
Thank you for letting me know,my mother was transferred there from Wexham Park to recover from surgery for a broken hip and I am in America and not able to be there.I was a patient at Heatherwood Hospital several times in the 1960's as a child and I remember the radio station back then so I was delighted to see that it is still going.
Many Thanks,Sherida Bedford-Pinder.
Some years earlier I had visited the emerging technology of streaming the radio service to portable devices. As was now evident the mobile phone/smart phones with Wi-fi was now turning into the preferred listening device for users MP3's. In the light of the continuing demise of the existing bedhead services I started some preparation work on developing our own wireless network for ward 4 with the option of listening to the hospital radio and allow users access to the internet.
In November 2011 I had submitted a wired alternative for ward 4 but nobody from the trust came forward to promote the idea. It was also more costly.
This new Wi-Fi service to be set-up as a trial, would cost at this stage £4000. In the end we spent £4700 all of which was funded by the league of friends.
One stumbling block was our music licence didn't allow us to use this method of delivery. An email to ppl explaining our intentions of a private intranet delivering our service instead of our bedhead company was approved without additional costs. This was good news for us, it meant' we could press ahead with developing the service.
During April we purchased an access point and carried out reception tests in ward 4. A project folder was drawn up and four options were identified as being viable.
A folder and presentation was given to members of the league and the trust in May. It was enthusiastically received by all.
In June Jenny Gallagher clocked up 4 years voluntary service.
Wi-fi project folder survey.We would have to wait another month before the green light is given for us to move ahead by the trust.
Rhapsody Wi-fi Service is Born
On the 2nd July a message left on the answer machine of the station engineer confirms the approval for the project from the trust.
Option two from the project was chosen as the preferred delivery option with a modification, no external aerial at this stage. A third access point to be located in reception of the radio studio.
Engineering Walk Round
On the 7th July prior to the cabling for the Wi-fi base stations, a video was taken of the engineering room. This was recently discovered(2022) and has now been added to the video diary for the radio.
Radio Heatherwood In VideoPatient feedback
Jenny and I had a fab night on the ward tonight. We met Graham who knew the legend that was Bill. I think he said they were in the army together. Graham also knew a lot of local history. We had a lovely chat with him and he was happy to be mentioned on the patient feedback section of the web site.
Another chap who didn't want to be named (he had been a plumber in Windsor/Eton Wick and seemed to think he had a bit of a reputation amongst the local housewives) new somebody by the surname of Chappell who was connected with the radio in the early days.
We also met the lovely Jean who won the mug. When the music started coming through her earphones her whole face lit up. It was a real treat to see.
Good times, team!
August
In preparation for the installation of the wi-fi service to ward 4 3 data points are installed with data cables directly wired from the radio Heatherwood studio.
September
Six internet radios are purchased for use on ward 4.
All of the new wi-fi delivery equipment in the studio is installed and completed.
October
Ian Butcher completed eight years service in October.
A major milestone in the development of the service was completed. All the access points are now connected on ward 4 and the new listening facility is up and running. six internet radio's have been left running in the studio so that i can monitor if any drop connection.
November
On November 4th the new day room listening facility on ward 4( old ward 10 ) is finally completed.
Three internet radio's were given to ward 4 and are now in use. New posters have been added to the ward. The balance of the radio's will be issued to the ward once we have done training and demos.
A woman who has been on the ward all week has benefited from our wi-fi service by using it all week and also listening to the radio.
In the studio the new voice overs by Greg Marston for the wi-fi service have been added to the Rhapsody computer, ready for the official launch.
December
John Murphy volunteer has been with the station 12 years
Three video's are added to the rhapsody help page for users on the hospital. These videos show them how to close open app's clear data and close open web pages on their iphone's. This will make their phones run more smoothly.
In addition we have purchased the domain name rhapsodywifi, in 2017 with the closure of the radio the domain name is no longer renewed.
Rhapsody Wi-fi Web Site Info Page2012 was a very busy year for the station management and as the year unfolded there was much to do and organise
For further information about this year:- Follow the links
As the year draws to a close, work is continuing on development of the wi-fi service. Although we have not had a formal launch, we are taking it one step at a time whilst we see how this is going to be received and used by the patients and staff.
At this moment in time it's slow progress on the use. No deadline has been set on the trial of the wi-fi service, we remain optimistic it will take off.
This will be the last throw of the dice for the radio station, if there is not sufficient uptake on the use of the wi-fi, the radio will close.
Our sincere thanks go out to all our volunteers and the league of friends for their continued support
Staff Joining This Year 0 Staff Leaving 0
Current Staff 6
Archive Gems
Just some extra's we found:-
Music & Internet Service
The rhapsody automated music service which was started in 2003 has proved to be a god send for the radio station, maintaining our name throughout the day.
The introduction of the wi-fi delivery service was the logical add on for the service and it was decided they would be under the same name banner.
In support of the service and to help staff and patients understand what we were trying to achieve. A web site with demo's of the service was set up and is available.
Rhapsody Wi-fi Web Site Info PageWard four day room gained a new listening facility this year as part of the wi-fi project.
Patients and staff have a choice of three music sources Radio Heatherwood Radio Two or Radio Berkshire.
One of the primary requirements of the wi-fi service was for a series of web pages to be designed to be used on a mobile device and alter to the size of the viewing screen.
A new web site is made on the internal intranet which users would view.
On the Radio Heatherwood page users will see a display of what's currently playing with automatic update once a new record is chosen by the rhapsody music service.
Three web pages allow a user to select either Radio Two Radio Heatherwood or Radio Berkshire.
No software is loaded onto any mobile device, a user simply clicks on the player on each of the web pages.
This system is only open to patients and staff of Heatherwood's ward 4, once a user leaves the hospital they cannot listen on-line, at home or anywhere else.
A new updated rhapsody guide is produced for distribution on-line and in leaflet racks.
Rhapsody Programme Guide2012 That Was The Year That Was!
Back to Top
