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Registered Charity No 1068428

  Hospital Radio run by volunteers for the patients, staff and visitors of Halton General Hospital in Runcorn, Cheshire - Registered Charity No 1068428

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What is hospital radio?   What songs are played?         Rugby commentary        See the Top 40 listener requests

How does it help?  smiley relaxing                     EVENTS                Recent Donations - see the About Us page


 
 

When do Radio Halton broadcast?

HeadphonesYou can hear Radio Halton exclusively in Halton General Hospital 24 hours a day, as our broadcasts continue overnight thanks to our Myriad software providing a 'round the clock' schedule.  We have a hard-wired system to the bedside and the speakers.  We are now able to broadcast within the hospital on the Trust intranet, so staff in departments where there are no speakers would be able to access the service on their workstation computers

We're making more songs available on the playlist so that the same songs don't come round too often

New additions include

  • George Jones 'Walk through this world with me'

  • Bonnie Tyler 'Believe in me'

  • Gabrielle Aplin 'Panic cord'

  • Julio Iglesias 'Begin the beguine'
          • Jamie Cullum 'All the thing you didn't do'

It's slow work to get more of the older songs included - but we are improving - see the About Us page  

**New programmes**
"Greatest Hits of..."
with Phil O from Radio Stitch in the North East on Fridays 1-2
 "In Classical Mood" with Pam Eastwood on Tuesday afternoons 12-1


What is hospital radio? 

freephone on the wardVolunteer Rob chats to patientOur volunteers visit patients on the wards and chat with them to help them relax - find out what music they like to listen to 


In between volunteer visits, patients can use the Radio Halton freephone to request a mention or a song to help the time pass more easily


Volunteer Rob chats to a patient





Patients can settle back into bed or an easy chair and relax to favourite music through ...

headset...the bedside headset - it's all technology from more than 40 years ago - no wires involved here, just a pipe into the console on the wall with a volume knob and a channel knob - so it is literally piped music! 

  • Select channel 3 for Radio Halton

  • Select channel 2 for BBC Radio 2

We hope to be able to add BBC Radio Merseyside to another channel soon


There are loudspeakers in the outpatient clinic waiting areas and also in Entrance 1 - nearest the busway - to help relax whilst sitting there

Do you know someone in hospital?  You can find the station that serves their hospital and request a song or send them a message.  Just click on the HBA logo below to go to the site of the organisation for hospital radio in the whole of the UK

HBA logoAre you interested in joining hospital broadcasting?  If so, you can find out what we need people to do on our Join page

 


The benefits of music in hospitalSwarb at the Brindley 09

Legendary folk musician Dave Swarbrick says, "Hospital radio is a fantastic service, with volunteers giving their time free to entertain patients with music.  When I have been in hospital, which is quite considerable, I have been very glad of it.  As a musician, you don't realise the therapeutic effect it can have until you are receiving it yourself.  Without having music and great friends around me in hospital, I would have been climbing the walls.  Keep up the good work"

Find out more here... Why do we provide music?

Russell WatsonRussell Watson also told how music helped him through illness, when chatting to Ken Bruce in Dec 2010:

"Music helps – during the times I’ve been really ill, I’ve listened to a lot of music and I find music incredibly therapeutic.  There were days particularly when I was having the radiotherapy treatment and when I felt really down, and it’d give me a little bit of a lift and a buzz inside"


Rugby Commentary

Vikings logoCommentary on Widnes Vikings rugby league games, in collaboration of our volunteers at Radio General at Warrington Hospital


The next match we're covering is on Sunday 26 May 2013

KO 15:00 at The Stobart Stadium

against Salford City Reds

Tune in to Radio Halton on channel 3 from 14:30

 


Book Reviews

PrisonersOn her Tuesday morning programme in August and September 2012, Margaret Longworth reviewed the book 'Prisoners, property and prostitutes' written by a serving police officer, Tom Ratcliffe and published by Matador.  She set a competition question:  "How long has Queen Elizabeth II celebrated on the throne this year?"  Two people answered correctly and they each won a copy of the book

Book reviewer funny


Of course, the answer is "60 years" and the winners are Linda Bogg from Warrington, who was a patient on Ward B4 and Steve, a joiner from Estates Department



Interviews

Widnes through time bookPam Eastwood chatted to two local authors, John and Jean Bradburn, about their book "Widnes through time", while they were doing a book signing at the Curiosity Bookshop in High Street, Runcorn old town, on Tuesday 18 December 2012

On 12 February 2013, Pam reviewed the book and aired the interview.  In the competition to win a signed copy, the winner was Gill Davies in the Day Case Unit, who happily, is a Widnesian!  Runner up Carol Jones in the Day Case Unit won second prize of a unique Radio Halton calendar

She correctly answered the question "Which was the first bridge to be built across the Mersey between Widnes and Runcorn?" 

The answer of course is the railway bridge, which was begun in 1864


On 7 February 2013, John Kenwright interviewed Dr Christopher Hale about his efforts to raise funds for a cardiology diagnostic machine, capable of pinpointing the cause of breathlessness to being of cardiac origin rather than respiratory origin.  Find out more at www.haveaheartgroup.com It was announced in April 2013 that they have succeeded in raising the £22,000 needed and they are continuing to raise funds for defibrillators for sports clubs and schools


Events

Brindley concert tickets

NorthernChamberOrchThe Brindley kindly donated two tickets for a competition to go to the concert on 16 April 2013 featuring soloists from the Northern Chamber Orchestra

These were worth £30 and were won by Olga Griffin, who is a volunteer in the Shop at Entrance 1 of Halton Hospital

The question was "Who wrote the Dance of the sugar plum fairy from the Nutcracker suite?" Olga correctly answered "Tchaikovsky"



Hospital Broadcasting Week

HB Wk stall 2010Hospital radio stations (and possibly a hospital TV station too) all over the UK  celebrated Hospital Broadcasting Week from Saturday 23 March until Monday 1 April 2013.  Volunteers  organised special events to raise awareness of this invaluable service for patients.  This included Richard Smith of The A to Z of Pop programme doing a Big Broadcast over the Easter weekend, from midday on Sunday 31 March to midday on Mon 1 April

Our awareness stall was at the front entrance of Halton Hospital (Entrance 1) on Thursday 28 March 2013

Thank you to those who popped coins into our collection box - you helped us raise £49.23

Pictured here are our volunteers Derry Pam and Margaret in front of our stall during Hospital Broadcasting Week 2010



Tesco Bag Pack

Tesco bagsKelly Lunt and fellow staff from H&T Pawnbrokers in Halton Lea Shopping Centre organised another bag pack at Tesco Halton Lea  to help raise funds for Radio Halton.  It was on Saturday 20 October 2012 and raised £191 vital funds.  A big thank you to all the shoppers who contributed



Barclays Gadbrook Park Sweet Sale

Hayley Connor with Karen Whittingham at the sweet sale August 2012Hayley Connor, daughter of our volunteer Derek Gates, kindly organised a charity sweet sale at the head office of Barclays Bank in Gadbrook Park, Northwich.  It took place on Thursday 23 August 2012, over lunchime, and the workers indulged themselves to the tune of £100

Barclays have generously match funded this figure pound for pound.  There was also a collection box on the counter, which raised £9.85 as well

Hayley is pictured here on the left with Karen Whittingham of Barclays Business Lending Team on the right

Thank you to everyone at Barclays





News

Learner

Linda Redhead is with us on a Thursday afternoon between 1 and 3

New starter in December 2012, Lorraine Rizzotti, is training on a Thursday evening with Pam Eastwood

And Jennifer Barry on a Monday evening with Rob Carter

Another newbie is ready to start training and we'll let you know as soon as that's arranged

But we’re really sorry to say goodbye to a valued member of our team, Margaret Longworth. For all of the 5 years with us, she’s been so energetic in all we’ve done

Put your feet up Marg, we’ll miss you, but you’ve earned a rest - enjoy your retirement!

 

 

What kind of music do people ask to hear?  Top 40 most requested songs Jan to Mar 2013                                                                   


Position

Artist

Title

1

Robbie Williams

Candy

2

Nina Simone

My baby just cares for me

3

Gerry and The Pacemakers

Ferry cross the Mersey

4

Rod Stewart

Baby Jane

5

Tina Turner

Goldeneye

6

Patsy Cline

Crazy

7

Rod Stewart

Maggie May

8

R Kelly

I believe I can fly

9

Aerosmith

Dream on

10

Elvis Presley

The wonder of you

11

The Temptations

Get ready

12

Holly Johnson

Americanos

13

Gerry and The Pacemakers

I like it

14

Stevie Wonder

Signed, sealed, delivered, I'm yours

15

George Jones

A good year for the roses

16

Charley Pride

Crystal chandeliers

17

Elkie Brooks

Lilac wine

18

Daniel O'Donnell

Sweet Caroline

19

Creedence Clearwater Revival

Proud Mary

20

Coldplay

Clocks

21

Rod Stewart

Maggie May

22

Maroon 5

She will be loved

23

10 CC

Donna

24

The Kinks

Tired of waiting

25

UB40

Red red wine

26

Pink Floyd

See Emily play

27

Billy Fury

Wondrous place

28

Glen Campbell

Honey come back

29

Dean Martin

Little old wine drinker me

30

Richard Marx

Right here waiting

31

Westlife

Uptown girl

32

Queen

These are the days of our lives

33

Tina Turner

What's love got to do with it

34

Rod Stewart

A nightingale sang in Berkeley Square

35

Russell Watson

New York state of mind

36

Chopin

Waltz no 3 in A minor

37

Willie Nelson

Always on my mind

38

Barry Island Special

Islands in the stream

39

The Foundations

Build me up Buttercup

40

Willie Nelson & Julio Iglesias

To all the girls I've loved before




National Hospital Request Chart

Mark Snowdon of Radio General in Warrington put together a national chart from hospitals all over the UK.  See 2012's Top 40 as well as past years' charts at http://www.requestcharts.org.uk

Change the world - or Runcorn at least!

Our appeal for more volunteers is called "change the world" - we've put it on this page for you to hear - just click on the link above, then click your back button on your browser to return here

Updated by:            The Webmistress purple spider 17 May 2013

The Webmistress is using KompoZer to update the site and IrfanView for image editing - and Leech to upload the pages


 

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Registered Charity No 1068428