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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?  See the Top 20 listener requests

How does it help?  smiley relaxing  New  **RUGBY commentary**      forthcoming and recent 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're making more songs available on the playlist so that the same songs don't come round too often** 

New additions include

  • Jimmy Ruffin '96 tears'

  • The Four Tops 'Still water (love)'

  • Edwin Starr '25 miles'

  • Thea Gilmore and Sandy Denny 'London'
          • Gracie Fields 'Sing as we go'

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

What is hospital radio? 

freephone on the wardPatients on the wards can use the Radio Halton freephone to request a mention or a song to help the time pass more easily.  Good news for the recently reopened Ward B2:  the freephone has been reinstated on the wall near the nurses' station!  (Thanks to the B2 Housekeeper!)

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


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 on Widnes matches

Vikings logoWorking with our sister service volunteers at Radio General in Warrington, we have the ability now to relay their commentaries on the Widnes Vikings matches.  This is thanks to the assistance of the IT team in enabling the Radio General broadcast to be relayed to Radio Halton using the Trust's intranet

The season runs from January to September and we'll advertise the matches as they come round on the two noticeboards in the hospital corridors, as well as announcing which matches we're covering on air, and putting it on this web page too! The next game is

Sunday 20 May KO 15:00 at The Stobart Stadium, against Catalan Dragons in the SuperLeague

make sure to listen from 14:30 on Radio Halton on channel 3


 Book Reviews

Book reviewer funny

KillerbyteIn January 2012, Margaret Longworth reviewed a crime thriller titled 'Killerbyte' by Cat Connor


It was first published in 2009 and is now available in paperback and as an e-book from
http://www.rebelepublishers.com

Margaret asked a competition question (what date is Valentine's Day) for a chance to win a copy of 'Killerbyte' on her Tuesday morning programme, and Kevin Looker, an out-patient in Clinic A, correctly answered 14 February



book roast chickenA reissued book was reviewed and then given as a prize in a competition on Tues 9 Aug 2011 by Margaret Longworth on her morning programme.  'The innocence of roast chicken' by Jo-Anne Richards is about a human rights lawyer harking back to her idyllic childhood on her grandparents' (Ouma and Oupa) chicken farm in South Africa.

Find out more from http://www.rebelepublishers.com

The winner of the book was Linda, a cardio technician from ECG.  When Margaret asked the question "Which comedian carries a tickling stick?", she answered in a flash, Flash Gordon.  No, I think Margaret is jesting here, it was of course, Ken Dodd  


Interviews

John Kenwright  had a lively chat with Denise and Kelly from H & T Pawnbrokers of Halton Lea on his programme on Thursday afternoon 1 March.  They kindly organised a fund raising event for us last November and have arranged a bag pack at Tesco in Halton Lea Shopping Centre on Friday 13 April 2012.

John Kenwright interviewed star of TV's 'London's Burning' and 'Holby City', Samantha Beckinsale

(elder daughter of Richard Beckinsale and half-sister of Kate Beckinsale) on  12 January 2012 Sam Beckinsale blonde Sam Beckinsale London's Burning

He chatted to her about the film Samantha has recently been working on, which is due for release later in 2012




John Kenwright  chatted to Matt Monro's daughter Michele on his afternoon show on Thursday 22 December 2011

Find out more about Matt Monro on Michele's website mattmonro.com Michele Monro

Robert Carter chatted to local music teacher Anne Turner, who is celebrating 20 years of private music tuition, on his Wednesday morning programme on 30 November 2011.   Anne talked about the choir she runs, and the huge interest in choral singing generated by Gareth Malone's BAFTA-winning TV programme The Choir (also won an Emmy award too)

Events

Tesco Bag Pack

Bagpackers Denise, Kelly and ChristyDenise and fellow staff from H&T Pawnbrokers organised a bag pack at Tesco Halton Lea to help raise funds for Radio Halton.  Our volunteers from Radio Halton were there too and £150 was raised on Friday 13 April 2012 between 11am and 3pm

Thank you for supporting Radio Halton by popping your coins into the bucket, if you were shopping there at that time

Pictured are Denise, Kelly and Christy






Hospital Broadcasting Week

Margaret Longworth and Derry Griffiths held an information stall in the Dining Room at Halton Hospital on Tuesday morning 3 April 2012 from 10 till 12,to celebrate Hospital Broadcasting Week

Thank you for coins dropped into the collecting box on that morning, amounting to £9.50

Volunteer Recruitment Fair

Volunteer Fair Riverside CollegeOn Wednesday 29 February 2012 at Riverside College, Kingsway Campus, in Widnes,  Radio Halton volunteers chatted to lots of people about how we deliver our service to patients within Halton Hospital  

Six people took application forms to fill in and we also made contact with several other voluntary groups

Pictured are Derry Griffiths, Derek Gates and Robert Carter at our stall





All the fun at the Fayre in Halton Hospital Dining Room Mon 12 Dec 2011

There were stalls selling bags, beauty products, candles, cards, clothing, crafts, floral gifts and more.  There were free mince pies from Santa and his helpers and a free prize raffle as well

Radio Halton volunteers were also in attendance with music and information on what volunteers do to help patients during their stay, whether as in-patients or out-patients

Keep it Local Fun Day

Fun Day 26Nov11Halton Lea was the venue for a Fun Day on Saturday 25 November 2011, where the organiser, Denise from H&T Pawnbrokers, decided to put all the funds raised towards Radio Halton.  There was face painting, and a raffle with prizes donated by small businesses within Halton Lea Shopping Centre

Margaret, Derry and Roger from Radio Halton were there too, letting peopleTascam DR-07 mk 2 know what we do for patients in Halton Hospital by giving out newsletters and information 

The total amount raised was £235, which paid for a digital hand-held recorder to enable us to chat on-air to patients on the wards 

Our Roger and John chatted to Denise and co-organiser Kelly on  Radio Halton on Thursday 1 March 2012



The Staff Health and Wellbeing Event was held at Halton Hospital on Friday 30 September 2011

Nearly 200 staff attended and Radio Halton's John Kenwright and Robert Carter were also there to play suitable music and answer any questions about the service Radio Halton provides

Community Open Day at The Heath Business and Technical Park in Runcorn

To celebrate the opening of the new Event Hall at The Heath Business and Technical Park, had a community open day for voluntary groups on Tuesday 19 July 2011.  John Lewis and Neil Lancaster from SOG dropped into Roger Sloan's programme on Monday 18 July to chat to him about the event

John Lewis is Managing Director of SOG Ltd, the owner and operator of the award-winning park and he has a famous uncle who officially opened the Events Hall:  King of the Diddymen himself, Ken Dodd! 

John Lewis says, "The idea of the Heath Community Open Day is to offer voluntary organisations the chance to showcase what they do in an exhibition. It will give them a platform to promote their work and where possible attract support. We hope it will become an annual fixture"


To commemorate the open day, Ken Dodd planted the first tree at the small community orchard, in an area of the business park accessible to the public.

Doddy and Pam

Radio Halton volunteers Margaret Longworth and Pam Eastwood were there with information about the service we provide for patients and the tasks we need volunteers to do on the wards and clinics


Doddy stopped by our stall and volunteered to record a message for us, which can be heard on air now and also here (you may need to click your back button on your browser to return to this page).   Ken, complete with tickling stick, is pictured with Pam Eastwood



Volunteers Week 1 - 7 June

Vols Week banner

We’re a very small band of volunteers – only 7 of us – so we need more people to help us visit the wards and make sure the radio headsets are clean and fresh.  We had our information stall on Tuesday 7 June 2011 in the corridor just inside Entrance 2 of Halton Hospital

Volunteers Week 2012 will be slightly extended, so as not to clash with the Diamond Jubilee celebrations

Vol Wk logo

Find out more about volunteering at the Volunteers Week website 

If you'd like to join our team, please visit our Join page



News

Learner

John KenwrightRob Carter and Roger Sloan are now trained up to present Radio Halton Sport coverage of the Widnes Vikings rugby matches, with commentary from our fellow volunteers at Radio General

Three applicants are currently at CRB stage



The most relaxing song ever?

In October 2011 it was announced that Manchester based band, Marconi Union, had worked with sound therapists to create a tune that's described by scientific researchers as the “most relaxing song ever”.  Find out more here: 

http://therandomfact.com/most-relaxing-tune-ever-created-scientifically-by-manchester-band/2210058

 

What kind of music do people ask to hear?  Top 20 most requested songs Jan to Mar 2012


Position Artist Title
1 Simple Minds Alive and kicking
2 Robbie Williams Angels
3 Take That Happy now
4 James Morrison I won't let you go
5 Michael Jackson Smooth criminal
6 The Carpenters We've only just begun
7 Donnie Elbert Where did our love go
8 Bryn & Nessa, & Tom Jones Barry Islands in the stream
9 Tim McGraw Just to see you smile
10 The Four Tops Walk away Renee
11 Stevie Wonder He's Misstra Know it all
12 Adele Someone like you
13 Simple Minds Don't you forget about me
14 Dean Martin If
15 Wham Wake me up before you go go
16 KC & The Sunshine Band Give it up
17 U2 With or without you
18 The Bee Gees Night fever
19 Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers Islands in the stream
20 Neil Diamond Desiree

National Hospital Request Chart

Mark Snowdon of Radio General in Warrington put together a national chart from hospitals all over the UK.  See 2011'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 7 May 2012

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