Welcome To Wrightington Hospital Radio

We are a Registered Charity, number 1013515 staffed entirely by volunteers. We serve the Hospitals in the Wrightington, Wigan & Leigh NHS Foundation Trust, providing a local broadcasting service to be transmitted by landline or by any other means for hospitals in the Trust, hospices, old persons' homes and/or similar institutions, and wherever possible, providing a similar service to the local community to assist patients receiving "Care in the Community".

(Our Constitution)

Fundraising event

A forty eight hour radio marathon to raise funds to support the work of Wrightington Hospital Radio took place on the weekend of May 19th to 21st

The event went off very successfully with all 48 hours of live programmes being well received and supported.

However, we are always needing to raise funds to keep the station going.

To support us contact us by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

or call in at the studio and speak to one of our presenters.

Over To You

Patrick Whitney who presents the Funk and Jazz Show on Thursday night joined a number of other volunteers who have been invited to "Take Over The Airwaves" for a week.

Patrick had to apply for the opportunity and was been successful.

He co-presented The Vinyl Revival, on Saturday 18th March, on Radio Manchester, at 10pm with Stephanie Hirst.

Wrightington Hospital Radio and The Big Lottery Awards For All

Wrightington Hospital Radio was able to obtain a grant from The Big Lottery to improve and develop our service

The studio invested in a new professional standard broadcast software package called Myriad. This allows us to schedule programmes 24 hours a day seven days a week.

The grant also help us to fund the replacement of ageing computer equipment, allowing off-air programme planning and editing. As with the broadcast software this will be used to enhance the skills of volunteers.

Diane Herring also pointed out that, “being in hospital can make people feel vulnerable and in need of re- assurance, especially for those who have had to travel very large distances to receive treatment as they do at our base hospital, Wrightington. Providing a dedicated, quality radio service, 24 hours a day, does reduce these feelings and therefore aids recovery. After 40 years of broadcasting we needed to update equipment to match modern standards and improve our reliability and quality, ensuring a better patient experience.

This grant has made this possible. We will also be able to extend the range of programmes available.

With the possibility of internet broadcasting we can involve family and friends in the programme experience, especially for those whose friends cannot travel to the hospital.”

Wrightington Hospital Radio would like to thanks the Big Lottery for their support and generosity.

News of Recent Programmes recorded

As well as the usual mix of guests from the world of music we have been fortunate enough to interview Mr Robert Armstrong the Chairman of the Trust, Mr Andrew Foster the Chief Executive of the Trust, Dr Chandra Chattopadhyay, Rheumatology Consultant and Dr Stephen Gulliford, Consultant in Acute Medicine and Director for Unscheduled Care, here at the Wrightington Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust. They were all interviewed for our programme series which looks at the people involved in making a Hospital Trust tick. In these programmes we find out about the person and their job. Many more staff interviews are planned from all the different areas of hospital life.

We have also been out and about in the community recording events that happen in and around the Wigan Borough.

We were delighted to have Mark Aldred from Dementia Buddy to talk about the work they do.

You can catch many of these programmes at different times in the week.

Kingsize Taylor, a legend of the 60s Merseybeat era, came in to do an interview with Bill Hart on the LankyBeat Live Show.

Ken (Kingsize) Taylor and the Dominoes started in the late 50s in Liverpool. They performed at the Cavern Club in the very early 60s with Cilla as the singer.

Just like the Beatles they toured Germany performing in Hamburg, Kiel and Berlin before returning to the UK to tour with Chuck Berry in 1964.

Appearances on Ready Steady Go followed but they never got the exposure their friends and rivals, The Beatles did.

Listen out for a return of Kingsize on Wrightington Hospital Radio

Sponsor A Programme

This is a great opportunity for individuals, small or large businesses or organisations to support the costs of running Wrightington Hospital Radio.

Get your name mentioned three times an hour in the regular programme you sponsor.

To find out more go to our How To link at the top of the page and choose Support Us

Volunteer Vacancies

W Ward visitor rightington Hospital Radio is currently looking to expand our team of Presenters and general volunteers. You do not need to have any previous experience as all volunteers will receive a detailed programme of training to become a presenter.

presenter We are looking for people who are confident and prepared to listen to advice.

We are also looking for people who can provide a range of programmes both during the day and in the evening. Have you a musical genre that particularly interests you? You could put out a programme in that genre.

We are also looking for caring, patient and empathetic people, to visit the patients in the wards of our hospitals, to collect music requests to be played during programmes. These volunteer will assist locating the songs in our music library and help present the shows.

Please note that at present the Trust is only accepting volunteers from within the Borough of Wigan.

Wrightington Hospital Radio Aims to become Dementia Friendly

Wrightington Hospital Radio is committed to being a Dementia Friendly organisation.

As part of this commitment many of its members have become "Dementia Friends".

Our Commitment does not stop there. Veronika and Kevin are Dementia Champions.

Here are a couple of video clips to show the power of music.

Man in Nursing Home reacts to hearing music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyZQf0p73QM
Gladys Wilson and Naomi Fell https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrZXz10FcVM

Northern Soul Legends

Wrightington Hospital Radio is proud of its links with legends associated with the Northern Soul Scene.

Each of these legends has appeared live in programmes in the last few months and support our work.

The legendary Soul and Northern Soul singer Tommy Hunt was interviewed live on Kevin's programme "The Tracks I have Grown Up With"

Eddie Holman another of the legendary Soul singers who became part of the Northern Soul scene and Wigan Casino and who is probably best known for his 1970 hit "Hey There Lonely Girl" also came to do a programme from Wrightington along with another legend of the Wigan Casino and Northern Soul scene, the DJ Russ Winstanley.

Wigan Casino held its last All-Nighter in October 1981.