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)

Wrightington Hospital Radio obtains a grant from The Big Lottery Awards For All

We are delighted to announce that on Tuesday 26th May 2015 The Big Lottery announced that we had been successful in our bid for a grant from Awards For All.

Diane Herring, the Chair of Hospital Radio said, “We will use the funding to replace, improve and develop our ability to broadcast quality programming to the patients, their families and friends at the hospitals and units we serve, and also to the wider community.”

The studio has also invested in a new professional standard broadcast software package. It will allow us to improve our programmes and schedule broadcasts throughout twenty four hours. Training is provided within the package which will be cascaded to other volunteers allowing them to gain the skills of professional broadcasters.

The grant will also help us to fund the replacement of aging computer equipment. This will allow 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

Tuesday 2nd November saw Mark and Karen Aldred visit the studio to talk about DementiaBuddy, an organisation which supports dementia sufferers and their carers by arranging Dementia Cafes and other support.

To find out more about where and when these cafes are on, or what other support is available, just look at their website. The link to their website is on our Links page.

They also provide Guardian Angel devices free of charge to people with dementia. These devices can be worn or carried by the dementia sufferers and carry information which can be accessed by using a mobile phone's NFC capability.

More information on their website.

Wrightington Hospital Radio is always trying to help the Trust publicise what is happening. Recent programmes which have been recorded have involved reporters going out and about to get the story.

Veronika was lucky enough to be invited to join The Three Wishes Choir made up of Trust Members as they rehearsed. Listen out for the programme being repeated very soon. There is even a CD doing the rounds with the programme on it.

With 150 days to the opening of the new Orthopaedic Unit at Wrightington the radio station were invited to cover a question and answer session about the new facility which was open to Trust staff, patients and anyone else interested.

The state of the art Unit is due to open in December 2015 and will contain:

Two new wards with a total of 56 beds, most of which will be single accommodation

A new admissions unit

and a four bay operating theatre complex with a 7 space recovery unit.

We were also lucky enough to have the Chairman, Mr Robert Armstrong to come along to the studio to give us an insight into his life and the role of Chairman of the Trust. We also found out about his interest in music.

Once again look out for the repeat of that programme.

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 launches its Newsletter

We are delighted to announce that thanks to the efforts of Veronika Stevens as author and editor, and the work of Chris Risley, who designed the lay-out, we have published our first Newsletter.

It's title is RAW which stands for Radio at Wrightington. We plan to have two issues per year.

This first issue has already hit the Help Desks and wards and first feedback is very, very positive.

If you want to view this first issue of RAW then click on the link below

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ujrgf6eakass7dt/RAW%20Issue%201.pdf?dl=0

John Rigby Students Complete Work Experience at Wrightington Hospital

A number of students from John Rigby Sixth Form College have just completed a ten week work experience placement at Wrightington Hospital. Each Tuesday afternoon they were assigned, in pairs to a department such as Theatre, Theatre Recovery, ward support etc. Their final week they could choose to return to one area to experience it again.

Two of the students, Lewis and Sarah, both seventeen, came into the studio to tell us about their experience. Both talked about a desire to become doctors and valued the experience they had had.

The students were supervised by member of staff, Vicky Brown, pictured right, who also came along to talk about the experience but also to thank the hospital for allowing her students to have such a valuable experience.

A Twist on Artist of the Week

Would you like to assist our Fund Raising

Stevie B, one of our regular presenters is not only a presenter but a talented artist. Stevie has agreed to sell pictures he has painted for £40 to raise funds for Wrightington Hospital Radio.

This is just one example of his work, but if you want to see more then go to the tab at the top "How To" and from the pull down menu choose "Support Us". You can see more examples of Stevie's work and how to get your copy.

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 have become Dementia Champions.

Thanks to Jean Ramsdale for an inspiring and informative course.

We have also been in discussions with the Trust on how we can support the treatment of patients with memory loss, dementia and Alzheimer's.

There are plans to put out specialist programmes and to provide materials to be used in therapy sessions using music to trigger memory.

Watch this space for developments.

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.

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