The Story Of Radio Heatherwood

Preface

In 1990 after 10 years with the radio station I decided to put together a series of scrapbooks which collated all the pictures posters and stories about the radio service which had taken place. The scrap books were designed to show all newcomers to the radio, how the station had developed.

The scrapbooks or the memories contained therein could not fully portray the story of Radio Heatherwood but did show, who, what and how things have developed and who walked through our doors and made a contribution to it's well being.

Each year was documented with stories and memorabilia. The first 10 years were housed in one blue binder subsequent years ran to a blue folder each, as activity by the station produced more materials to store.

In the early 90's due to commitments to other projects I was not able to keep up the scrapbooks. The time has come to embark on a project to bring all those early scrapbooks to the web site. In addition we hope in time to produce those missing books.

As time has marched on, we have learnt more details about those early days which previously we were unaware of. Those additional snippets of info have now been included in this on-line scrapbook.

We hope you find the history scrapbook interesting and informative.

We apologize for any omissions of events or deeds that have taken place which have been lost and or were not documented.

I was not here at the start, but having joined in 1980 I have tried to ensure all deeds and involvement by individuals is recorded and attributed to our unsung heroes.

Secretary

P Davidson-Smith
Summer 2008

1969-1976 The Birth Of A Hospital Radio Station.

 The early beginnings of radio Heatherwood can be traced back to 1969 when one man decided to play records to the patients of Heatherwood. Bill Berry the then works foreman at Heatherwood used his own records and with a turntable and mike would play requests to patients from a room in the old admin block.

Bill was providing a record request program to the general wards on a Tuesday evening for two hours. The league had agreed to fund the rental of records at £50 a year so that the programs could go out. Bill used some of his own 78's along with those of family and friends.

This early service was plagued by faulty equipment on the wards. The service was very much a one man band operation. It was a request to the league of friends that prompted the investment in new equipment and the launch of Radio Heatherwood.

The exact start of the service is unclear as Bill passed away some years ago and we were not able to obtain that information. What is clear records of the league of friends minutes from 1969 shows entries detailing the work of Bill and the service referred to at that time as "Patient Request Programme".

10th June1976

  The record request programme lasted off and on, for seven years.

A spate of faulty equipment and a lack of real facilities for a radio service, prompted the help by the League of Friends; into creating the first regular service. An injection of cash £4500, from the League of Friends enabled the first studio to be built, and the radio headsets to be provided on the wards.

A room was set aside on the ground floor of the maternity unit. The room part of the old equipment room for the switchboard which was turned into the first purpose built studio for the radio service.

The installation of the headsets on the wards and equipment in the studio came to an end at the beginning of the year. The on-air date was set for the AGM of the League of friends.

The first six month's of the year was a busy time at the emerging new radio station. One of the tasks needed to be carried out before the radio could use the allocated room was the movement of some GPO equipment this was to cost £350.A plea for helpers in February produced over 20 volunteers

A sub-committee with a representative on the the League of Friends was formed.

Studio Now On Air

 Radio Heatherwood started broadcasting on 10th June at 8pm.The service was on the air three nights a week Tues, Weds and Thursdays. There were six dj's at the start.

On that first day in 76, the then honorary patron Michael  Parkinson came along and visited the wards, and presented a toy kangaroo to the first baby born in the maternity unit. This was presented to a Mrs. Valerie Smith of Ascot.

On that first program, there were recorded messages from Bruce Forsyth: Not associated with the radio but visiting a patient in the wards on this day were the British screen actress Diana Dors and her husband Alan Lake. They were photographed, with Michael Parkinson by the press and those pictures are now part of the history, which is Radio Heatherwood.

The press made everyone aware of the new service at Heatherwood with stories in all the local papers.

1976 Other Stories

A month after the opening the Ascot & Bracknell news printed the first request form in the paper. This was done as an encouragement to readers to send requests to their relatives in Heatherwood. 

The league fete this year was opened by Ian McCullough of the television series Survivors .

The programs for the station had by September grown to six days of the week. A 100 up club was started as a way to raise funds for the station.

An idea to produce a booklet about the broadcast times of the station was given approval at the League of Friends meeting. This was to be called the radio times.

A telephone was installed in September; to allow contact for patients relatives.

The Windsor lions donated £200 for the purchase of a tape player.

In November five months after the launch of the station broken headsets were reported from the ward sisters.

As the year drew to a close, work was under way to relay services from the hospital chapel.

1976 Picture Gallery

That was the year that was
1976
and the radio service gets underway on a more regular basis.