In 1986 Station Manager
Dave Smith and Secretary PJ Davidson-Smith had spent a lot of time
investigating options to improve on the current failing bed-head listening system.
This included visiting Great Ormond Street Hospital and Kings College
hospital in London.
A new transmission
system called inductive loop AM was just beginning to be more accessible
and a company called Wireless Workshop was sent plans of the hospital site
and asked to quote on the cost for installation at Heatherwood.
All the background work
for the move to introduce the inductive loop am service was carried out
behind the scenes.
In November 1986 a
presentation was made to the league of friends committee asking for their
support to move the project forward.
It was clear in our
minds that by the end of 1986 a series of events lead us to the
fundraising exercise of trying to raise the money for the new system in as
short a time as possible,(£10'000).
When the application
for the grant from Windsor & Maidenhead council had been submitted in Nov
1986: We never really thought it would prove fruitful. The project folder
submitted was 44 pages of why there was a need to install this at the
hospital, it was typed by the secretary on a portable typewriter and
plenty of Tipp-ex.
1987
It's 1987 and Radio
Heatherwood has an enormous task, to introduce the Inductive loop
broadcast system for the benefit of all patients in Heatherwood.
The decision to move
towards the inductive loop method of broadcasting had been made some years
earlier. The reason it hadn't been taken up was for the general state of
the studio premises, equipment and the commitment of presenters.
When the first
presentation was made to staff on that cold Sunday morning in January: no
one had any idea just how this was going to develop.
On the following pages
the entries made in the secretary's diary during the appeal year and with
the help of the press articles and pictures what the overall response of
the public was to our appeal.
P. J. Secretary.
