Every December – Stafford Singers and Stafford Orchestra – Christmas Carol Concerts
A special thank you to everyone involved with organising this annual carol concert at St Thomas and St Andrew Catholic Church, Doxey, Stafford and for allowing HRS to hold it’s annual prize Raffle during proceedings. Since 2001, over £4,600 has been raised from raffles which greatly helps HRS continue broadcasting.
Premier Local, Prospect road, Stafford
Thank you to Staff at Premier Local, Prospect Road, Stafford for allowing HRS to display a collection tin to raise funds for overheads and general running costs. This is most appreciated and raises, on average, around £25 every couple of months.
April 2019 – Care Plus Group raises £100 for HRS
A big thank you to Lily Phillips of Care Plus and the residents of Covan Court Retirement Home for their fundraising efforts on behalf of HRS. Thank you everyone.
February 2019 -ASDA Stafford donates £200 to HRS
May 2018 – Freemasons donate £200 to HRS
Dick Fisher – 2018 Master of Izaak Walton Freemasons Lodge, Stafford donates £200 to HRS towards the cost of Station improvements.
February 2018 – Walton Homes makes second donation to HRS
Colin Smith accepts a second donation of £500 from Amy Summerton, Director of Walton Homes who’s Company is delighted to further help HRS.
April 2016 – Walton Homes 30 Wishes donates £500 to HRS
Tony Crooke and Colin Smith accept a cheque for £500 from Amy Summerton – Director of Walton Homes. During 2015, Walton Homes celebrated 30 years in the house building business and decided to mark the occasion by choosing 30 worthwhile charities to receive an award. This donation will enable HRS to complete the first stage of it’s IT equipment upgrade.
Press release : WH 30 Wishes HRS v2
February 2016 – Generous donation from Midland Expressway Ltd
Tony Crooke and Colin Smith accepting a cheque for £500 from Paul Parry of Midland Expressway Ltd. Paul visited HRS Studios on 26 February 2016 and was very impressed with the charitable work that HRS carries out in conjunction with Hospitals and Hospice patients in Staffordshire. This very generous donation will go towards a much needed refurbishment of IT equipment at HRS.
July 2011 – Hospital radio counts down to 40 years on air
www.expressandstar.com/news/2011/07/06/hospital-radio-counts-down-to-40-years-on-air/
” Timing was everything in the early days of Hospital radio Stafford ” says Alan Merrick pictured here.
“We had a studio underneath the stage in the assembly room at St George’s,” recalls Alan Merrick, one of the first presenters when the service was launched in 1972.
“It used to get very noisy, and when they did the pantomime we had to time it so that we spoke during the quiet bits, and we played the records when they were running about on stage.”
You could hardly accuse them of excess.
The desk was a huge gun-metal grey ex-BBC bit of kit with massive round faders. The record library was a ladies’ wardrobe filled with vinyl.
But this mattered not to Alan and the team of 15 volunteers. With a determination to bring fun and friendship into the lives of hundreds of patients at mid-Staffordshire’s seven hospitals, they learned fast about the art of improvisation.
“I had done a bit of DJ-ing before, but this was very different.
“The first thing you want to do when you are given a record request is to get rid of it, to get it out of the way, so you can take a breather while the record is playing.
“You’re very nervous when you first start, but as time goes by you become more confident.”
In those early days the most popular requests were for songs by Jim Reeves and Engelbert Humperdink’s Please Release Me, the latter reflecting the sense of humour of many of the patients.
Next year, Hospital Radio Stafford celebrates its 40th anniversary, and Alan is one of several volunteers who have been involved from the start. While today’s requests are more likely to be for Daniel O’Donnell or Frank Sinatra, the basic principle of brightening up the days of people who find themselves in hospital is the same as ever.
A purpose-built studio at the new Stafford General Hospital was officially opened in September, 1978 by Tiswas presenter Chris Tarrant, and that has been the station’s base to this day.
Stafford Hospital Radio’s roots lay in a series of events when George Mellet started playing recorded dance music for patients in the assembly room of St George’s Hospital.
“George was later approached by Malcolm Salmon, who had previously been involved in hospital broadcasting, and they began the spadework from which Hospital Radio Stafford was formed.” In the early days the station was on air for just three hours a day, broadcasting to Stafford General Infirmary, St George’s Hospital, Kingsmead Hospital, Groundslow, Standon Hall, Yarnfield – on the outskirts of Eccleshall – and the Ivy House at Cannock.
The Mayor of Stafford turned up for the first show, and Radio 1 DJ Jimmy Young broadcast a good luck message. Other early volunteers included Anton Emery, Art Chatfield and Mike Bailey, who are all still involved with the station.
The station expanded its record library hugely during the mid 1970s with the help of Stafford’s Sierra Kilo CB Radio Club, which carried out a 24-hour non-stop radio transmission, ending with an appeal for records.
“This appeal resulted in cars and vans coming from all directions to the front of Stafford Hospital where hundreds of records were delivered for our use,” says Alan.
“Even today you will see vinyls marked ‘Donated by Sierra Kilo’ in our library.”
Today Hospital Radio Stafford has around 45 active volunteers – some are retired, some have day jobs, some are students – who keep the station on air 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, producing a mixture of live and pre-recorded programmes.
“It’s music spans classical, pop, country and western, rock and easy listening and it’s pretty rare if we can’t find a patient’s specific request,” says publicity officer Colin Smith.
The library now contains 2,603 CDs, 3,522 LPs and 8,030 singles, spanning six decades, all catalogued by an electronic database instead of a card-index system.
“Our small army of presenters visit most hospital wards during the week providing friendly faces for patients to chat to and to collect dedications and requests for family, friends, hospital staff and of course themselves,” says Colin.
Big celebrations are planned for the station’s 40th birthday in January, and Alan, who was awarded the British Empire Medal in 1981, says he enjoys his work as much now as he did at the start.
“If it was a paid profession, you would call it job satisfaction,” he says.
* Hospital Radio Stafford is always looking for new volunteers. Anybody interested in getting involved can telephone 01785 223456, email enquiries@hrstafford.org.uk