APRIL 2007

HOSPITAL RADIO PERTH ARE UK STATION OF THE YEAR - AGAIN!

Hospital Radio Perth has been announced the UK Hospital Radio Station Of The Year - the fourth time that we have won the accolade.

The announcement was made at the National Hospital Radio Awards in Northampton hosted by radio consultant and former head of Disney (Europe), Paul Robinson and BBC Breakfast Weather Girl, Carol Kirkwood.

The station's entry was judged by a group of individuals with a long history in professional radio including BBC Radio Two star and "Voice Of The Balls" Alan Dedicoat, Radio Two Producer Paula Rogers and Programme Consultant and former producer of Kenny Everett, Alan Freeman and Tony Blackburn, Paul Easton.

Carol Kirkwood revealed after the event that she had been silently cheering on the Perth entry. "My mum lives in Perthshire and my family have had need of PRI from time to time so I was delighted when the local station won. It's well deserved."

The judges said of the Perth entry that they it was a fine example of patient focussed broadcasting with a diverse range of broadcasting to suit the older listener. They particularly liked features such as "Bookmark", a daily hour of short stories and poems; the outside broadcasts including shows from Perth Theatre and the local content such as the concert by the Parish Of Dunkeld Handbell Ringers.

The award was presented by the BBC's Charles Nove who himself began in hospital radio in Glasgow. He too was pleased that Perth won. "I'm delighted to hand over the award to a Scottish station - it's thoroughly deserved."

Station Chairman, John Watson was at the ceremony and is absolutely delighted. "This is a great reward for over 40 volunteers who give up their time each week to ensure that our programmes go out 24 hours a day 365 days of the year. Their dedication is shown by the fact that although over 250 stations are eligible for the award, we have won it four times since 1996. Only one other station has even won it twice. It makes us far and away the most successful hospital station ever in the UK.

To say I'm proud of the station and the members is an understatement!"

But winning the top award was not the station's only success. They also won the "Best Special Event" trophy for their 36 hour live broadcast surrounding the switching on of Perth's Christmas Lights. With interviews with Fred MacAuley and Tony Christie, the judges said that it was among the very best of patient focussed broadcasting with fun and music making up a great mix.

In addition the station picked up a bronze award for Janieann McCracken's interview with former Spitfire pilot Sir Alan Smith; a highly commended for Norman Riley's rhyming trailer for his Comedy Classics programme and a commended award for their coverage of St Johnstone v Queen Of The South.

MARCH 2007

KIPPEN CAMPBELL WS SPONSOR HRP SPORTS PROGRAMME

Tay Street solicitors and estate agents Kippen Campbell WS have agreed a new sponsorship deal with Hospital Radio Perth to support their weekly sports programme and St Johnstone commentary.

Hospital Radio Perth are the only hospital broadcasters in Scotland to follow the same team home and away - and over the years have relayed over 600 St Johnstone matches live to Perth hospital patients.

Station chairman, John Watson is delighted to have Kippen Campbell on board as sponsors; "This is the first time that our sports output has been sponsored and it brings welcome funds to the charity. We cover every home game and as many of the away games as we can, typically we only miss two or three in a season. We even reported from Finland and Monaco during the UEFA Cup matches a few years ago."

"Kippen Campbell has supported Hospital Radio Perth in numerous ways over the years and their help and assistance has been much appreciated. It's great to have them on board as sponsors."

Steve McLaren, partner at Kippen Campbell and life-long Saints fan, is equally enthusiastic. "We always take a keen interest in what's going on at Hospital Radio and have joined forces in a number of projects in the past. This is an ideal opportunity for us to show that not only do we support St Johnstone, but we support Hospital Radio Perth too."

MARCH 2007

SIXTH ANNUAL PSPC QUIZ BRINGS CASH FOR QUESTIONS

The 6th annual Perthshire Solicitors' Quiz Night took place at the Salutation Hotel, Perth on Wednesday 21 March 2007.

The event hosted by Hospital Radio Perth and the Perthshire Solicitors Property Centre was a huge success with 24 teams taking part.

This year's event was won, for the second year running, by "Does Grey Matter" representing The Procurator Fiscal's Office.

A great night was had by all and nearly £600 was eventually raised for Hospital Radio Perth.

Our picture shows Dave Smith, Sheila Shovlin, Robbie Brown and Vivian Tevendale of the Procurator Fiscal's Office collecting the cup from Anne Begg of PSPC while HRP's John Watson collects the cheque.

FEBRUARY 2007

MORE AWARD NOMINATIONS FOR HOSPITAL RADIO PERTH

Hospital Radio Perth has been nominated in the top 10 for every entry we submitted to the 2007 Hospital Broadcasting Awards. In fact Hospital Radio Perth have picked up nearly 6% of the nominations in a year that again saw a record number of entries. Over 250 hospital stations across the UK are eligible to enter.

The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony in Northampton on Saturday 31 March 2007. Let's keep our fingers well and truly crossed!

NOMINATIONS

• Best Promo / Trailer - Comedy Hour Trailer, written & produced by Norman Riley.
• Best Sports Output - St Johnstone v Queen Of The South
• Best Special Event - Perth's Christmas Lights
• Speech Package Production - One Of The Few - an interview with a Battle Of Britain pilot.
• Station Of The Year

NOVEMBER 2006

HRP MUSIC QUIZ

Due to popular demand and the fact that we may well raise a few bob in the process, Hospital Radio Perth are to hold a fun music quiz night at the Salutation Hotel in South Street, Perth on Wednesday 15 November 2006.

The quiz night is open to teams of four and we have had a lot of interest from those who attend our regular "normal" quizzes. If you'd like to enter a team or several then let us know.

Please book a table by e-mail by dropping a note to musicquiz@hospitalradioperth.co.uk. There is so much interest that we are reserving tables so as to ensure that we are not oversubscribed.

Prices are £16 per table of four – i.e. £4 per person.

There will also be a raffle at the event.

Entry is open to all, so why not put together a team and come along for a fun evening.

OCTOBER 2006

RECOGNITION FOR HRP VICE CHAIRMAN

The Scottish Health Awards 2006 finalists have been announced. We are delighted to report that out of hundreds of nominations of an incredibly high standard HRP Station Manager and Vice Chairman Steven Robb has been named as one of the three finalists in the "Volunteers" category

Volunteers’ Award

1. Nettie Creswell, Smoking Cessation Volunteer Peer Supporter, Monklands Hospital, Airdrie
2. Joe McGhee, Volunteer, Roxburghe House, Dundee
3. Steven Robb, Volunteer Station Manager, Hospital Radio Perth

All the finalists will receive an invitation to attend the 2006 ceremony on 9th November at the Corn Exchange, Edinburgh. We're all keeping our fingers crossed for Steven, but no matter the result, it is a huge achievement to make it to the finals. We all know how much effort he puts into Hospital Radio Perth and congratulate him on this fantastic achievement.

You can see more about the Scottish Health Awards by clicking HERE.

APRIL AND MAY 2006

A SELECTION OF VISITORS

April and May have been busy months for Hospital Radio Perth with numerous visitors to the studios. On 28 April The Parish Of Dunkeld Handbell Ringers attended and recorded a series of pieces for later broadcast.

On 4th May our local councillor, Alexander Stewart popped in; and after a tour of the premises, broadcast to the patients.

Then throughout the second week in May we had a series of visits from members of the Perthshire Writers' Group who recorded around 20 short stories and poems for broadcast as part of our "Bookmark" series which is transmitted at 1pm each day.

On 29 May we had a visit from about a dozen members of PUSH. PUSH promotes change that will lead to inclusion in the community for people with leaning disabilities throughout Perth and Kinross. They run a number of groups and also do one to one work. Their work can be seen as stepping stones to equip people to go out and access mainstream facilities. We were delighted to have them along and look forward to their next visit in July.

The Marks And Spencer's Staff Sports And Social Club have donated £200 to Hospital Radio Perth. The money was presented by staff members Rose Wiggetts and Chris McLuskey when they visited the studios on 19 May 2006.

The 5th annual Perthshire Solicitors' Quiz Night took place at the Salutation Hotel, Perth on Wednesday 29 March 2006.

The event hosted by Hospital Radio Perth and the Perthshire Solicitors Property Centre was a huge success with 24 teams taking part.

This year's event was won by "Does Grey Matter" representing The Procurator Fiscal's Office.

On the night we auctioned several items, with the star item being a signed Scotland football top which sold for £105.

A great night was had by all and £800 was eventually raised for Hospital Radio Perth.

Our picture shows Allan Dow of the Procurator Fiscal's Office collecting the cup from Anne Begg of PSPC while HRP's John Watson collects the cheque.

11 MAY 2005

SOUND INVESTMENT BY SAINTS HELPS FANS

With the football season drawing to a close, St Johnstone have financed new equipment to allow their fans in hospital to hear the new season's matches more clearly.

Hospital Radio Perth has broadcast commentary from all St Johnstone home games since 1990 and since the following year has covered the vast majority of away matches too.

The station's chairman, John Watson, explains why the new equipment was needed: "While our commentary position at McDiarmid Park is fitted with top class equipment, commentary from away games has relied increasingly on mobile telephones. While the sound may be reasonable it isn't the ideal situation to have two people huddled round a tiny handset."

The new portable Flipjack mixer will allow the commentators to use professional headsets and microphones while still sending the signal via a mobile.

John reports that the improvement is very noticeable, "Although it's still essentially a mobile phone, the improved microphone quality makes the sound very much better and should make life much easier for the commentators. The equipment will also allow us to broadcast all manner of events from around the town that until now have been beyond our reach."

St Johnstone Managing Director Stewart Duff reports that the club were happy to help out; "The donation comes from the money raised from the car boot sales held each Sunday. We are delighted that commentary from the games is relayed to Perth's hospitals. Hospital Radio Perth is the only Scottish station to follow the same team home and away - even travelling at the commentators' own expense to Finland and Monaco for the UEFA games a few seasons ago. Let's hope that between us we can bring a bit of cheer to the patients in the new season."

The 2005 Awards were held in the Europa Hotel, Belfast on Saturday 2 April 2005 and yet again, Hospital Radio Perth won their fair share of prizes. Well done to all involved.

COMMENDED - Best Speech Package - Excerpts from Alistair Smith's work with Perth Writer's Group.

HIGHLY COMMENDED - Best Station Identification - "Stars In Our Ears" voiced by Gary Smith and inumerable household names from Lorraine Kelly to Vera Lynn.

THIRD - Best Specialist Programme - Celtic Folk by John Watson.

Photos by Gary Lakin

The 4th annual Perthshire Solicitors' Quiz Night took place at the Salutation Hotel, Perth on Wednesday 16 March 2005.

The event hosted by Hospital Radio Perth and the Perthshire Solicitors Property Centre was a huge success with 26 teams taking part.

This year's event was won by "Three Saints And A Sinner" representing Condies with a score of 144. Runners-up, two points behind were the 2003 and 2004 winners "Jules Rimet" representing Neil Whittet.

A great night was had by all and £612 was eventually raised for Hospital Radio Perth.

2 FEBRUARY 2005

HRP NOMINATED FOR MORE AWARDS

Hospital Radio Perth submitted 3 entries for the National Hospital Radio Awards this year.

Best Speech Package - Excerpts from Alistair Smith's work with Perth Writer's Group. Best Station Identification - "Stars In Our Ears" voiced by Gary Smith and inumerable household names from Lorraine Kelly to Vera Lynn. Best Specialist Programme - Celtic Folk by John Watson

The nominations were announced tonight and we have gained a top ten place with each. The winners will be announced on April 2 at the HBA Conference at the Europa Hotel in Belfast. Fingers crossed!

29 JANUARY 2005

HRP COOK UP SOME CHEER FOR FURNITURE PROJECT

A culinary spectacle was staged on Saturday night for supporters of the Salvation Army in Perth. Half a dozen HRP members attended to see Chairman John Watson battle nursery owner Vince Butler for the title of "Champion Chef" in aid of the Furniture Project which provides items for those in need.

John eventually came out the winner but admitted that he didn't even risk trying his cookery! "The winner was the furniture project which raised a healthy sum. Vince and I treated the whole event as a bit of fun and I think the audience appreciated our efforts - or should I say - antics!"

Organiser Dan Rous - a former member of HRP reported that the evening had been a great success. Find out more about the Salvation Army's projects HERE.

13 JANUARY 2005

HRP AWARDED THE DAVID K THOMSON AWARD

On 13 January 2005 HRP was honoured with a Civic Reception where we were awarded the David K Thomson Award in recognition of services to the community. The award came with a silver quaich, a framed scroll and a donation of £500.

Fifteen HRP members went along to the council chambers to meet Provost Bob Scott and the David K Thomson Award Trustees. HRP Chairman John Watson told those present that the organisation was honoured to receive such an award and that it was testament to the work carried out on a day to day basis by over 40 volunteers.

13 SEPTEMBER 2004

NEW STUDIO GOES LIVE

10 SEPTEMBER 2004

RAF LEUCHARS

Friday 10 September was press day at RAF Leuchars prior to the airshow the following day. Dalene Radin and Jim Reid went along to report for Hospital Radio Perth (for Jim it was a bit of light relief between working on the new studios). They saw all the planes, including the new Eurofighter and managed several interviews with those who run the airfield and fly the planes. No doubt we'll be broadcasting the resultant programme very soon. You can view the airshow website HERE or the RAF Leuchars site HERE

9 SEPTEMBER 2004

IT'S HERE AT LAST!

The new studio gear was delivered today and already, as you can see, it's beginning to look the part. The whole think looks even better than we hoped. Here are a few pictures to whet your appetite!

We've started in Studio One - it's a split desk configuration - 10 channels on one side, 15 on the other and the computer screens in between. I'm sure you will agree that the furniture looks really smart.

Jim and Norman have been doing all the clever stuff while Steven and John have lifted heavy objects and asked daft questions. Already the entire place is knee deep in bits of wire and weird plugs and sockets.

So far everything is going reasonably to plan. It seems that it might even work at some stage in the future. Certainly Jim and Norman have put a great deal of thought and preperation into the project and we were all surprised at just how quickly it began to take shape.

Tomorrow we get the Studio Two stuff delivered!

16 JULY 2004

JOHN CONNOLLY VISITS HOSPITAL RADIO PERTH

Saints fans currently laid up in hospital and other patients and staff at Perth Royal Infirmary and Murray Royal were given an exclusive chance to listen to St Johnstone manager John Connolly this evening when he was the guest of the sports team at Hospital Radio Perth.

In an hour-long show hosted by HRP’s Kevin Giles, John answered a range of questions submitted by hospital patients and staff and among the topics covered were his thoughts on the season ahead at McDiarmid Park, his memories of the Ormond era at Muirton Park plus his thoughts on the wider Scottish game. Listeners also had the opportunity to get a glimpse of what sort of music the boss likes to listen to with tracks by Elton John, Neil Diamond, and Ronan Keating all getting an airing.

The award winning Hospital Radio Perth volunteers swing into action football-wise on Saturday 24 July as they provide commentary from all home games at McDiarmid Park and most of the away games as well.

10 JULY 2004

NEW STUDIO PROJECT NEARS FRUITION

At last it seems that the proposed new studios may become reality very soon. As funds have been increasing, the working group have been agonising over what type of equipment to buy. At long last they have elected for Sonifex equipment - and in particular the S2 mxing desks only launched in March 2004. The desks will be housed in custom built furniture which will be complemented by new studio wall cladding and ceiling tiles designed to improve the overall sound quality.

4 JULY 2004

KEVIN GILES GOES OFF THE RAILS

The weekend of 3rd and 4th of July saw a double celebration at the Bo'ness & Kinneil Railway where the celebrated their 25th aniversary of being at the Bo'ness site and also the 200th anniversary of steam traction in Great Britain, and Kevin Giles of Hospital Radio Perth was there to record the event.

Kevin's first stop was to meet up with George Lumsden who seems to have a lot of jobs - from storeman to footplate rostering and even organising the insurance cover for the railway! He took Kevin on a tour of the working side of the railway, looking into the loco shed, the repair shed (called the Romney Hut), where he learnt all about steam locomotives getting 'flat tyres', and the main exhibition halls where there is a fantastic array of railway memorabelia as well as locomotives and rolling stock dating back over the past 100 or so years. There he met up with John Birnie who told him about the exhibits and what it takes to maintain an exhibition and railway such as the Bo'ness & Kinneil and Brian Thomson who described what it took to keep these locomotives running.

The railway is made up a some real characters one of whom is 91 year old Eric Viles who still acts as a Ticket Inspector on the trains. This weekend was one of his last operating weekends as he is due to 'retire' from the Bon'ess & Kinneil to move to Yorkshire where he will be helping out with the North Yorkshire Moors Railway. He certainly is not taking retirement easily!

All-in-all it was a great weekend from sharing a 'fireman's breakfast' (sausage and black puuding cooked on the shovel inside the firebox) to actually riding on the footplate of one of these beautiful machines, everything was captured for posterity by Kevin for broadcast on Hospital Radio Perth.

If you would like further information about the Bo'ness & Kinneil Railway, please telephone 01506 822298, email: enquiries@railway.srps.org.uk or write to: The Scottish Railway Preservation Society Bo'ness Station, Union Street, Bo'ness, West Lothian EH51 9AQ. Or of course you can click here to visit their website.

They, like Hospital Radio Perth, are always looking for volunteers to help keep everything running!