Hospital Broadcasting Service  News

'Official Launch' to Beatson Oncology Centre As planned we had an 'official launch' broadcast from the foyer of the Beatson (West of Scotland Oncology Centre) on Sunday 28th June. Programmes were broadcast from just after noon, though until 5pm as a real bumper day for patient requests, with more than fifty being played. There are still a few more things to do so that patients are more aware of the opportunity to enjoy our progammes and have a free request, either by waiting for one of our ward visitors, or by taking advantage of the free phone facility at every bedside which only needs the push of one button. Pictured at the start of the event are Claire McManus, Lalita Augustine, Peggy Mack, Robert MacKenzie and David Bannerman.
28th June 2009 - 'Official Launch' to Beatson Oncology Centre Although we started broadcasting our programmes on the Beatson's new patient entertainment system, when it was installed in April, we have decided to hold our official launch broadcast day at the end of June to make sure any teething problems are ironed out. Sunday 28th June will see a live broadcast from noon until early evening, from the main foyer of the Beatson.  We'll be chatting with patients, their visitors and hospital staff, plus of course playing lots of requests and dedications.
IKEA bucket collection  'cleans up' On the 23rd and 24th May, we were at IKEA in Braehead, not only collecting spare change that the store's customers were willing to give, but also providing a free car windscreen washing service. Thank you to everyone who donated, we raised a little over £400, providing running costs for a fortnight.
We're On The Telly - at the Beatson Oncology Centre In April, the new Easiview bedside entertainment system was installed at every bed in the West of Scotland Cancer Centre (Beatson). By a quirk of the technology needed to add our radio programmes onto the system (its basically a bedside Freeview receiver) we are now available as 'Free TV Channel 6'. In the coming weeks we expect to be adding a rolling video sequence that lets patients know a lot of information about the service we provide and also telling them that by one press of the blue button on the lower right of the unit, they can make a free phone call straight through to our city centre studios. If you're going to be in the Beatson soon - give us a FREE call.
Silverburn Shopping Centre - 28th March 2009 Following on from the phenomenal success of our collection at Silverburn Shopping Centre last December, we made the first of two visits in 2009, on Saturday March 28th   list of remaining 2009 events here Our team of bucket collectors and presenters were on hand again, to play suitable tunes and accept donations towards the running costs. Thanks to the generosity of the Silverburn shoppers, we again collected over £1200 during the day, which equals about 10% of our annual running costs..
Annual General Meeting 2009 At the Annual General Meeting on 22nd March the membership re-elected Steven Boardman and Charlie Murphy to the committee with Eileen Heuston, Peggy Mack and Cheryl Ward all being voted on for the first time.   The membership also approved the 2008 Annual Report and discussed the latest developments and progress with the offer of premises at Glasgow's Southern General Hospital.   A further Special General Meeting will be held in May to discuss the relocation of our studio facilities.
East Dunbartonshire Grants Advisory Committee In March, three members of the Grants Advisory Committee - an independent group which provides recommendations on grants awards to East Dunbartonshire Council - came along to visit the studios and also joined our request collecting teams on the wards at the Western.   The Hospital Broadcasting Service has been successful in applying for grants from the Council for a number of years, so quite rightly, the Assessment Committee wanted to make sure the money was being invested wisely.
New Logo Revealed After more than fifteen years, we've decided to update the organisations logo from the 'man in the bed'.  In many ways, the new logo takes us back to the original 1970's three letter logo, but obviously now also incorporates key elements of the current age, as well as identifying what the three letters represent.  With so many items still carrying the 'old' logo, its going to be at least a year before we have everything updated.
Silverburn Shopping Centre - December 2008 It was a last minute change of venue after a late change of policy by Clydebank Shopping Centre, but the management team at Silverburn couldn't have been more helpful given the short notice we gave them. Out team of bucket collectors and presenters were on hand on 20th December to play cheery Christmas music, and take donations. Thanks to the generosity of the Silverburn shoppers, we collected over £1200 in just six hours.
HM Queen Elizabeth II  -  Finds Out About Work of HBS  On Thursday 3rd July, The Queen  visited the Golden Jubilee National Hospital in Clydebank to open new state of the art facilities.   As the visit coincided with the NHS 60th Anniversary, Her Majesty attended a celebration being held in the NHS run Beardmore Hotel which forms  part of the hospital complex.   During this visit, a number of representatives of voluntary groups working in the NHS in the Glasgow area will be presented to the Queen, including a representative of The Hospital Broadcasting Service.   Although our programmes currently don't reach the patients at the Golden Jubilee National Hospital, we are currently in discussion with the hospitals management with a view to having them added to the in-room entertainment that the patients already enjoy.

Drumchapel Request Programme - Re-Launches 6th July at 11am After a long wait, the dedicated request programmes for patients in 'Care of the Elderly' wards at Drumchapel Hospital is being re-launched at 11am on Sunday 6th July. The ward staff are incorporating the programme into the Sunday schedule of entertainment for patients.  Jenness Mitchell will be presenting the show from our city centre studios, with Peggy Mack and Charlie Murphy helping to collect the requests from the four wards.
NHS Scotland 60th Anniversary Website - Features HBS Member An article, originally published in 2006, in the NHS staff magazine 'Pulse' is featuring in the staff stories section of the national Scottish NHS 60th Anniversary website. HBS volunteer, Mags Higgins also works for the NHS, and the feature looks at the fact she also gives up some personal time to offer a positive distraction to patients, through her work with The Hospital Broadcasting Service.
Bearsden & Milngavie Highland Games It was another successful year for our team at the Highland Games.   In a total change from events we have run in previous years, we teamed up with a group of Dalek enthusiasts and offered the chance for people to have their picture taken with a Dalek. At the end of a busy day, David Bannerman, Niall Anderson, John McGowne and Patricia Travers take a break before being EXTERMINATED.
Lenzie Gala Day 2008 Another successful year at Lenzie Gala Day.    HBS Treasurer, Steve Boardman, was the Master of Ceremonies which included him also being judge for a number of competitions. No doubt we'll see everyone at the event again next year as we look forward to entering the second decade of providing PA services to the event.

NHS 60 - Diamond Awards
To celebrate 60 years of the National Health Service, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde invited the public to nominate people for the Diamond Awards.  The awards ceremony will be held on Saturday 5th July at the Royal Concert Hall and is part of a sequence of events to celebrate the anniversary.

Lenzie Gala Day 2008  -  Saturday 7th June
We're off to Lenzie again, the tenth year in succession that we've provided PA services for the town's Gala Day. You can see us at the event at the Rugby Club from 12:30 on June 7th. 

Beatson Patients Eventually Going To Hear HBS With the first patients having moved in to the new Beatson Hospital in Glasgow's West End last Autumn, we expected to be playing request for them from the first day.  A number of problems have delayed this, including power sockets and other technical matters, but the biggest delay has been the question mark over the use of headphones and the problems they might cause with cross-infection.   Thankfully the hospital have now reached a decision and a policy is being implemented that will allow patients to listen in.  An official launch date is imminent.
Drumchapel Request Programme - Returning Soon A few years ago, our dedicated Sunday programme for patients in Drumchapel Hospital was suspended due to a lack of volunteers able to staff the team.  Plans are now being put in place to restart  the shows again.  Our technical team has confirmed that the equipment is still working perfectly and our Programme Director has had been talking with the hospital management and staff to make sure that we fit in with their routine.  Watch this page for further details of the official re-launch date.
HBOS Foundation Fund New Computer Equipment Chris Dwyer of the HBOS Foundation, dropped in to our studios in April to present a cheque for just short of five thousand pounds.   This has been invested in new desktop computers in our production office and also a replacement server to run our playout system which holds many of our most popular requested records.   Chris is pictured handing the cheque to HBS Chairman, Niall Anderson. Also pictured is request programme presenter Charlie Murphy.

Annual General Meeting 2008
At the Annual General Meeting on 16th March the membership re-elected Niall Anderson and Steven Turkington to the committee with Charlie Murphy joining the management team for the first time.   The membership also approved the 2007 Annual Report and discussed the latest developments and progress with the offer of premises at Glasgow's Southern General Hospital.

Autumn and Winter Fund-Raising Events
From October to the end of the year our members will be out with collecting buckets on seven separate days with events now scheduled for IKEA, Braehead Shopping Centre and the Clyde Regional Shopping Centre.

NHS Propose Alternate Studio Relocation Option In 2006, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde proposed a location within Glasgow Royal Infirmary that we could move our studios to. At the end of 2006 this had been put on hold while a review of all hospital radio provision in the city was carried out.  The result of this is that an alternative location has now been proposed at Southern General Hospital although no formal agreement has been reached yet.
Interview with New NHS Chairman At the end of March, Andrew Robertson MBE the current Chairman of NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde is joining us for an interview about the work that volunteers carry out within the NHS.
Fund-Raising Ceilidh A Huge Success  HBS volunteer Robert MacKenzie organised a fantastic Ceilidh on 14th March.  The sell-out event at Hillhead Rugby Sports Club was enjoyed by around a hundred revellers who danced through the evening.  Gunna Sound Ceilidh Band with special guests “Sanna” provided the music.  The event with its raffle and modest entry charge managed to raise a significant sum towards our annual running costs.
HBS Volunteer Gets A Dressing Down Monday evening team members Lalita Augustine managed to raise almost £150 at a dress-down day held at her work at the beginning of March.
Frank is Still Top of The Pops Nobody came anywhere close to the number of requests that Frank Sinatra notched up in 2007.  In fact his closest rival only managed half his number. After a ten year run of Lena Martell's One Day At A Time being the favourite request, the Frank Sinatra Classic, My Way has held the top spot for the last nine years.

Christmas Weekend at Clydebank 
We're going back to Clyde Regional Shopping Centre just ahead of Christmas.

On both 22nd and 23rd December our bucket collecting teams will be on hand to entertain with Christmas music and also help you to get rid of all those heavy coins that last minute shopping has given you.

If you are in the area please pop past and say hello, it should be pretty easy to spot our collectors even if they are wrapped up against the weather.

NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde  - Review of Hospital Radio Accommodation in Glasgow
At the start of 2007 NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde realised that before signing a lease agreement with The Hospital Broadcasting Service for the use part of the former kitchen facility at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, a review of the facilities used by all of the radio groups in the city (HBS, Radio Lollipop, Royal 1 Radio, Southern Sound and Victoria Infirmary Radio) was required.

The outcome of this consultation is that the previous accommodation offer that HBS were given has been withdrawn and a new offer to locate broadcast facilities at the city's Southern General Hospital has been put forward.  The exact details of the offer are still being worked through and once they are clear then a Special General Meeting will need to be called for the volunteer membership to debate and agree on the best way forward.

HBS Features on BBC Radio Scotland's Magnetic Memories

On Sunday 26th August archive material from HBS featured on BBC Radio Scotland's Magnetic Memories programme which took a delve through the vast archives from hospital radio stations around Scotland.

       You can hear the programme here:  Magnetic Memories 26th August 128K mp3 [25Mb file]

Hospital Radio Proved to Help Pain Relief Hospital radio doesn't exist so that people can play at being DJ's.  The reason that we provide our service is to help distract patients from the environment which they find themselves in.  In addition to the situation where our ward request collectors are often the only (non-medical staff) visitor that a patient may have in a day, the opportunity to request personal music choices has a therapeutic effect on the listener.   The proof of this claim which has been made by hospital radio broadcasters for decades was confirmed through a research project into the effects of music on pain relief which was carried out by Glasgow Caledonian University psychologists Dr Raymond McDonald and Dr Laura Mitchell.     Rain Soaked Fund-Raiser - FORT Shopping Centre 18th August A big thanks to everyone who kindly donated to our fund-raising collection on Saturday 18th August at the Fort Shopping Centre in Glasgow.  It gave us a few firsts-      The first visit to the Fort     The first time we've collected outdoors in torrential rain for a full day     The first time we've had to dry the coins in an oven before we could count and bag them In total we collected £172.69 and a lot of rainwater - thank you!    Annual Report 2006 now available On-Line Our latest Annual Report and Accounts is now available to view on-line. East Dunbartonshire Council support for HBS Once again East Dunbartonshire Council had pledged financial support for the work of HBS.  Although since the closure of Canniesburn Hospital there are no longer any hospital's with a radio service within the council's boundaries the majority of East Dunbartonshire residents who need hospital treatment receive this in Glasgow. Another Hectic June Fund-Raising Complete Thanks to everyone who helped with our fund-raising events held over the first three weekends of June.  These dates are important in our calendar for raising vital running costs. Patients Surveyed for Listening Preferences As part of a wide ranging review of hospital radio provision in Glasgow, the local NHS management requested all of the hospital radio groups in the city to carry out a survey of what patients wanted from their bedside radio service. Our thanks to the two hundred patients who took the time to complete the forms and provide valuable feedback for the NHS in particular the Estates department who are responsible for maintaining the bedside listening equipment. Fund-Raising Events Planned For The Coming Year On Saturday 7th April we will be at Springburn Shopping Centre to collect funds for running costs and then later in the month hope to also have a major fund-raising event. During the summer months we will be at our usual events in Lenzie, Bearsden and Paisley and then in August its our first outing to the shopping centre at Glasgow Fort.
Annual General Meeting 2007 At the Annual General Meeting on 25th March the membership re-elected, John Gilbertson, David Ledgerwood  and John McGowne to the committee with Jennifer Connolly joining the management team for the first time.  Also serving on the committee for the coming year are David Bannerman and Steven Turkington.
Clydebank Bucket Collection
Over Saturday and Sunday 23rd / 24th December the radio service volunteers were out in force at the Clyde Regional Shopping Centre in Clydebank.  Thanks to the generosity of the passing shoppers we raised  £1578 which is just short of a quarterly rental payment and therefore a much needed boost towards our annual running costs... Pictured during the Sunday afternoon session are Steve Boardman and Robert Mackenzie
NHS Chairman Promotes Volunteering
In the first of a series of features about the work of volunteers and the valuable role they have in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Professor Sir John Arbuthnott, the NHS Chairman chatted to HBS Chairman Niall Anderson Over the coming months an increasing number of other voluntary groups working in Glasgow and Paisley Hospitals will be featured and given the opportunity to talk about the work that they do.
Hospital Saturday Fund Donation
Along with more than twenty other hospital and medical related charities, The Hospital Broadcasting Service received a generous donation of £1000 from the Hospital Saturday Fund's Charitable Trust at the end of November in a special celebration held at Glasgow's City Chambers. The Lord Provost wasn't able to attend on the evening because of other commitments so her place was taken by 'The Dean of Guild' seen here presenting the cheque to HBS Chairman Niall Anderson.   The donation will be used partly for running costs and partly for relocating the studios.
Christmas Weekend at Clydebank  We're going back to Clyde Regional Shopping Centre just ahead of Christmas. On both 23rd and 24th December our bucket collecting teams will be on hand to entertain with Christmas music and also help you to get rid of all those heavy coins that last minute shopping has given you. If you are in the area please pop past and say hello, it should be pretty easy to spot our collectors even if they are wrapped up against the weather.
Special General Meeting Approves Relocation of Studios to Royal Infirmary
Its only taken about eight years but eventually after the many barriers that cropped up along the way The Hospital Broadcasting Service has been offered free accommodation within NHS property. When established in 1970 the Service chose to rent commercial property in the city centre and though still a desirable location the costs are now too difficult to continually raise each year.  The studios will be located in part of the old kitchens areas which were vacated in the late 1970's and are shown in the centre of the picture. The relocation will probably take until 2008
The tasks of identifying funding sources and companies who will be able to support us is now underway with our architect already working on finalising the plans that we have been developing over the past year. Although the studios will be located at Glasgow Royal Infirmary we won't actually be broadcasting to the patients there as Royal 1 Radio have been doing this for the last decade and will continue to do so in the future,  The reason we are moving to the site is purely down to the fact that this is the only building with suitable accommodation that the NHS were able to offer us.
Beatson Hospital Connection Comes A Step Closer
In October we were really pleased to receive the excellent news that Awards For All have agreed to support our connection to the new 'Beatson, West of Scotland Cancer Centre' with a donation of £10,000 which together with a donation from 'The Hugh Fraser Foundation' and some funds from our general account will be used to pay for some specialist radio link equipment and the costs of installing all the special aerials and cables.  Despite being four miles away from our studios this hospital will benefit from our first stereo connection with each bed being equipped with a brand new radio system being installed for the first time ever.
HBS Features in Evening Times 'Health News' Supplement
On September 27th along with other voluntary organisations providing services to NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde we were featured in a special edition of 'Health News' which in addition to its normal 10,000 copy distribution had a special extra run of 90,000 copies which were included with that evening's newspaper.  Our radio service was also heavily featured in the displays at a special event held that day in the Marriott Hotel which was attended by four hundred people.  Pictures of our presenters - including Charlie Murphy pictured right - are included on the new volunteers page on the NHS website.
HBS Features in NHS Pulse Magazine
HBS Monday evening team members Mags Higgins and Nicky Henry featured on the front cover of NHS in-house magazine 'Pulse' in its most recent edition. Both Mags and Nicky who have been with the Service for many years are NHS employees working at the Gartnavel site and have been featured as the first in a number of regular articles that 'Pulse' will be running to feature staff who also give up their time for voluntary work.

Another success at IKEA
Thank - you to all those who gave their time at our bucket collection at IKEA on the 2nd and 3rd September. We raised a whopping £781.16 in total, thanks to those who made it a success. 

Springburn Can Collection Success!
A special thanks to all those who gave generously at our can collection in Springburn Shopping centre on Saturday 26th August, we raised a grand total of £283.40. Well done!

Radio Presenter is Barking Mad!
The Thursday night team are going to the dogs with their latest recruit.  Loaned to our fund-raising team at this summer's Highland Games at Milngavie, the poor guy is still waiting for his real owner to get in touch and collect him.  Meanwhile he seems to be getting more confident of his broadcasting ability and has recently been heard On-Air

Annual Report 2005 Published
The Annual Report and Accounts 2005 were approved at the AGM.

Annual General Meeting 2006
At the Annual General Meeting on 19th March the membership re-elected Steve Boardman, John Gilbertson and John McGowne to the committee with a welcome return being made by David Ledgerwood and Maureen McCollum formalising her previously co-opted role.

The Hugh Fraser Foundation 
In early February we learned that the trustees of The Hugh Fraser Foundation had approved funding which in part will help with the costs of funding a new stereo link to the Beatson Hospital while the rest will be used to cover ongoing running costs.

Annual General Meeting 2006 
This year's AGM will be held on Sunday 19th March 2006 at 2:30pm.  The posts of Treasurer (3 years) and Programme Director (1 year) are being elected along with four annual posts to the Executive Committee.

A Big THANK YOU to IKEA Customers & Staff 
Over the weekend of January 7th and 8th 2006 seventeen of our volunteer members were at the IKEA store in Braehead collecting much needed funds to keep the Service On-Air.  We raised around a months worth of running costs which was a really tremendous result for us.  We're already booked into IKEA again for another weekend collection on September 2nd and 3rd.  You can see our other Scheduled Fund-Raising  Events by clicking here. 

Christmas Eve Present from Clydebank  Thanks to the generosity of the shoppers at the Clyde Shopping Centre on 24th December H.B.S. raised its biggest ever amount from a single bucket collection. David Semple (pictured) was one of many who braved the cold weather on the day and helped bring in almost a months worth of running costs. The cash will be used to pay for those annoying but necessary items of our expense such as rent, electricity, telephone and insurance bills. The next big fund-raising event is on 7th and 8th January at IKEA's Braehead store (see below).

Trust Fund Donations secure immediate future of The Service
Its always difficult to raise funds for running costs and in our case this is especially true as unlike virtually every other hospital radio organisation we aren't located on rent-free hospital property instead operate from central city centre studios.

Therefore the donations we received in December from the W.M. Mann Foundation and the MEB Charitable Trust are especially welcome.

2006 Fund Raising gets a jump start thanks to IKEA Glasgow 
Volunteer members from The Hospital Broadcasting Service will be collecting vital funds to keep the Service On-Air at IKEA Glasgow on Saturday and Sunday, 7th & 8th January 2006.

Staff at Scottish Environmental Protection Agency donate funds to HBS 
In a stroke of good luck, The Hospital Broadcasting Service which was nominated for the SEPA employees charity draw in December was one of three charities pulled out the hat.  A big thank you to all at SEPA.

Request Figures Soar Past 2004 Levels 
By mid December the request programmes had played 30% more requests than in 2004.  By the end of the year its expected that the total figure for requests will be in excess of four thousand six hundred.

W Munro (Rehab)  Renew Sponsorship for 2006 
The Country Show will see sponsorship from W Munro (Rehab) Ltd of Clydebank continue through the whole of 2006.  The Service is extremely grateful for this support and welcomes any other companies who wish to become involved this way contacting us to find out more.

Christmas Eve Bucket Collection 
A last gasp fund-raising event is being run by the Service on Saturday 24th December at the Clyde Regional Shopping Centre.  

Take pity on us though as the collection will be in the uncovered section of the centre so you should be able to recognise our team members - they'll be the ones wearing two or three coats.  

Homoeopathic Hospital Gets Connected in January After a VERY long wait, the patients of the Glasgow Homoeopathic Hospital will eventually be able to listen to HBS programmes from January 2006.   The hospital originally was built without any bedside radios but after a few years this was corrected however the special cabling to receive our programmes wasn't installed.   Further delays occurred when it looked like as part of a financial savings package NHS Greater Glasgow would be closing the in-patient facilities of the hospital. However all these things are behind us and we look forward to entertaining the patients of the hospital from early in the new year.

John Gilbertson Takes Over As Programme Director
With the announcement from Barry Sheridan that he is unable to devote the necessary time to the role of Programme Director it is with great pleasure that the committee unanimously asked John Gilbertson to take on the role until the AGM in March 2006.  Barry will still continue to train all of our prospective presenters with one of the most thorough courses run by any hospital radio service.  This attention to quality has seen HBS produce more professional broadcasters than any other hospital radio organisation.

RAH (Royal Alexandra Hospital) Back On-AIr
At the end of June patients in Paisley's RAH were once again able to listen to our programmes after the hospital's original distribution system installed in the mid 80's was replaced by brand new equipment following the failure of the old system on 13th April 2005.  We are confident that now once again this hospital will be the source of a vast number of our record requests.

June Fund-Raising Events
The first three Saturdays in June were again busy with the Service attending the Gala Days in Lenzie and Milngavie on June 4th, the Bearsden & Milngavie Highland Games on the 11th and and finally the Gala Day at Paisley's Barshaw Park on the 18th.  These Gala  events are always significant in our fund-raising calendar and between them raised around 20% of our 2005 running costs.

John McGowne who worked hard at our Tombola tents from 8am to 6pm  thought he was going to have to take this teddy bear home with him as it managed to avoid being won all day long.  Eventually in the final moments we had a winner who seems to appreciate having someone new to take home after an exhausting day out. A big thank you needs to be said once again to all of the businesses - many of them local to Bearsden and Milngavie - who donated the majority of the prizes that we had on this years stall.  Without their support the event wouldn't be such a success towards our annual income target. .

In a rare break from the steady stream of people who bought all of our Tombola tickets, the late afternoon team of Pat Travers, David Semple, David Brailsford, Jennifer McKernan, Kevin Monaghan and Gillian Wheelan take a break to model the new tabards which we were able to purchase with part of a grant from the HBOS Foundation for Scotland. David Brailsford meanwhile shows off a packet of biscuits which was a consolation prize for everyone whose ticket didn't match one of the pre-numbered prizes.

Thrifty50 Quiz - Summer 2005
The quiz this year is based on lyrics from songs that we often play on our request shows.  The sheets will be on sale at all the summer events and can also be bought from the studios, just give us a call on 0141 221 4043.

Programme Expansion on Sundays 
In the coming weeks, Barry Sheridan the Programme Director will be expanding the Sunday schedule with additional shows meaning an earlier start to the Programme Schedule.  The longer term goal is to return to having a special Sunday afternoon request show for the 'Care of the Elderly' sites that we serve.

Annual General Meeting 2005
At the Annual General Meeting on 20th March the membership re-elected Niall Anderson, John Gilbertson and John McGowne to the committee.

Donation from Awards For All
At the beginning of March we received confirmation from Awards For All that they have agreed to provide £5000 towards the refurbishment of our transmission equipment which has suffered from a few failures in recent years, temporarily putting us off-air.  The investment in new equipment will not only give the Service a more reliable way of getting our programmes to the hospitals, it also allows us to invest in the initial bits of equipment to allow us to broadcast in stereo for the first time.  Its almost certain that one of the hospitals we serve will have stereo headsets at the patients beds by 2007 so we intend to be fully stereo capable by that time.

Requests for 2004
The number of requests we played in 2004 saw a 72% increase over the previous year.  The details of the records requested are shown in the three separate lists which reveal that Frank Sinatra remains without doubt the most popular artist with our listeners.

Sponsored Programme Day - Saturday 27th November 2004
The last of our Sponsored Programme Days for the year included a five hour broadcast from Glasgow's Western Infirmary.  A temporary studio was installed in the main entrance to the Phase 1 block and saw lots of interest from staff plus patients and their visitors.

Pictured are John Gilbertson and John McGowne who along with Kerry Brelsford presented the programmes from the hospital.  Also pictured is David Bannerman the head of the HBS Engineering team.
Back at the studios in Baltic Chambers a team were on hand to look out the steady stream of record requests that featured through the day.  Pascale Free and Amrita Dhaliwal are seen in Studio 2 while at the other end of the line John McGowne is broadcasting from the Western Infirmary.

Thanks to everyone who sponsored our broadcasting on this special day.

Clyde Shopping Centre 2nd October 2004
Thank you to everyone who made a donation during our fund-raising collection.  Also thanks to the managements of 'Poundstretcher' and 'The More Store' for their assistance during the day.  Not only did we raise funds to keep us on-air but we also collected a number of requests which were played on the Open Line request programme. 

Friends and Relatives become Stars of the show
Most nights of the week, members of HBS are recording messages from friends and relatives who have been visiting patients in the hospitals we serve.  If you know someone in hospital and you don't happen to meet up with our recording team then you can always call us to ask for a record request or fill in the Online Form.

Former HBS Members Join New SAGA Radio Station
The launch of the latest commercial radio station in Glasgow includes three people who started their radio careers with The Hospital Broadcasting Service. The three, Alistair Alford, John Darroch and  Dave Marshall are part of the new radio station which launched on September 7th.  Additionally many of the stations identity jingles and announcements feature the voice of another former member, Charles Nove. They are just four of a list of over fifty people currently working in the media who started their careers as volunteers with our organisation.  For a full list and where they are now, click here.

Thrifty50 Quiz - Summer 2004
The quiz this year has been yet another success for the Service.  If you took part in the quiz, then the answers can be seen here.

June Fund-Raising Events
The first three Saturdays in June were busy with the Service attending the Gala Day in Lenzie, The Bearsden & Milngavie Highland Games and also the Gala Day at Paisley's Barshaw Park.  These three events are always significant in our fund-raising calendar and between them generated income to cover around two months of running costs.

Sponsored Broadcast Day Saturday 15th May
Thanks to everyone who raised and donated sponsorship for the most recent sponsored programme day. Each year we hold four Sponsored Broadcasts and for each one allocate a quarter of the membership sponsor forms. The next event is scheduled for Saturday August 28th.

Maryhill Shopping Centre fund-raising collection
Another successful day of fund-raising was held at the centre on Saturday 3rd April with just over a hundred and thirty three pounds being collected.  Thanks for the generous support of everyone who donated on the day.

Royal Bank of Scotland Staff raise funds for The Service 
In February, staff at the Royal Bank of Scotland branches in Giffnock, Clarkston and Newton Mearns held some fund-raising events and nominated HBS as one of the charities to benefit from their hard work.  Their generous donation of over five hundred pounds has been matched by the bank itself with a presentation of the cheque made at their Giffnock branch on 7th April. 

Springburn Shopping Centre fund-raising collection
Thanks to everyone who made donations on 27th March when the radio station's volunteers held a bucket collection at Springburn Shopping Centre.  In total two hundred and forty pounds was raised, helping to keep us on-air and playing more of our listeners requests. 

Country Show Sponsorship
W Munro (Rehab) of Clydebank have signed up as a supporter of HBS with sponsorship of the Thursday evening country show for the next year.  

Annual General Meeting 2004
At the Annual General Meeting on 18th March the membership elected Barry Sheridan and David Bannerman to the posts of Programme Director and Technical Director for the next three years.  Also elected to the committee for one year periods were John Gilbertson and John McGowne. 

Live from the Foyer at Gartnavel General
On Saturday 27th February, seven hours of programmes were broadcast live from the entrance foyer at Gartnavel General Hospital.  The event, part of the regular sponsored programme days, was a huge success with the patients, staff and visitors as well as a major hit with the radio station's volunteers.

Government Minister Guests on Programme 
Douglas Alexander MP, Minister for the Cabinet Office was a recent guest on the Speakeasy programme with Niall Anderson.  Douglas chatted about his life and chose some favourite records.

Sunday Programming
Do you have a couple of free hours on a Sunday? HBS' Sunday team are short of members, for Sunday evenings (so no early rises required!). Contact 0141 221 4043 or email studios@hbs.org.uk.

Donation from Awards For All
HBS would like to acknowledge the donation from 'Awards For All' who provided the funds for purchasing a new computer server and workstation that will allow the amount of records and programme material held on hard drive to be expanded.  The aim of investing in this equipment is to increase the amount of songs in the record library so we are more likely to be able to play the exact choice of every patient.

Technical Volunteers Wanted!
The Hospital Broadcasting Service is looking for volunteers with professional experience in electronics or telecommunications and an interest in broadcasting to help with technical matters within a hospital radio service. Can you help? Contact David Bannerman any evening on 0141 221 4043 for further details.

Split Request Programmes
The Service has a system to allow the Royal Alexandra Hospital to receive its own individual programmes.  This effectively means that we can now play twice as many requests each hour that we split the output.