Grampian Hospital Radio

21 July 2008

Grampian Hospital Radio's Chairman, John Graham, had a lunch he will never forget earlier this month when he ended up sitting right next to Her Majesty the Queen.

John who has over 30 years service in the National Health Service (NHS) was nominated to attend the luncheon at Beardsmore Hotel in Glasgow as part of the NHS 60th birthday celebrations.

Not only was this in recognition of his 30 plus years service in the NHS but also to recognise the volunteer work he does as Chairman of Grampian Hospital Radio.

There were about 200 guests who comprised of Health Care Workers from all over Scotland including former patients and there were about 14 in total from NHS Grampian at the lunch in the Beardsmore Hotel in Clydebank in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen, Prince Philip, the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing Nicola Sturgeon.

John said "It was an incredible experience I knew the day before I would be at the same table as the Queen and we had all met her and Price Philip before lunch it was when we were ushered in to the dining room I realised I would be sitting next to Her Majesty. I thought someone had switched place names! It was a great honour, not just in recognising my time in the NHS, but also for Grampian Hospital Radio as well."

John summed up his experience by saying that The Queen was delightful and charming as they ate their lunch, and time passed all too quickly as she was off on her next engagement.

Quiz Night Raises Funds For GHR 18 June 2008 The congenial surroundings of the Pinehurst Lodge Hotel in Dyce was the venue for Grampian Hospital Radio’s recent Quiz Night. The Pinehurst Lodge Hotel, who are already sponsors of our award winning Vintage Years programme, kindly offered the use of their Hotel in order to help raise funds to enable both Grampian Hospital Radio’s and Radio Rainbow’s vast music library and pre-recorded programmes to be stored on a centralised server. The proceedings got underway a little after 7.30pm with quiz master Jim Simpson welcoming the eighteen teams before tackling the first round of questions. Having got into the swing of the things, Films was the subject under scrutiny for round two. The break between rounds two and three provided an opportunity for the selling of raffle tickets. GHR members went round the tables and found that the assembled company were very willing to take their chance to win various bottles of alcohol and a number of prizes donated by local businesses ranging from meals to beauty treatments. Round three was for the history buffs, many of whom need to improve their Scottish history knowledge – how embarrassing!

Angus the Bull, mascot for Aberdeen Football Club and our celebrity guest for the evening popped in at half-time. Patrons of the Pinehurst have been donating their loose change to a charity bottle on the bar, the bottle had been filled and Angus accepted it on behalf of GHR from Drew Crawford, owner of the Pinehurst Lodge Hotel. Angus was good enough to hang around for photographs, which pleased a number of Aberdeen fans. In addition to providing the venue the Pinehurst very kindly supplied a excellent buffet, allowing the quiz participants to replenish their appetites, gather their thoughts and rethink their strategies before settling down to the second half of the quiz. The remaining rounds were Pop Music, Sport and Pot Luck. While the scores were being added to the score sheet between rounds the raffle was held. The Quiz was followed by an auction for a bottle of 12 year old Glenfiddich donated by Asda Dyce, £100 voucher donated by Slater Menswear and a 10 year old signed Aberdeen FC football donated by the Pinehurst. The football was the surprise of the evening – it went for £101! The Quiz Night winners were presented with two bottles of whisky and two bottles of vodka, while the lowest scoring team earned themselves the obligatory wooden spoons. Including the contents of the bottle, which is back on the bar at the Pinehurst a total of £942.60 was raised on the night. None of which would have been possible without the support of Drew and Lorna Crawford and their team at the Pinehurst Lodge Hotel.

Grampian Hospital Radio Wins Awards 15 April 2008 Two of our volunteers have won awards at the Hospital Broadcasting Association's annual awards ceremony. "The Vintage Years", presented by Jim Simpson every Saturday, received a silver award in the "Best Specialist Music" category. Brenda Massie, who presents the "Pleasuremix" every Saturday, was commended in the "Female Presenter of the Year" category. A panel of media professionals selected the winners of the hospital radio awards, and the prizes were presented at a ceremony held in the Ballroom of the Queens Hotel in Leeds. Jim and Brenda's work with GHR was also recognised by the Hospital Broadcasting Association at last year's awards ceremony, which was held in Nottingham.

24 March 2008

Two of our members have been shortlisted for the National Hospital Radio Awards.

Brenda Massie, who presents the "Pleasuremix" every Saturday between 7:00pm and 8:30pm, has been nominated in the "Best Specialist Music" category.

The "Vintage Years", a show broadcast every Saturday between 5:30pm and 7:00pm, has been nominated in the "Best Specialist Music" category. The show is presented by Jim Simpson.

John Graham, GHR Chairman, said, "Jim and Brenda are to be congratulated on their nominations, to reach this stage is a fantastic achievement" adding "GHR has a proud tradition of success at the HBA awards, which is testimony to the superb standard of our presenters and the high-quality programmes available to the patients who listen to us".

The awards are judged by a panel of media professionals, many of whom began their careers in hospital radio.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony at the Queen's Hotel in Leeds, on Saturday 29th March.

24 March 2008

Eleven of our members have been rewarded for their long-term commitment to Grampian Hospital Radio.

They were presented with certificates at our Annual General Meeting, which was held in February.

Brian Whyte received a certificate acknowledging 25 years at the station.

Hamish Wilkinson, Neil Fraser and Jim Irving were presented with certificates for 20 years service.

For 15 years service, certificates were awarded to Arlene Moir and Ray Adam.

Kathleen Duguid, John Graham, Graham Rose and John Thomson received certificates for ten years.

Neil MacKenzie was presented with a certificate for 5 years service.

26 February 2008

We have launched "Friends of GHR", a new scheme to boost our fundraising efforts.

With no paid employees and no regular income, we exist solely on the generosity of sponsors and donors.

Noting that "Friends of GHR" will become a major tool in raising funds, our Treasurer, Jim Simpson, said, "It is a difficult fundraising environment, because opportunities like advertising, available to other media organisations, are off limits. We needed to develop a scheme that allows people and organisations to donate more easily, possibly even on a regular basis, and, most importantly, that shows donors how their contribution has helped us carry on working."

By making a donation under the scheme, "Friends of GHR" will receive a copy of our LiveWire magazine, a certificate acknowledging their support, and an opportunity to visit our studios.

"Special Friends", who agree to donate regularly, will receive these benefits annually.

The names of "Friends" and "Special Friends" will also appear on rolls of honour in the studios at Ashgrove House and Radio Rainbow (based in and serving the Royal Aberdeen Children's Hospital) as well as our website.

The scheme is available to individuals, companies and other organisations.

Further information about "Friends of GHR" can be found on our Friends of GHR page.

18 February 2008

There's now a new and easy way for you to help us raise funds for Grampian Hospital Radio - simply by shopping online!

EasyFundraising is a shopping directory that features some of your favourite online stores, including Amazon, NEXT, Debenhams, John Lewis, Toys'R'Us, HMV and over 500 others. All you have to do is use the links on the easyfundraising site whenever you shop online and, at no extra cost to you, we'll receive a free donation of up to 15% from every purchase you make. It really is that simple!

It's completely free to register and use and you still shop with each retailer in exactly the same way. Many retailers even offer additional discounts and money saving e-Vouchers when you shop using easyfundraising.

If you shop online anyway then why not raise valuable extra funds for us by using this fantastic scheme. All you need to do is visit www.easyfundraising.org.uk/ghr and when you register, select Grampian Hospital Radio as the organisation you wish to support.

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