|
Fundraising
Being a charitable organisation which
is run by volunteers means we need to rely upon donations and fundraising
events throughout the year in order to provide our essential service
to the patients and staff of Stoke Mandeville Hospital.
Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio was formed
in 1978 and (apart for a brief period of 3 months last year when
we were off air due to our old studios being demolished) has been
broadcasting continuously since then.
We are a registered charity and the membership and committee is
made up of unpaid volunteers that give their time freely to provide
a bedside entertainment system to the patients, visitors, medical
staff and other employees on the Stoke Mandeville Hospital site.
As mentioned above our old studios were demolished last year to
make way for new housing on the part of the Hospital site that was
sold off to private enterprise. At the time we were offered temporary
accommodation in Ward 4x, one of the old, now empty, wooden wards
and we have been there since. Recently it was confirmed that towards
the end of 2008 our current home would be demolished and that SMHR
would be offered permanent accommodation in the newer parts of the
hospital.
We are currently raising funds to help
us move to our new premises and to update and replace aging equipment.
We plan to do most of the general work ourselves but there are some
jobs (carpentry, studio engineering and electrical works) where
we don't have the in-house expertise and we will have to buy these
skills in. The current cost of the project to dismantle from where
we are now, to replace aging equipment and to create our new studios
is just under £25,000.SMHR is completely self funded, we do discos,
bucket shakes and help out in the town with events such as "Aylesbury
on Sea", "Charter Day" and the annual "Christmas Carol Service"
to raise the awareness of our charity and to tempt the good people
that attend to part with some of their loose change.
Through our own efforts we have raised a few thousand pounds towards
our move but SMHR has annual licences to pay for, music to buy and
other ongoing costs that all take their toll of available funds,
Our motto is "Putting the patients first" and our broadcast schedule
reflects this. Each weekday our schedule includes a 2 hour request
show that is made up of patient led music. We visit the wards prior
to the show and gather requests from the bedside and then play these
during the show. We do not want to be "off air" again for several
months as we were last time so our plan is to carry on broadcasting
from our old studios with the old equipment while our new studios
are built. When we have built as much as we can we will then turn
off the old, transfer any critical equipment not being replaced
and turn on the new studios in record time so as not to disrupt
our broadcast schedule too much.
If you are a member of a Charitable Trust, or know of someone that
is, we would very much like to hear from you if you think you may
be able to help us
We are always looking for people with
fresh ideas to help with our fundaising. If you would like to join
our fund raising efforts and become a fundraising volunteer, or
if you are holding an event which we could join then please contact
us via the e-mail link below.
Please click here:
Fundraising
|