We are currently 'Off Air' for a short while as we move into our new studio complex.

Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible.

There will be another golf day in aid of Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio on the 9th September 2010 with entertainment by Alvin Printwhistle one of the Top UK Elvis Tribute Artists.
Once again the main sponsor will be Barclays and the event is being organised by Designer Golf Days

More details Here

Dec 2009

12th

Barclays Bank have again come up trumps helping the station to raise more needed funds. They held coffee and cake days for their customers, first at the Gatehouse branch on the 10th of December, then on the 11th at the Market Square branch. Some cakes were donated by members of SMHR but most were given by the Barclays staff. They worked extremely hard during the day and thanks to their efforts and the community manager Stacey Midwinter, SMHR will be receiving a cheque for well over £200.00. Coffee cups were very kindly donated by Cafe Republica.
Our Treasurer Stella Withey said "I would like to thank everyone for their support".

Mark Withey and staff from Barclays Bank

11th.

Work continues on our new studio complex. More pictures will be added here over the coming weeks

Oct 2009

15th. We were back in 'The Sun' again today with a quote from our Stella regarding the makeover we had earlier in the year

Sept 2009

17th. Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio held a fund raising golf day at Studley Wood Golf Club today. Barclays will be doubling the first £3000 raised. The event was organised by Designer Golf Days,
Stella Withey, and Erica Neal from SMHR.

We would like to thank the following for their help and support, Barclays, Keith Maylin at Driftgate Press, Lorna at BMW Sytner High Wycombe, Amthal Security - St Albans, Hughes and Co of Tring,
Kar World Aylesbury, Gibbs Garages of Thame, ESRI (UK) Ltd, Buckinghamshire County Museum,
Burgess Office Equipment, The Bugle Horn, Waddesdon Manor, Schwarzkopf, Pendley Manor,
Verna House Limited, Bahlsen Biscuits, Toni and Guy, Chiltern Brewery, The Cinnamon Tree,
Diamonds Hair Designers, Fairford Eyes Opticians, Aylesbury Flooring, The White Swan Aylesbury,
DAC Removals, Gerry O’Brien (IOSH) Health and Safety Advisory Services, Destiny Fairford Leys,
Escape Fairford Leys, BSG Financial Solutions, Vina Wines - Fairford Leys, Amy at Touchshiatsu,
The Harrow Aylesbury, ASM metal recycling, Reynolds Parry Jones - Solicitors of High Wycombe,
Excel office supplies, John Dennis 4X4, RJG Flooring of Aylesbury, Ingenuity IT, Delta Force,
Ellesborough Golf Club, Footprint Photography, Stuart Collier at Stoke Park Golf Club, Designer Golf Days, and Studly Wood Golf Club.

The BMW for the weekend was won by one of the Barclays team and presented by Lorna Muir.

With special thanks to Colin from Burgess office equipment

To view a PDF of the Programme click here

More pictures plus results and prize winners on the Designer Golf Days web site Here

There will be another golf day on the 9th September 2010 with entertainment by Alvin Printwhistle,
one of the Top UK Elvis Tribute Artists

July 2009

20th. SMHR presenter Dez Kay was once again the compare of this years 'Aylesbury On Sea' event yesterday.
During the afternoon Dez introduced special guests John Challis and Sue Holderness aka "Boycie and Marlene" from Only Fools and Horses to the Aylesbury crowd

Dez Boy with Boycie and Marlene

June 2009

25th. For the second day running, Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio were featured in 'The Sun'

Our recent makeover was chosen as an advertisement feature for The Sun/Dulux 'Paint For Change' feature. (For a larger view click here)

24th. Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio made the national papers today.

The Sun newspaper along with the paint company Dulux have been running a competition for charities in the UK to have somewhere of their choice painted, and Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio were voted as one of the lucky winners.
Special thanks go to all the people that voted for us, Also a big thanks to our treasurer Stella Withey who entered us into the competition in the first place.

Stella is pictured in today's 'Sun' helping to decorate our new studios.

5th. At a special award ceremony tonight, two of our members, Martin Kinch and Mark Withey were presented with long service certificates by Voluntary Services Manager Helen Wareham and The Chairman of Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust, Graham Ellis.

Mark receives his 20 year long service certificate from Helen Wareham and Graham Ellis





And Martin gets one for his 30 years service

May 2009

19th. The Sun newspaper along with the paint company Dulux have been running a competition for charities in the UK to have somewhere of their choice painted, and Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio were voted as one of the lucky winners.
Special thanks go to them and the people that voted for us, Also a big thanks to our treasurer Stella who entered us into the competion in the first place.

Today The Sun and Dulux came to our new studio complex to help decorate our new reception area, Our President, Freda Roberts was there, as well as members of the Hospital Trust, and Sir Jimmy Savile also came along to pay tribute to the volunteers at the station.
Many of our members were also on hand to help out.

With thanks to Footprint Photography you can see lots more photos from the day Here

You can also see Bucks TV's report on the story Here

STOP PRESS - Nick fixes it for Dez.

When our presenter Dez saw this photo of himself with Sir Jimmy Savile he jokingly asked Nick if he could give him more hair. Click the photo to see Nick's magic

February 2009

28th. Today we finished moving all of our equipment, records, and CDs from what has been our temporary home in Ward 4X .Work has started on our new studio complex in another part of the Hospital.

We are currently 'Off Air' while the work is in progress..
Please keep checking this website to find out when we will be back On Air.

14th. Today was the last day of broadcasting from our temporary studio in Ward 4X.
Mark Withey presented The Aylesbury Chart Show which was the last show to be broadcast.

December 2008

23rd. Deputy Leader of Bucks County Council Bill Chapple OBE recently paid a visit to our studio to present our Treasurer Stella Withey with a cheque for £1.075 towards the cost of building our new studios.

Bill Chapple OBE (seated) with Treasurer Stella Withey (right)
presenter Dave Gamage and his son Matthew

Photo © Derek Pelling/Bucks Herald

20th. Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio were in Aylesbury today raising funds and playing Christmas music for shoppers in the High Street.

Last year, with your help we managed to raise the fantastic sum of £1033.30.
This year (despite the credit crunch) you donated a very generous £1021.65, so once again we would like to say a very big Thank You to everyone for supporting us and helping us to continue to entertain the patients and staff at Stoke Mandeville Hospital

4th. It was 30 years ago today that Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio first started broadcasting to the patients of Stoke Mandeville Hospital. Current members of the station as well as some former and founder members got together for a chat and a bite to eat. Also present was the President of the Hospital Broadcasting Association June Snowden, who presented some of our members with long service awards.Members of The Hospital Trust were there as well as the Voluntary Services Manager Helen Wareham, We even had a return visit from broadcasting legend DLT who originally came to see us back in 1980.
Presenters Faye and Mark Grantham presented a special request show during the evening and also interviewed some of our guests including June Snowden, Grahem Ellis (Chairman of The Bucks Hospitals Trust) Ian Garlington (Director of Facilities and estates) and former SMHR Chairmen Chris Long and Terry Meades.

Photo © Footprint Photography

June Snowden, President of The Hospital Broadcasting Association presents our President
Cllr Freda Roberts MBE JP with a 30 year certificate for the station


For more photos click here

Read more about the history of the station here

November 2008

13th. SMHR presenter Jack Andrews recently asked his boss Carl Carter at Martin Mccoll's in Haddenham if he could put one of our collecting tins in the shop.
In the space of a few days the tin was full and has added £21.20 to our fundraising total.
Well done Jack and many thanks to the customers of the shop, and also to Carl and the rest of the staff.

9th. With the help of the deputy store manager Andy Taylor, Sainsbury's supermarket in Aylesbury has recently held a week long fundraising appeal for the benefit of Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio which is a registered charity.
Andy said that he was delighted to be raising money for a local charity and a worthy cause. There were collection buckets at each of the many checkouts and at the kiosks for customers to make their donations. £300 was raised by customer donations but in an effort to help SMHR further Sainsbury increased the sum to a grand total of £1000.

Matthew Nash, the Chairman of SMHR said that this is just one of the many ways that we are asking local shops, businesses and organisations to help with our appeal to raise much needed funds for the hospital radio station and we would like to extend a very large thank you to Andy Taylor and his fantastic team at Sainsbury in the centre of town for all their help.
Stella Withey, the Treasurer of SMHR and chief fundraiser said that the money raised will go towards providing furniture and equipment for our new radio station premises, and to help us maintain our round the clock radio broadcasting facility for the benefit of the patients and staff of the hospital.

Sainsbury's staff raising money for Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio



SMHR secretary Nick Sievewright thanks deputy store manager Andy Taylor (right) for their help in our fundraising efforts

Photos © Footprint Photography

1st. As another way of raising funds we have set up an account with Easyfundraising

The website provides a FREE service where you can shop with your favourite online stores and at no extra cost raise funds for our charity (and others) You still shop directly with each retailer as you would normally, but simply by using the links from the web site, each purchase you make will generate a donation.
You can shop with 600+ Brand Name retailers and to raise funds you just use the links from our site first, it's that simple! (and you pay the same prices exactly as if you visited each retailer's website directly).

For more information please visit the site here, and if you would like the donations to come to us, please search for 'Aylesbury Hospital Radio' (Our registered charity name)

October 2008

28th. We are very grateful to the committee of the Haddenham Real Ale Festival who have allocated us £1,200 of the money raised at this years festival.The money will enable us to replace two of the computers that keep the station running.

Martyn Broughton who is the treasurer of the committee said "We are really pleased to be able to associate ourselves with such a worthwhile cause as yourselves and are thrilled to be able to assist you with funds raised at the Festival"

You can find more information on the Haddenham Real Ale Festival, including dates of their future festivals by visiting their website here

A photo of the cheque presentation will be on this page soon

16th. The Buckinghamshire Community Foundation is an independent registered charity who specialise in making awards to groups at grass roots level. Since January 2000 they have helped over 1000 projects within the County and given over £1.5 million in grants. The Foundation is administering the Grassroots grants programme throughout the County on behalf of the office of the third sector, a central Government department. These grants are designed to reach small volunteer led community groups working on a diverse range of projects for the benefit of local people.

As our fundraising continues, we were pleased to meet Cherry Aston a trustee of the foundation who this week presented us with a cheque for £5,000 towards equipment for our new studios. As with everyone who has helped us raise money needed to equip and build the studios next year, we would again like to say a very big Thank You !

Cherry Aston presents the cheque to our programme controller Mark Withey
(Note the egg boxes on the wall ! next year we hope to have proper soundproofing)

Cherry hands the cheque over to our Treasurer Stella Withey

13th. Three Councillors from Aylesbury Town Council came to our studios today to present us with a cheque for £2000 which will go towards the cost of having to build our new studios.

Photo © Footprint Photography

Councillor Pat Jamieson has a go on the desk,
watched by Councillor's Mark Willis and Zulifqar Ahmed

Photo © Footprint Photography

And here they are in our music library with the cheque which is being handed to our Chairman
Matthew Nash along with those familar faces of Martin, Stella, Nick, Dez, and Mark.

3rd. We are very pleased to report that early in 2009, Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio will be moving to an exciting new onsite location. The new premises provide the vital extra space required to enable us to upgrade our facilities to include a second live studio, which will also be used for the training of new volunteers. These new facilities will enable us to offer an even better service to the Patients and Staff at Stoke Mandeville Hospital by way of more request shows and children's entertainment programmes, along with many other programmes promoting patient and listener involvement. We have raised some of the funds to pay for the move and equip the new studios, however fund raising efforts continue to ensure that the very best personal radio service is delivered to our listeners.

September 2008

29th. Our fundraising efforts were given a big boost today when our President Freda Roberts MBE JP and John Leggett from The William Harding Trust came to our studios to present the radio station with a cheque for £10.000.

We are very grateful for this generous donation.The money will go a long way towards the cost of us having to move and build new studios at the hospital.

Photo © /Footprint Photography

Freda Roberts MBE JP and John Leggett from The William Harding Trust with a cheque for £10.000

Photo © Footprint Photography

Freda and John are joined in the studio by SMHR members Martin Kinch, Mark Withey, Stella Withey,
Dez Kay, Nick Sievewright, Mark Grantham, and Zoe Murray.

14th. Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio once again provided the music and P.A for this years Charter Day in the Market Square in Aylesbury

Entertaining the crowds are Nick Sievewright, Steve Andrews, Zoe Murray
and Mr 'Solid Gold' Martin Kinch

August 2008

4th. We would like to thank Argos, Morrisons, and the Odeon Cinema in Aylesbury for their recent donations, and also to Aylesbury United Football Club for their support in our fundraising efforts

1st. The Bucks Herald have kindly agreed to include our programme schedule in their weekly newspaper

July 2008

20th. Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio were in 'Aylesbury On Sea' today.

Original photograph by Ken Poole

The event which was organised by Aylesbury Town Council was opened by Chris Fountain
star of Hollyoaks and Dancing On Ice.
The compere for the day was our very own Dez Kay


Dez is pictured introducing Chris Fountain to the crowds of Aylesbury On Sea
Photo © Martin Kinch

More photos here

17th. Many thanks to The Buckinghamshire Foundation who have awarded us £500 towards the cost of our new studios. The Foundation is an independent charity dedicated to promoting charitable activity in the county.
In the photo below (With thanks to Derek Pelling of The Bucks Herald) Les Sheldon, a consultant for the Foundation is pictured presenting the cheque to our treasurer Stella Withey.Also in the photo is Mark Withey, Ralph Chadwick, Dez Kay, and Dave Gamage and son Matthew

Photo © Derek Pelling/Bucks Herald

12th. We had a special guest on last night's magazine show, Local classical singer
Rowan Carter came in to chat to Stella Withey and Dave Gamage about her life and her music.

We would like to wish Rowan all the best for the future and thank her
(and her Dad) for the donation to Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio.


For more information on Rowan, please visit her website

11th.We are very grateful to the customers and staff of The Bell in Stoke Mandeville for all the money that was collected in one of our collecting tins

8th. We'd like to say a very big Thank You to Aylesbury Vale District Council's 'Community Chest'
because Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio are very pleased to announce that they have given us a grant for £10.000 towards the cost of building new studios when our current building is demolished due to the redevelopment of the Hospitall.

June 2008

24th. Our very own Childres's show 'Kids Zone' recently held a competition to win free tickets for a trip to Go Ape at Wendover woods.Children in the MacCarthy ward were invited to draw a picture of apes and monkeys or how they imagine Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio to look.

The winner of the tickets was Ryan Bailey who is pictured below with his winning picture and tickets.
Also in the photo are Kids Zone presenters Mark Withey and Olivia Saunders.

Congratulation to Ryan, and many thanks to 'Go Ape' for donating the tickets

Click here to see Ryan's winning picture and a few of the other entries

22nd. Many thanks to our friends at Aylesbury Police station for the money they raised for us by having a collecting tin on their reception desk.

We would also like to say thanks to The Limelight Theatre at The Queens Park Centre, Aylesbury, for the tickets to the Comedy Night on the 27th.
All the requests from this weeks Monday night request show were put into a hat and one lucky listener won the tickets.

May 2008

13th. We would like to say a big Thank You to The Midcounties co-operative for giving us £500.00 from their community project. We are currently raising funds to help towards our next move when our current temporary studios are knocked down.

Gavin Minshall of the Co-op in Fairford Leys, Aylesbury, hands the cheque to our Treasurer Stella Withey. Also pictured are SMHR Programme controller Mark Withey and presenter Martin Kinch (right)

April 2008

25th. With thanks again to our friends at Tesco's in Broadfields, Aylesbury, we have purchased some more radios to donate to wards in the Hospital that have difficulty hearing us.

If you know anyone in the Hospital that is currently having problems listening to the station, please contact us and we will do our best to help

Our telephone number is (01296) 33 1575 and our email address is studio@smhr.co.uk

March 2008

1st.Today we started broadcasting a new programme called Kids Zone.The show was presented by Mark and Stella Withey and special guest presenters James and Olivier.

The show is especially for the Children in the MacCarthy Childrens ward at Stoke Mandeville Hospital and features stories,reviews and music requests from the ward.

The photo below shows Mark (back) with James and Olivia in the studio before the show went out live between 2 and 4pm

For the news archive, click here