News

10th December 2024

Today, Dez Kay will be interviewing Karen Bonner MBE who is the Chief Nurse for Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust. Karen leaves the Trust shortly to take up a new role as Chief Nurse for London. Dez will be talking with Karen as she reflects on her time in Buckinghamshire and her new role in London. If you would like to ask Karen a question please go to the Contact section on our website - https://www.smhr.co.uk/contact

30th August 2024

Today, Martin Kinch was presented with a long service certificate for volunteering at Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio and the hospital for an amazing 45 years. The presentation took place with other long serving volunteers at the hospital. Neil Macdonald the CEO of the NHS Trust said " Martin's dedication and time that he puts in is an amazing example of volunteering and the difference it can make to people's lives ". From all of us at the radio station - Thank You !

30th June 2024

Buckinghamshire Healthcare Annual Awards 2024

The People’s Award for Personal and Compassionate Care recognises those members of staff who have made a significant and memorable difference to the lives and experiences of patients and their families in Buckinghamshire in outpatient, inpatient or community setting during the last 12 months. This category of award ONLY accepts nominations from patients, carers, family members or friends of the patient, or visitors or members of the public.

The deadline for submitting the nomination is 5pm on Monday 8 July 2024 – and the Trust would love to hear from you. Tell us which of our staff, individuals or teams, made a difference to you and if your nomination is lucky enough to be shortlisted you’ll be invited to come along to the awards night in October 2024 to help us celebrate. For more information go to the Trust’s website : https://www.buckshealthcare.nhs.uk/our-organisation/awards/

28th May 2024

We have a number of volunteer roles open at the radio station - if you are interested in becoming a Presenter or Producer On-Air, helping with the technical operation, collecting requests and engaging with the people at the hospital, fund raising or admin roles to help keep the station running. Why not get in touch with us now and become part of one of the best known hospital radio stations in the county.

Many well known radio presenters started in Hospital Radio, just like our very own patron Ken Bruce. You could be the next big radio star !

Just go to our Join Us page now.

21st May 2024

We have just started testing the new version of our playout software, Myriad v6, from Broadcast Radio. Once we have got our engineering team fully up to speed we'll then let our presenters train on the new system. Hopefully in about a month we will move over to the new system.

14th March 2024

Yesterday one of our members, Ralph Chadwick, sadly passed away peacefully after a short illness. Ralph was a member at Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio for 24 years and before that a member at Wycombe Hospital Radio. Ralph served in the RAF before a career as a flight engineer working for British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, a career spanning some 30+ years. Ralph will be missed by us all.

A memorial page has been set up where you can leave your messages and memories of Ralph https://ralphchadwick.muchloved.com/

Ralph Chadwick 1933 - 2024

4th December 2023

On Monday 4th December Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio celebrated 45 years of broadcasting to patients and staff at the Hospital. The radio station first went on air on Monday 4th December 1978 and has been broadcasting to the Hospital ever since. Special shows were broadcast that included interviews, requests and dedications for patients and staff, a chart show from December 1978 and a history of the station along with music from the past 45 years, Martin Kinch also spoke to founding members of the station that were there at the very start including Bernard Shirley who was also a member of Aylesbury Round Table at the time.

Bernard told Martin that the team of people putting the radio station together applied to Aylesbury Round Table for funds towards the cost of putting the station on air. The Round table ended up paying for the mixing desk, the turntables and headphones. Other local companies from the area supplied chairs, carpets and wood to build the studios and shelves for the records. Bernard went on to become Chairman and record librarian of the radio station.

1st September 2023

McCarthy and Stone, who provide retirement appartements, have kindly supported our work by sponsoring our Online Streaming. When you click on our stream on the website or our free App you hear their sponsor message. We are very grateful for their support. You can download our free App by scanning the QR codes below.

5th July 2023

To celebrate the NHS 75th Birthday we broadcast a special live five hour programme from Café Oasis located in the Spinal Unit at the hospital. Lots of great music requests, interviews with staff and patients at the hospital and some amazing give-aways as well. Tony Hadley, who is a big supporter of SMHR, came along for an interview.

29th June 2023

Ken Bruce spent the afternoon at our studios recording a special programme about hospital radio that will be going out on Greatest Hits Radio and SMHR on the 5th July - the NHS 75th Birthday. Peter Dickson, voice of The X Factor, came along as well to take part. Ken spoke to Martin Kinch who has been at our station for 44+ years. Here are a few pictures from the day.

29th June 2023

Ken Bruce, our patron, has recorded a lovely message speaking of the importance of hospital radio. We are hugely grateful for Ken's support for the work we do at Stoke Mandeville Hospital.

You can see the video on our Twitter page - https://twitter.com/i/status/1674330253471121409

28th June 2023

The Buckinghamshire Healthcare Annual Awards took place last night at the Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio was recognised for its 45 years “On Air” with a special surprise video about our history and a message from our Patron Ken Bruce

18th June 2023

We have just launched our brand new FREE Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio App. If you had our previous App installed please now un-install it. Then go to the Google Play or Apple App store and download our new App. You can also just use your smart device to scan one of the QR Codes below.