2013 Year Thirty Seven July to December

July-September 2013 

It's envisaged there will be return to request programs this month.

1st July Ward Report

Tonight Jenny and I went up to ward 8 to check that there was no change to the status of the broken equipment. However, the first machine we went to was able to play Radio Heatherwood loud and clear! The nursing staff were as surprised as we were. No idea how long since it started working again.

15th July Ward Report

We went to Ward 4 and, whilst there was no one who wanted help connecting to the Wi-fi, there were 3 ladies who asked for the physical radios and also gave us requests. Just to say, one of the radios in the ward is missing the mains adapter again and we couldn't find it in any of the bays. We have asked the staff to keep an eye out for us; Pete is normally good at hunting them down for us but he wasn't there on Monday. It meant the third radio we gave out was actually the one the staff use, but they were happy to lend it to a patient.Fingers crossed for continued request and radio show success next week!

21st July Ward Report

Another Monday and...another show Hopefully this is a sign of good things!We went to Ward 4 on Monday and gave out 3 radios (tuned into Radio Heatherwood), helped 2 people log on to the Wi-fi and obtained 2 requests from some lovely ladies! The missing mains adapter has also been found by the eagle eyed staff which means that all 3 radios not being used by the nurses can now be used again on the ward, hurray! Jen

21st July Long Service Certificate

I just wanted to say thank you for my framed certificate and Amazon voucher for my 5 years of service Where has the time gone?! I've very much enjoyed volunteering at Radio Heatherwood and hope for many more years to come!Thanks again!

29th July Ward Report

Katie and I have very exciting news...we did a show last night!!! We were on air from 8-9pm, like the old days of 2012.

August

At the beginning of August a twitter account is set-up for the rhapsody service.

10th August Ward Report

Radio 5 was placed on the ward yesterday and was promptly tuned into radio two for an elderly gentlemen. There is is only one in the studio which you can use for testing if the service is going out. Ward was quite busy. 1 radio given out , so there is now five on the ward. we connected 3 people. They had all seen the posters but were still using their own data allowance. One lady told us that her husband used to work on the radio back In the early 1970's, she loved the country and western.

17th August Ward Report

Ward not very busy today however, one old chap was already using his laptop and was very pleased with the access to the wi-fi service. He had been given the blue help manual,which is good to know. A lady Clare on the ward had android phone with 2.3.6 software however I did manage to get it to start playing using the alternative player which when you select it then throws up the option on the phone of music or internet which I selected music and a few seconds later it started playing. It could be a case she has flash player on her phone and that's why it worked or the phone will only play what it loads in the initial buffer, but overall she was pleased. The staff radio was on but it was streaming radio 2 direct from the internet and not from our pre-set on our intranet. Didn't get a chance to change it as the staff were busy talking there. Turned on the speaker in the day room.

19th August Ward Report

We visited Ward 4 on Monday. We were initially puzzled as we could only find 2 radios out and about but one of the staff had a look and found them in the cupboard near the men's shower rooms - so if you can't find them all then it's worth having a look there. We gave out 3 radios, tuned to radio heatherwood and gave 1 visitor the Wi-fi details as she was going to bring an iPad in the next day for the patient to use. We got two requests and did a live show; we did notice the levels dropping in studio 1 that I think PJ has already mentioned that a few weeks ago.

September

September sees work start on producing a new program schedule. The original schedule for the rhapsody service is getting a makeover.

A request for headphones falls on deaf ears,now the original rep for the bedhead system has left.

I have today uploaded the last of the album art for rhapsody. There is only about 450 items which will use the rhapsody radio image the rest will all show the artists etc. About 19,500 items all individual marked. over 3000 pictures provide the artwork.Glad it's over.

Heatherwood's 90th birthday fete is not attended by the radio, as staff numbers do not allow participation.

2013 Year Thirty Seven Story Unfolds

2013 was a very busy year for the station management and as the year unfolded there was much to do and organise

For further information about this year:- Follow the links

• 2013 January-June
• 2013 July-December
• 2013 News Desk Archive
• Story Of the Archive
• Radio Video Archive
• History Site Map

October-December 2013 

October

Studio two is setup for recording only in preparation for the new schedule promotions.

14th October Ward Report

Jenny and I went on to the ward today and found 5 radios huddling in the cupboard. There was one user manual on the high shelf behind the desk out in the main area of the ward. No sign of any others.Here's how we did on the wards:-

2 log-ons [one phone, one iPad] 1 radio issued, 3 sets of headphones issued, 2 lots of requests, 1 “I would have brought my ipad if I'd known there would be wi-fi” .

November

Liners are being recorded for new program schedule, each presenter will need to compose over 100 ea.

200 headsets are ordered direct from China.

As the year progressed all the twists and turns about the future of the hospital is highlighted this month with the news the minor injuries unit is to move to Bracknell. another nail in the coffin for Heatherwood.

4th November Ward Report

I nearly forgot to report on what a good night we had on Monday. We went up to Ward 8 and were greeted by quite a lively bunch. We got 6 requests without any of the gentle persuasion we usually have to employ. We haven't had that many requests for over a year. Tracks requested ranged from The Wurzel's Combine Harvester to Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On. The patients did us proud!

11th November Ward Report

Another good night tonight:1 radio loaned out,3 Wi-fi logons,4 requests,1 new earphones issued.

PJ writes:-

Awhile ago I read an article that says people accessing the internet by smart phones and iPad's has overtaken the use of laptops and desktop pc's. People are more likely to see your web site through their phone/iPad.

This got me thinking that when the radio web site and history sites were constructed they were based on a screen size of 1024px which was the standard desktop size. The league site was designed round a flexible approach starting at 680px to larger sizes. This means that if I look at the sites on an iPad or smart phone we have real problems with the layout and menu options.

In effect, I need to re-build all of the sites so they may be used on smaller screen sizes.

The league site is easy to re-build and as of yesterday you can now view the site on any device and based on your screen size you will see a different site. Those with iPad's and above will see a full version including the slide shows. Those with sizes below an iPad will see static photo displays and a slimmer version of the pages.

As we are promoting the use of smart phones and iPad's I thought it would be essential that our own web site is easy accessed, so as to make any donation to the league possible by in-patients.

The rhapsody sites internal and external are both fine on any device.

The history site and the main radio site will need major work and will not show well on smaller devices for some months to come, this will need some real work on and won't be resolved until well into the new year.

25th November Ward Report

We went onto ward 4 tonight and did this: Gave out 2 radios and 2 sets of earphones,Logged one person on,Took a request,Met some lovely people and had a laugh,Satisfaction all round .

December

7th December Ward Report

Ian and I visited ward 4 as usual, a little heartening when the staff ask for the loan radios to give them out. There seems to be a distinct split it ward, always older age group at far end of ward. Couple of phones on and one gent using his iPad since the beginning of the week.

8th December

I have today posted the new version of the radio web site which is mobile friendly, there is some more content to be added to the pages but least this one will work on the mobile properly.The rhapsody Wi-fi menu when opened up will show the link “live feed for in patients” if a user has moved off the intranet and don't know how to get back use this link.The menu's on i-phones will need a touch on the bottom to close them because the iOS apple software doesn't recognise the hover state. If viewing on laptop or other device hover over will close the menu.

There still some work to do on it, but at least it's working.

9th December Ward Report

Good night tonight. Went to ward 4 where we found some delightful ladies and gents. 3 radios issues (plus headphones),3 requests,1 phone log on,1 password/leaflet given for later.

And in the end

Another year draws to a close and as the station continues to hold on by it's fingernails, there has been some high spots during the year and our volunteers have felt encouraged as the year has progressed.

The weekly reports from the wards have helped us all to understand what's happening and the level of support which is being received from grateful patients.

The year started with the push on the Wi-fi service, as Saturdays still not able to generate interest because of doctors rounds etc and curtains always drawn, it meant by March no hope of programs for the Saturday team.

Whilst Saturdays has not been a success, our introduction of Mondays has certainly boosted the use of the Wi-fi service.

A big thanks to you Katie Ayers & Jenny Gallagher for sticking with it and making it the success it is. They really do deserve those gold stars.

Ensuring the success of the service has been the work done on improving the web pages both on the internet and the rhapsody Wi-fi. All of the music files had to be edited this year to include album art and info which is now displayed on the web page as each piece of music plays. This was a lot of work but has paid more dividends for us.

The radio main web site has also been updated and is now mobile friendly.

Our long term contact with the bedhead company, left this year as she retired, so a special mention to Chris Preston for all her help and assistance over the last few years.

The bedhead service broke down in March and was not notified to us of it's repair,hence we did not know until July. Ward 8 is the only ward able to receive the bed head service and headphones which were given out by the radio staff had to be sourced direct from China, these are now being used and issued for the internet radio's on ward 4.

Work is continuing with the rhapsody music service and January next year will see this new broadcast schedule launched, and it is long overdue.

In 2009 we were first told about the closure of the studio and the demise of the hospital, we are at the end of 2013 and yet we are still here and pressing onward with our future.

We still don't know how this is going to pan out, but for the meantime it's business as usual!.

Those making a difference and maintaining Radio Heatherwood are Dave Smith, PJ Davidson-Smith, Ian Butcher, Katie Ayers,Jenny Gallagher.

Our sincere thanks go out to all our volunteers and the league of friends for their continued support.

Staff Joining This Year 0 Staff Leaving 1

Current Staff 5

Archive Gems

Just some extra's we found:-

• Rhapsody Wi-Fi

  The service has cost the league £4726.84 so far and the recurring charges for the service will be the broadband and telephone line rental as a business.

  League Meeting May 2013

  The league were asked should we continue with the Wi-Fi service despite the fact the desire for the service to promote listening to Radio Heatherwood was not being fulfilled. Roy and the committee felt at this stage the Wi-Fi should continue and be reviewed at a later date. In the meantime the committee thanked David and Peter for the work which has been committed to the Wi-Fi project.

• No Live Programs

  In March after a breakdown of the bedhead system the station stopped all live programs. These were not re-instated until July when activity on ward 4 picked up through the use of the wi-fi by patients.

  Mondays are the only night still delivering a live service, all other times it's the Rhapsody music service.

• Rhapsody User Guide

  The Wi-fi service is under revue all the time and changes in mobile technology means changes for the station to make.

  Keeping up with all the changes in the operating systems on mobiles has demanded the user guide to be updated during the year.

• Wi-fi User Guides

  Wi-fi User Guide 2013

  The full guide which can be requested by patients and staff is available to download from the web site or they can ask the staff for the user guide folder which is freely available on the ward.

  A trimmed down version is given to patients by the volunteers who visit the ward.

  Wi-fi User Guide Short Version

  Assistance for users is also available via the web sites.

  Help pages on the web sites assist users on the common questions.

  Rhapsody Wi-fi Website Info Page