Wonderful support from the Swift Singers

Hospital Radio Chelmsford was privileged to receive £1000 from the Swift Singers following their recent concert on 29th March 2014.

A bitter sweet concert!

The Swift Singers are a fun loving ladies choir based in South Woodham Ferrers, Essex. The choir was formed in 1989 and continues to grow every year having over 70 members. The choir sings in 4 parts and any lady, aged from 18 upwards is more than welcome to join us, there is no audition so don't be shy! Please contact us if you would like to know more.

The choir raises money for many different charities by performing a varied and lively repertoire all over Essex and beyond!

The Swift Singers have another fantastic concert planned for 12th July being held at William de Ferrers School (South Woodham Ferrers).

Tickets are £10 each (£8 for concessions).  For more information and details how to get tickets, please visit the Swift Singers website.

The past, present and future

It's been another busy week for Hospital Radio Chelmsford, so we thought we'd share some of the highlights with you.

For the past 10 weeks we have been walking through our history with the Golden Year series.  In the latest edition John Barker looks at 1974 and 1975.  You can now listen back to our first 10 years including shows from Dave Hurrell, Kevin Lodge, Pete Oddie and Paul Evans.

The Golden Years of Hospital Radio Chelmsford

Remember to mark the series as a favourite on Mixcloud, then you can be notified when we load the next programmes.

I'm sure you have enjoyed the music and memories, just as much as the team have enjoyed the sharing them with you.  This led us to come up with a novel way to raise some important funds for our charity.

How would you like to win £10?  Who wouldn't...   So we have put up a simple quiz on our website with 3 multiple choice questions.  The good news is that the questions are all about the early years of Hospital Radio Chelmsford and the answers can be found in the Golden Years programmes, or on our website.  To enter the competition, complete the questions, and send us your answers.  If you are correct we will announce the winner in early June.  So get your answers in, as the last day for entry is May 31st 2014.

Now, I did say it was a fundraising opportunity.  Each entry will cost £1.  Therefore you are helping us, and maybe getting a nice present in June, whilst having a little piece of fun.

50 Years Quiz

Full terms and conditions are on the website.

So I've tackled the past and present, how about the future?  Well this Sunday the HRC team will be at the Great Baddow Charity Races in Great Baddow (nr Chelmsford).




















The Rotary Club of Chelmsford Mildmay are celebrating their 30th anniversary of organising the event.  It's also the 30th year that we have been asked to host.  So why not come down to the Recreation Ground in Great Baddow and take part.

There is a 2 mile fun run and 10 mile road race.  More details can be found here, including registration details.

It's always a fun event, the weather forecast is looking good and there is always a chance to meet a few celebrities, professional athletes and a few unfit Hospital Radio volunteers.

If you're running and know some who is running, send us a tweet @hr_chelmsford and we'll give you a mention during the morning.  We look forward to meeting you, we are there from 9am.

50 years in the making

The team at Hospital Radio Chelmsford have been working very hard to prepare for our 50th celebrations.

This week we started a series of programmes to celebrate each of the years we have been on air.  The programme name, Golden Years, which has been used many times and in different guises throughout our history.  Dave Hurrell kicked this new series off, with the highlights of 1964 and 65.  These programmes look at the music, news, and history of Hospital Radio Chelmsford.

The new show is to be broadcast each Sunday, and repeated throughout the week.  Each programme is 2 hours long and looks at 2 years.

We are already looking to make these shows available on our website, for you to enjoy at anytime.  More details soon.

On the subject of our website, we hope you agree that the new look and feel is a great improvement.  One of the new features we have added, is for anyone to be able to record a message or music dedication for someone in Broomfield Hospital, for us to play during the VIP Request Show.  Please check out the On Air section of our website.

Finally, we have been digging through the archives to find audio from our past.  We came across this glorious documentary from the late 70's, that discusses the importance of Hospital Radio in comparison with the BBC and commercial radio.

These days, the competition for listeners attention is even greater with many more radio and TV stations plus access to the internet to fill every other void.  However, it's heartening to know that the very reason why we started back in 1964 has not been lost.  The values we hold so dear are still at the centre of what we do.  So please enjoy this great piece of audio.

Documentary about HRC

Thanks to Peter Fairhead and Ken Oliver who helped discover it.


We'll have more news and updates soon.  All your comments are appreciated and remember you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter for regular updates.

Awards Success

Hospital Radio Chelmsford is recognised at the National Hospital Radio Awards 2014 that are held in Bristol.

The National Hospital Radio Awards are the pinnacle of the calendar for Hospital Radio stations across the UK.  There are over 200 station that provide music and entertainment to patients in hospital.  Each year the Hospital Broadcasting Association (HBA) hosts a conference and annual awards ceremony to celebrate the very best and creative stations and volunteers who help run these charities.

Hospital Radio Chelmsford has a rich history at the Awards, and 2014 was no different.

Winning the Bronze award was our very own Charlie Still, Rob Jackson and Tom Auston as the Best Programme with Multiple Presenters.

Click here to listen to the guys in action

It was a good night for Adam Ravenscroft, Nita Jhummu and Jamie Boyd Ratcliff who were recognised as being in the top 10 of the UK in the Best Male, Best Female and Best Newcomer categories respectively.

Chairman, Sam Jenkins, was also presented with a certification from HBA President June Snowdon recognising Hospital Radio Chelmsford 50 years of service.

The Mayor of Chelmsford City officially launches the HRC Internet service

Hospital Radio Chelmsford officially started its 50th anniversary celebrations with the launch of it's new Website and Internet service.

The Mayor of Chelmsford was on hand to turn on the internet services, so patients can listen the valuable service Hospital Radio Chelmsford provides and to allow their friends and family join in with the hugely successfully VIP Request Show.

The Mayor joined the request team as they visited the wards of Broomfield Hospital to collect requests.

Finally the Mayor and Mayoress had a chat with presenter, Jon Curtis.

Click here to listen to the interview again

Along with launching the internet service, Hospital Chelmsford updated its website and launched its own App for smartphones and tablets, making it even easier for patients to take Hospital Radio Chelmsford home with them.

Click here to listen to Hospital Radio Chelmsford

The VIP Request Show on Hospital Radio Chelmsford has received an overwhelming vote of support from patients and visitors to Broomfield Hospital.

In 2013 listeners to the nightly request programme picked 3,500 sonsg to be played.  Most popular of which was Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra and Queen.  A full list of the Top 100 artists can be found on the radio stations website.

The VIP Request Show is the broadcast by a dedicated team of volunteers who give up their time freely every day to visit patients on the wards of Broomfield Hospital and play their favourite songs.  The request show as been at the very heart of Hospital Radio Chelmsford since it’s very inception in 1964.  In it’s 50 year of service, the registered charity which was originally based in the Chelmsford and District Hospital, will be extending the request show so that friends and families of the patients will also be able to tune in and share the time together.

From Tuesday March 25th 2014, all of the programmes will be able to listened on the internet.  More information can be found at hrc.org.uk.

Chairman of Hospital Radio Chelmsford, Sam Jenkins, said “That we have been asked for many year, by our listeners, how they can listen at home as they have really enjoyed the programmes we have put together and we have never really had the answer until now.  Internet broadcasting is opening up a whole new world of opportunities of services like ours.”

Mid Essex Hospitals Trust Chairman's Award

The annual gathering of the volunteers who contribute to the Mid Essex Hospital NHS Services Trust took place recently at Hylands House, Chelmsford.

Chairman Shiela Salmon, made several special awards to groups who have contributed to the hospitals in Mid Essex.

One such award was given to Hospital Radio Chelmsford.

On hand to make the presentations was the Mayor and Mayoress of Chelmsford.  A small team of volunteers from Hospital Radio Chelmsford was in attendance including Sam Jenkins (Chairman), Mark Grantham (Treasurer and Vice Chairman), Ian Smedley (Secretary), Charlie Still (Membership Development Officer), Hal Maclean (Station Manager), Simon Brown (Communications Officer), Kevin Lodge (Programme Controller), Abbie Chester and Rob Jackson