The night included a champagne reception, meal, speeches, awards, live music, a grand raffle and then partying into the night to celebrate the anniversary milestone. A good time was had by all as well as over £600 being collected for the raffle, which included a signed England football shirt by the current team, a years Spotify Premium account, theatre tickets and backstage passes and many other items.

During the night speeches were made by The Worshipful, The Mayor of the London Borough of Harrow, Hospital Broadcasting Association (HBA) President, June Snowden, Co-Founder, Len Elman and current Chairman, Matt Blank.

Mr. Blank opened the night by welcoming everyone and saying “It’s with great honour that I stand here today as Chairman of a charity that has had a spectacular history and a bright future. In times like this it is important to celebrate ones own achievements. You’ve all made people smile, cry, feel like they’re not alone and it’s rare we take a moment to really reflect on the work we do.”

On addressing the attendees, which consisted of both past and present members of the charity, Mr. Elman said “For any project to survive 40 years, it needs one thing, enthusiasm. When I look around I see the same keen interest in the the well being of RNP as I did in 1971.”

Long service awards were presented by HBA President June Snowdon. Among the recipients was Betty Collick who joined the station at the age of 77 and is still an active member, and the oldest at the age of 90. Ms. Collick received a standing ovation as she took to the stage. The two longest serving members, Trevor Larter and Charles Biggie also accepted their awards to a thunderous applause with the audience on their feet.

At the gala a short documentary was shown about Radio Northwick Park, which was specially commissioned to commemorate the charity’s 40th anniversary. The powerful video was received incredibly well and is now available to watch on YouTube in HD. To watch the video click here and to view photos from the evening please click here.

Radio Northwick Park has raised over £4,000 through its day and night 20k sponsored walk on Saturday 16th July and Sunday 17th July.

The amount is the most the station has ever raised from a fundraiser, making it the most successful to date. The record fundraiser is an achievement for the charity which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.

In total 27 volunteers from the station walked along the 20 kilometre route that took them around the London borough of Harrow. Participants either walked 20k at 12pm on Saturday Jul 16th, 20k at 12am on Sunday July 17th, or 40k over the two sessions. Despite the rain, volunteers walked day and night in aid of the radio station.

The total amount was reached through cash and online sponsorship of volunteers, as well as Gift Aid, with all proceeds going to maintaining the station’s equipment and facilities.

Volunteer and walker Adam Glynn said: “The walk was a gruelling experience. I’ve always enjoyed walking, and thought 20K? No sweat. So I rather foolishly put myself forward for both walks. Forty kilometres – and many rain showers later – I was damp, and had two sprained ankles, but had achieved above my fundraising target. Myself and fellow Monday nighter Ant Sunney did both walks together, and despite our aches and pains, managed to finish the second 20K in a faster time than the first! It was totally worthwhile, and I couldn’t have done it without him.”

Tickets for the gala night are only £20 for RNP members past and present, and £25 for guests (i.e. partners, friends and family).

To book your ticket(s) call the Harrow Arts Centre box office on 020 8416 8989. It’s open Mon-Friday, 9am – 5pm.

We really hope you can join us as we celebrate 40 years of Radio Northwick Park.

To help us raise needed funds by participating in our walk, you have three options:

1) Begin walking 20k at 12pm on Saturday July 16th
2) Begin walking 20k at 12am on Sunday July 17th
3) Be brave and do both – walking a total of 40k in our 40th year

To participate please complete the short form here. Registrations close on July 1st 2011. We ask all walkers to raise a minimum of £100. For more information and to see a map of the route, download our 20k sponsored walk pack.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Charles hopes to raise £200 for the station to help us maintain and improve the services we provide day in and day out to the patients of Northwick Park Hospital.

Charles is one of our longest serving members, being one of our most respected volunteers for 27 years. This is the second time he will be riding this bike trip for us and we would like to you to please support Radio Northwick Park by donating as little or as much as you can afford to his galient, fundraising event that he has bestowed upon himself.

To sponsor Charles please visit www.justgiving.com/charles-biggie1

You can also donate by texting BIKE05 followed £1, £2, £3, £4, £5 or £10 to 70070. The text is free and your service provider will not charge you extra for sending it. Please note, this does not work if you’re with T-Mobile.

Hospital radio station volunteers from across the country attended the event including nearly 20 volunteers from Radio Northwick Park, making up the most volunteers from one station. Hospital Radio Plymouth received Gold while Radio Redhill based in Surrey was awarded Bronze, making Radio Northwick Park the leading hospital radio station in London.

Paul Easton, who has worked over the years with London Capital Radio and LBC and is also coincidentally a founder member of RNP, presented the award for this category. He made a special mention to Radio Northwick Park, wishing us happy birthday and said how happy he was to see the station thriving. On collecting the award, Programme Controller Ben Punter said: “It’s fantastic news, we’re all so pleased and I’m proud of all the presenters and volunteers who work so hard throughout the year to entertain so many people in the hospital. It’s a testament to the wide range of different shows and music”.

Celebrations carried on into the night, and as we take a look back over our achievements, Chairman Matt Blank said: “We’ve been working incredibly hard over these past few years as we’ve undergone much change at the station; modernising our facilities and expanding our services to benefit as many people as possible. To win this accolade now, as we celebrate our 40th year is such a tremendous success and something all volunteers, past and present, should be incredibly proud of”.

Veteran DJ Tony Blackburn, the Controller of BBC Radio 2 Bob Shennan, BBC Weather Presenter Carol Kirkwood, and TV Dr Chris Steele were among the judges for this years awards, and the evening opened with a video message from Prime Minister David Cameron.

To see photos of the evening, please click here. To listen to our award winning entry, and other nominations please click here.

As well as the most prestigious award ‘Station of the Year’, Ben Punter has been nominated for ‘Male Presenter of the Year’, Paloma Kubiak is up for ‘Female Presenter of the Year’ and Dan Cottrell is up for ‘Best Newcomer of the Year’. Our other nominations are for ‘Specialist Music Programme’ for Carl Gardner ‘Soundboard’ and ‘Station Promotion’ for the Genius Playlist show.

The winners will be announced on Saturday 26th March 2011 at the awards ceremony held in Maidstone. Hospital radio stations from all over the country will be competing in the awards.

To listen to our entries click here.

The event took place between 10am – 6pm on Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th January 2011 in the main square of the shopping centre. Our volunteers did a wonderful job at taking song requests from shoppers for a small donation to the charity (the most popular artist requested was Canadian teen sensation Justin Bieber).

Shows and music were broadcast from the shopping centre back to the patients at Northwick Park Hospital. The fundraiser was organised to drum up funds for repairing equipment and maintaining the facilities. Dan Cottrell, Fundraising Officer, said: “I was incredibly pleased with the turnout. I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for taking time out over the course of the weekend to help us raise money at the St Anns Centre.”

This year we are celebrating our 40th anniversary and to coincide with this impressive milestone Radio Northwick Park will be holding a series of events throughout the year to raise awareness of the charity in the local community. The St Anns fundraiser and outside broadcast marked the start of these events which the station has dubbed “The 40th anniversary tour”.

We’re looking for people to take part in the shows. Whether you’re a budding musician, comedian, singer, anything goes! As long as you have a  talent you are invited to stop by and perform at this exciting venue. Anyone who may be interested in taking part can email our Fundraising Officer Dan Cottrell through our contact page or call on 07017 321504.

Come along and enjoy great new performances. Tickets are only £2 per person and the proceeds go towards improving the charity’s services. This Sunday, 24th October, is the first of six open mic nights that will take place on a monthly basis at Peaches.

Dates are:
2010: 24th October,   21st November,   19th December
2011: 23rd January,   20th February,   20th March

Peaches address:
177-179 Kenton Road
Kenton
Harrow
HA3 0EY

The DJ became involved with us for an upcoming ITV documentary ‘Back on the Job’. The show centers around Christian and the jobs he had done prior to becoming a star on Absolute. Christian was involved in Hospital Radio in the early 1990s and paid Radio Northwick Park a visit to relive those times.

During the six hour day, Christian was told about Radio Northwick Park and Hospital Radio in general. He was then taken on the wards along with our long standing member Betty Collick. Demonstrating to him how to talk to the patients and ask for requests, Christian was set free to go solo and soon had an emotional encounter with a patient who was so overwhelmed by the visit, broke down in tears. Christian comforted the gentleman and the two continued to speak at length before he headed back down to the studios.

Now back with the rest of the team, a quick brainstorming and show production meeting takes place between Christian, Betty and the Studio Manager Elliot Isaacson before the live request show kicked off with the three of them presenting. Within the hour long show, friendly banter between Christian and his mentor Betty was at an all time high, and a lucky patient phoned down to talk to the team and win a competition, receiving a Radio Northwick Park goody bag.

‘Back on the Job’ will be televised on Monday 1st November on ITV4. To see photos of the day, please click here.