Talk About Radio Lollipop
On Thursday, 25 February, Cranleigh Rotarians welcomed their guest speaker, Hedley Finn, OBE, to their online meeting. Hedley is the founder and President of Radio Lollipop UK (see https://www.radiolollipop.org/).
Following Hedley's talk, the Club made a donation towards the excellent work done by the charity both in the UK and internationally.
We subsequently received this letter of thanks:
“All at Radio Lollipop, and of course the children we support, write to thank Cranleigh Rotary for the generous and kind donation. The money will be used by the team in Southampton General Hospital towards craft and play materials used by our volunteers with children at the bedside.”
Radio Lollipop gives young patients a voice and a choice during their stay in hospital. Although they can't say "no" to taking their medicine or receiving treatment, they can request their favourite songs, win prizes and hear their own voices on the radio.
Founded in 1978 at the Hospital for Children in Surrey, it made its first broadcast in 1979. Following the success of this in 1980, the International Year of the Child, funding was provided to start developing Radio Lollipops in other UK hospitals.
Over time, emphasis has shifted from the radio station to volunteers spending time on wards entertaining children in person, by playing games, doing arts and crafts, and reading stories. However, the "radio", with children's programming and often presenting on-air, remains a central part of the charity. The charity now has a presence in many hospitals across the UK.
In 1985, the first Radio Lollipop outside the UK was started in Perth, Western Australia. Today, Radio Lollipop International also operates in New Zealand, the USA and in the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital in Johannesburg.