Burton Hospitals League of Friends
Burton Hospital League of Friends is a voluntary organisation, made possible thanks to the generous support of the Burton and District public. Its main aim is to support Burton Hospitals in providing extras and essentials.
The Hospital Trust has provided the League with a shop at the hospital’s main entrance. This has allowed the League to expand its volunteering/fundraising activities. This shop provides a service to patients, visitors and staff of the hospital, as the building is two miles away from the town centre. They received an Opportunities for Volunteering grant from Attend to help them get started. The League has been fortunate enough to be able to provide the Hospital with many things, such as wheelchairs, fans, DVD’s, an ultrasound machine, and more.
It is a bright and airy environment, selling mainly donated, books, bric-a-brac and hand knitted baby clothes, scarves and bed socks. The shop also stocks a few promotional pens, pencils, mugs and pads and also sell some small 'Aids for Daily Living' to make patient's stay at the hospital more comfortable. They also offer a knit to order service. Two ladies knit all sorts of items such as baby knitwear, blankets and shawls and in the past year the Friends have made £3000 in knitting orders alone.
The League of Friends fundraises to purchase a wide variety of things, such as fresh flowers for the chapel and help desk, televisions, emergency toiletry packs and Christmas decorations. Furthermore, we purchase larger and more expensive pieces of medical equipment. This includes the conversion of a store room into a wet room, an ultrasound diagnostic machine and specialist chairs for stroke patients.
The group holds many fundraising events including Concerts and Quizzes. The Friends hold a monthly bingo session which brings in the elderly members of community. The League also sponsors an annual dog walk, “Paws for Thought”, raising £688 in 2011.
The League of Friends has partnered with the Phoenix Hospital Radio; some volunteers from the league are now volunteering at the radio. The radio provides about 30 hours of entertainment to patients each week! The Radio raises money for the hospital as well. It raised £1500 in 2011 during a 48 hour live broadcasted fundraiser. They raised another £700 to share with the Round Table in December by being Santa’s little helpers and visiting local residents near the hospital.
Phoenix Hospital Radio operates under the umbrella of the League of Friends. and has been providing a broadcasting service dedicated to the Queen's Hospital in Burton since first going "on air" in September 1990, and is a member of the HBA (Hospital Broadcasting Association).
Patients listen in via the headsets provided at their bedside, which are also able to receive certain other major stations: these include Classic FM, BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio Derby, and Phoenix Hospital Radio.
They pride themselves on the quality of their output which is aimed at all patients, whose ages may range from 0-100 years!! Their listeners have a good level of involvement in all the programmes, by choosing much of the music themselves. Their favourite choices form an intrinsic part of every programme, and are played alongside other tracks chosen by the individual presenter. The result is a very wide variety of music that is broadcast, and the extensive music library enables them to cater successfully for all tastes.
They are staffed entirely by volunteers, who are able to give varying amounts of time to the organisation in a variety of roles. No previous experience is needed to join , as training is available to enable anyone to contribute in some way to the services provided.
They are proud to broadcast entertaining and interesting programmes for the listeners, and want them to enjoy broadcasts that are personalised for them. It is very rewarding, and it can help make a stay in the Queen's Hospital Burton that bit more pleasant. Both the League and the Radio are always looking for new ideas and new volunteers!
Created prior to 2011. Updated 2021
The Burton Hospitals League of Friends benefits from Attend membership, which includes comprehensive charity insurance cover. For more information, or to join, please click here.
