1973 The LHR Organisation was formed following a discussion between Mike Race, Steve Hasketh and Barry van Geffen at the Wagon & Horses at Walhampton. With about 6 other interested young people they distributed 1000 leaflets around the streets of Lymington asking for donations and records.

1974 The Hospital authorities agreed to an old paint store at the Infirmary being used as a radio studio. A number of large-scale fund-raising discos were held over the next few years to raise money to prepare the studio and buy equipment.

1975 An application was made to the Post Office for land lines to relay programmes from the Infirmary. Members started to convert the old paint store and equip it as a studio, record library, and an office, later to become a computer room.

1978 Approval was finally received from the PO for the land lines. The big day came on Christmas Eve 1978 when the first official programme was broadcast to the Infirmary day room via speakers.

1979 The LHR Organisation became a registered charity with the name Lymington Hospital Broadcasting Association. The 1st AGM was held under that name, and Sunday programmes were relayed not just to the Infirmary but also Linden House, then a home for the blind.

1980 With land lines complete, weekday evening broadcasts to the hospital started on a pilot basis. The Lymington Hospital League of Friends purchased the amplifier and distribution equipment for the main hospital.

1981 In March a full daily service commenced with a library of about 5,000 records, 8 years after the first idea. It offered a whole range of music, news, information, requests, interviews and special feature programmes.
A competition was run in the New Milton Advertiser and Lymington Times to chose a name for the new hospital radio station, with a prize for the best entry. It was won by a New Milton resident who suggested Radio Link. This was thought ideal as hospital radio links patients with the outside world.

1984 The record library and broadcasting studio in the former paint store at the Infirmary were switched around so that free space in the library was used to provide a larger studio. This took the best part of the year but broadcasts continued for most of the time.

1987/8 A decision was taken to complete a review of the quality of the recordings held in the record library and undertake the task of re-cataloguing. A small team, with Irene Grist and George Samuel, undertook the painstaking task of cleaning and listening to each record and then manually typing up a catalogue over the next four years, cross referenced by artiste, title and genre.

1988/9 The first Compact Disc player was purchased and CDs were gradually introduced into the record library in preference to vinyl LPs.

1991 A computer was purchased with a specific hospital radio software package to computerise the record library, with ability to call up tracks by title, artist or record number as well as to search for a particular word or words in a song title. Despite initial teething problems the task of transferring the data into the new record library database was completed by 1993.

1995 An outside broadcast took place between the Borough Arms and the studio using borrowed equipment. It was not a complete success but a worthwhile experience.

2000 The first Mini Disc player was purchased and all jingles transferred from cartridge. Over the next 3 years many frequently played vinyl LP tracks and all essential singles were transferred to MD. LPs were reduced by about two thirds and all singles were removed from the library.

2001 BT discovered and disconnected the land line to Linden House which they had not invoiced for some years. Rather than pay the back money, Linden House was provided with a Mini Disc player and the show was recorded for them on MD. They were then able to broadcast it several times each week.

2003 The Infirmary closed in March. A store room in the hospital was to be converted and re-decorated by the PCT for use as a studio. But it was not ready when the Infirmary closed so full broadcasts were officially suspended on grounds of presenters’ safety at night.Some presenters chose to carry on until May when distribution equipment in the hospital was removed, as part of a refurbishment programme, for eventual relocation in the new studio. Radio Link was off air for an indefinite period for the first time in its history, except for the Linden House show, which was still recorded every week in a temporary studio at the presenter’s home. Work continued to reduce the quantity of vinyl records for the smaller studio in the hospital and all cassettes were removed from the library.

In July slates were removed from the roof of the single storey studio building overnight and next day all equipment, records and CDs had to be relocated from the studio to a disused ward for safe storage until the new studio was ready. Recording of the weekly Linden House show continued uninterrupted from a temporary studio set up in the presenter’s 4th bedroom, with preparation of the show in the bricked-up Infirmary ward!

In September the new studio at the hospital was eventually ready. After installation of new furniture and equipment, and elimination of some wiring problems in the refurbished wards, broadcasts to the hospital resumed in late October after 5 months off air.

2004 The new studio was officially opened in January by Mike Guy, presenter of the Linden House show for 22 years until his retirement in 2003. This was followed by an open day for members, their families and invited guests.
Discussion took place with Solent Mead, the other Hampshire County Council care home in Lymington to provide a similar request programme to Linden House. A pilot show was recorded in October and was confirmed a success. From early 2005 it became a regular fortnightly recorded show but not heard in the hospital.

2005 Detailed discussion and planning started for our next new studio in the new Lymington New Forest Hospital at Ampress. An external consultant was appointed to advise on equipment and furniture. He proposed two solutions, a basic option at £25,000 and a full solution capable of automated play-out 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, at £37,500.
A fund raising campaign was mounted mid-year and as a result of much hard work and a number of good initiatives over £12,000 had been raised by the AGM in November. At this meeting the Chairman of the League of Friends announced that their trustees had unanimously elected to top up our own fund raising up to £25,000 to enable us to have the full studio solution proposed.

2006 Fund raising continued, concentrating on high return activities and ideas which might bring in regular income to assist with the higher on going running costs of the new studio. In April we had a 24-hour sponsored solo broadcast by presenter and secretary Tony Clark which raised over £3,000.
The publicity received from this and our other fund raising events resulted in much interest and more volunteers to assist. As a result several new regular non-request programmes were started. An occasional request show was also introduced for the residents of the Monmouth House residential home which nominated us as their charity of the year with two garden parties in our honour.
By mid year the furniture and equipment proposed for the new studio had all been identified, orders placed and plans produced of a proposed layout for the broadcast studio and separate production room to be used for programme preparation and off-line recording.

Temporary premises were sought to install. connect up and test all the new equipment to ensure that it worked before the restricted commissioning period at the end of year when it all had to be moved into the new hospital and the studio made operational. Eventually permission was obtained from the PCT to use a largely redundant area of the Infirmary, with special out-of- hours access for our members.
By September all furniture and equipment had been delivered to the Infirmary and we had a working studio there. Presenters were able to familiarise themselves with the new set-up and some minor changes were made as a result of feedback received. In early November training was given on the new Myriad computerised play-out system.

Our fund raising continued to exceed all expectations. As a result of this and several generous donations by one of our members we were able to finance the £37,500 studio option taking a donation of only £6,200 of the £25,000 offered by the League of Friends which was used to pay for the Myriad hardware and software. And we still had invested to meet our higher anticipated on-going costs all the funds that existed prior to the start of our fund raising campaign in 2005.
We were given access to the new hospital in late November when we moved in all the new items that had been installed at the Infirmary. By mid December our studio was in and working and required only to be connected to he hospital patient entertainment system feeding the wards, which was completed before Christmas.
Our last broadcast to the old hospital took place on the evening of Thurs 28th Dec 2006. On the next day our library and other items were moved between hospitals at the same time as the patients. All redundant studio equipment was disposed of the same day to members in return for a donation to funds

Had our crates been delivered to the right part of the new hospital by the removers, we would have been ready to record the Friday evening Linden House show in the new studio, with a test transmission to the wards. As it was this had to be deferred a day until Sat 30th Dec when everything in the new studio worked perfectly, the first record played being Cliff Richard’s "Wired For Sound".
A check around the wards by our request collectors revealed many beds without headsets connected, now the responsibility of nursing staff. With many beds that had headsets there was either no sound or interference. Sadly our plans to start broadcasting to the hospital wards on 30th Dec had to be abandoned.

2007 During January further problems were identified with the patient entertainment system chosen and installed by the hospital builders, leading to difficulties for patients in identifying which of 16 TV and radio channels had been selected.  Another attempt was made to start broadcasting but was abandoned.  The studio was used only to record shows for the Linden House and Solent Mead care homes for the rest of the month. 
We were saddened to learn of the death on 31st Jan of our oldest and one of our longest serving members, Basil Trask, who retired in November 2006, aged 87, after 17 years’ service with LHR.  His widow decreed that he would wish donations in lieu of flowers to come to hospital radio, as well as a collection taken at his funeral.  The committee decided to use this money, around £1,200, to install in the studio a computer network with broadband internet connection linked to all four computers.  It was also decided to name the studio the “Basil Trask Studio” in his memory..
Our first broadcast to the hospital eventually took place 5 weeks late, at the third attempt, on Sat 3rd February by when headsets had been installed, the wiring checked for interference and the other 15 channels had been turned off.  However, the shortage of headsets continued, many beds did not work and patients continued to have difficulties with the controllers. 
A few days after our first broadcast we were invited to be present at the official opening of the new hospital by HRH The Princess Royal on Tues 6th February.   She was escorted on a tour of the hospital, which unfortunately did not include our studio.
On 13th February we wrote to the PCT setting out the problems experienced and asking how it was proposed that they be resolved.  Eventually on the 26th March, in the absence of any firm response, with only small numbers of requests being made and verbal abuse of our request collectors by frustrated patients, it was decided to suspend broadcasts.
By the end of April, a major rethink had taken place and a redesign of the entertainment system was outlined at a meeting involving the PCT, the builders, their sub-contractors and ourselves.  The proposed solution appeared to overcome all the earlier design shortcomings and an order was placed for new components required.  The committee decided that we should not attempt to restart our broadcasts until the revised system had been installed.
As the parts had to be manufactured in Australia and there were substantial wiring modifications in the wards it was September before the installation was completed.  After our own verification that the system was working as intended, our broadcasts were eventually restarted on Mon 1st Oct after just over 6 months off air. For this period the studio continued to be used for the recording of the weekly Linden House and fortnightly Solent Mead shows.  The opportunity was also taken to transfer to the Myriad computerised play-out system some 5,000 of our most popular music tracks, making it possible for up to 80% of some shows to be played from computer. 
After several months of uncertainty and protests by the public, Hampshire County Council decided on 31st August to close the Linden House care home and by the end of October all residents had been relocated, many to Solent Mead.  After 26 years our request shows for Linden House came to an end with two special shows for which Mike Guy, the original presenter, returned and the only three regular presenters of the show all contributed.
With the demise of cassette as a recording medium, the decision was made to replace the studio cassette recording facilities with a dual drive CD recorder so that external care homes and our own members could have better quality recordings of shows on CD.

2008     The year was the first complete year of broadcasting from the new studio.  Although membership numbers exceeded 50 for the first time ever, attempts to extend our broadcasting hours and introduce additional non-request programmes were abandoned after a short trial.  Staffing problems in the hospital resulted in several wards being closed or under-utilised and both listener numbers and numbers of requests obtained suffered.  The position began to improve later in the year after a recruitment open day.
For the first time ever a New Forest Hospital Radio web site, introduced on a pilot basis during 2007, was further developed and made available to the public to provide a full range of information about New Forest Hospital Radio.  This generated some interest and several new membership enquiries resulted.
A proposal was developed and agreement in principle obtained from hospital management for the provision of speakers in public waiting rooms within the hospital so that when expanded to cover daytime hours our programmes could be more widely heard.

Edward Fitzgerald/Tony Clark
08.04.2009