Rugby Hospital Radio broadcasts live for the first time in seven months - send in your requests for friends and loved ones

The volunteers of Rugby Hospital Radio are able to broadcast live for the fist time in seven months thanks to a special socially-distanced arrangement.

Volunteers from the charity stopped attending the studio on the hospital site in March and for the last seven months, the service has been heard on a pre-recorded basis only, with programmes broadcast from a computer.

But now, special arrangements mean that these shows can be supplemented with two live broadcasts a day.

And volunteers are asking the public to send song requests for relatives and friends in the hospital.

Chairman Jim Austin: “The hospital management were very keen to find a safe way to bring us back to site.

“We are very grateful to site manager Janine Beddow and her team at St Cross and UHCW Trust volunteer coordinator Kristine Davies for their help.

“Everything has been done very professionally, with risk assessments for volunteers and safe hygiene practices approved by the Trust’s Infection Prevention and Control Department”.

All programmes are now presented solo with a time gap between presenters.

There is a maximum of two live programmes per day, with one in the afternoon and another in the evening, with the rest of the programmes being pre-recorded.

There is however one big omission from the usual service.

Jim said: "“For obvious reasons, we are still not able to visit the wards to meet patients and collect their music requests.

“This is the most important aspect of what we do.

"We are inviting the public to send dedications for family and friends who are patients in St Cross.

"Patients can listen via the TV/radio unit next to their bed. They can ask the staff for headphones or they can use their own."

For details of how to message Rugby Hospital Radio, visit www.rugbyhospitalradio.co.uk or look up the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/rugbyhr