We hosted a live broadcast from the annual Pinner Wheelbarrow Race on Sunday 24th April. Each year, The Rotary Club of Pinner host a traditional St. George’s Day celebration around Pinner High Street. The centrepiece of the celebrations is the annual Ye Olde Wheelbarrow Race.
The race is a unique event in which teams of two take it turns to push their partner in a wheelbarrow, drink beer and race from Little Common to the High Street and into Church Green. Two of Radio Harrow’s volunteers, Jon Hart and Ant Sunney took part in the wheelbarrow race and came 8th out of 15.
Not content without a win, Jon and Ant also immersed themselves in the other activities throughout the day – and they came up with a win in the jousting. There was plenty for spectators to enjoy with entertainment from singer Gemma Turner, the Merrydowners Morris Men, the Herga Mummers and Punch and Judy. Plus there was a bouncy castle, a number of other stalls and a special addition this year, a petting farm.
A hugely fun day for the whole family, the celebrations also involved several local businesses on the High Street, with the Queens Head pub holding a hugely successful beer festival and the Friends Restaurant providing a hog roast.
Take a look back at all of our pictures from the day:
On Monday 18th April, Radio Harrow featured on the Community Channel. A segment about the charity was broadcast on the London360 programme – a show which tells stories from within the London community.
The package featured several interviews with members of Radio Harrow. Co-Founder Matt Blank, described how the station formed and how volunteers have been transitioning from hospital radio to community radio. Volunteers Manager, Miles Otway and Thursday Night Studio Manager, Amit Pall talked about their roles at Radio Harrow and why they enjoy volunteering at the charity.
The video also features Roger Cutsforth, Managing Director of The Radio Academy who talks about the importance of community radio stations and why they serve to function. The segment was produced by Savan Gandecha an alumni member of Radio Northwick Park (Radio Harrow’s former organisation), who also presented the episode of the London360 show.
With lots of anecdotes and comments from other volunteers at the station, the package highlighted the benefits of volunteering at Radio Harrow and showcased the charity.
Watch the full interview with Roger Cutsforth from The Radio Academy to find out what he says about Radio Harrow and other local radio stations:
On Saturday 16th April, Radio Harrow celebrated its first anniversary as a community radio station. As part of the celebrations the charity, which officially formed on the 19th April 2015, also paid homage to its late co-founder, Keith Chilvers by renaming the main studio, ‘The Keith Chilvers Studio’.
The charity formed a year ago, when Radio Northwick Park and Harrow Community Radio merged together to form a new community radio station. The charity, which has more than 100 volunteers, serves to promote health and wellbeing in the Harrow community and continues to run a daily befriending service in Northwick Park Hospital. The past year has seen many highlights for the charity, including a summer of events across the Borough, a campaign supporting local charities across the 12 days of Christmas and two nominations at the 2016 Hospital Broadcasting Awards.
Keith Chilvers, one of the co-founders of Radio Harrow, lost his battle to bowel cancer in November 2015. Not only did Keith play a huge part in the creation of Radio Harrow, he was also a Trustee at Radio Northwick Park and helped to shape the formation of the main studio during its development. That studio now forms part of the Radio Harrow premises.
Trustee Claire Knight, introduced the renaming ceremony and spoke of Keith Chilvers’ influence at the charity, “it is without question, that none of us would be standing here at Radio Harrow today had it not been for Keith. He was a great inspiration to all of us and we hope by naming the studio after him, his story will continue to inspire current and future volunteers at the station.”
Keith’s wife and daughters unveiled the new plaque renaming the studio. Upon seeing the plaque, Kim Chilvers said “Keith would have been proud as punch to receive this honour at the station. He truly loved Radio Harrow and he would have been so excited and honoured to receive this”.
The emotional ceremony was attended by current members of the station, as well as alumni members of Radio Northwick Park and Harrow Community Radio.
Take a look at our pictures from the day:
The record store industry has struggled in the past 10 years with the rise of MP3s and online streaming services, but each year Record Store Day reminds people to support their nearest stores and local businesses. Stores across the country are celebrating Record Store Day with live bands, special deals and exclusive vinyl releases.
Ben Punter spoke to Mark Burgess, who is the manager of Flashback Records in North London, about Record Store Day, the resurgence of vinyl and community nature of record shops. Listen to the full interview on our Mixcloud below:
On Thursday 24th March, Radio Harrow hosted a special 8-hour broadcast in aid of World Tuberculosis (TB) Day. The special show was a culmination of 6 weeks of raising awareness about Tuberculosis in Harrow as part of Voluntary Action Harrow’s recent ‘TB Awareness Grant’.
Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection, which mainly affects the lungs. The disease is most common amongst BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) groups. Rates of TB in Harrow are nearly double the London average. Working alongside the London North West Healthcare NHS Trust, Radio Harrow sought to help raise awareness of the disease, which is entirely preventable and curable.
Over the 6 weeks we ran special public service announcements throughout our programming, describing symptoms of TB and the types of services available in the area. The public service announcements were broadcast in several different languages including Gujarati and German.
On World TB Day, the 8-hour show featured a variety of guests including a number of former patients speaking about their experience with TB. We also featured interviews with staff at Northwick Park Hospital’s Infectious Diseases Department, including the lead nurse specializing in TB and the TB consultant, Dr McGregor. The broadcast also showcased a flavour of Northwick Park Hospital’s own activities for World TB Day, including the TB Unit’s staff bake sale.
Several volunteers presented and contributed to the special show, Programming Manager, Gary Walker steered the group alongside Daniel Cash and William Njobvu. They were joined by Charles Biggie, Vic Moont and John Sanger who helped to conduct interviews throughout the day.
Programming Manager, Gary Walker described the broadcast as a “great success”. Gary said “we received a good deal of interest from listeners online and on social media, so we hope to have helped to make people aware of the Tuberculosis services in Harrow”.
Find out more about the symptoms and local treatments for Tuberculosis here.
David Perry, the Leader of the Harrow Council and the Labour Group for Harrow joined the Breakfast Show to answer questions about the Borough.
Gary Walker grilled the Leader of the council about a variety of topics from local to national issues. David Perry offered his take on local issues such as housing, council tax and the recent campaign to save the Harrow Arts Centre. He said that the recent housing crisis is one of the biggest issues that the Borough faces. He described the ways in which his team is working to improve the housing crisis situation in Harrow.
David also shared some thoughts on the Brexit, the expansion of a third runway at Heathrow Airport and also spoke about the Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn. He also described the process and candidates of the upcoming local elections and the mayoral election which takes place in the summer.
David was also asked to select some songs which had particular meanings and memories for him throughout the show.
Listen to the full hour-long interview on our Mixcloud below:
Justine Riddoch who portrays Tina Turner in the Totally TINA Tribute Show spoke to Gary Walker ahead of their upcoming show in the Beck Theatre in Hayes on Thursday 24th March.
Totally TINA is an award-winning tribute to the Queen of Rock and Roll, Tina Turner; the show was given the “Official UK number one” honour by the Agents Association of Great Britain. The group headlined the 2015 Glastonbudget Festival in May last year (the biggest tribute festival of the year).
Since then the group have been touring the UK theatres in a full production version with a live band and dancers. The show focuses on Tina’s live concert career, replicating scenes from various tours over the last 50 years with custom twists and turns created by Justine and her cast.
Justine’s first big venture into tribute acts took place in 2002 when she appeared on ITV’s “Stars in their eyes” as Anastasia. It wasn’t until 2008 when she was told that she sounded like Tina Turner that Justine began to transform herself into a tribute act to the iconic singer.
For more information and tickets to their show at the Beck Theatre on the 24th March click here.
Listen to the full interview on our Mixcloud below:
Alex Burton and Colm Sealy of the London North West Healthcare NHS Trust’s St Mark’s Hospital Foundation talk with Gary Walker about the work the charity does to help eliminate bowel cancer.
Alex and Colm spoke about the various types of bowel disease that St Mark’s Hospital treats and of the different treatments available. The Foundation also send out kits to help with early detection of bowel cancer.
To raise awareness about bowel disease the Foundation also hold several fundraisers and they are currently working towards their largest fundraiser of the year – The Colon Challenge which is a 280 mile bike ride around a colon shaped route. The Colon Challenge culminates at Kings Cross Station on the 28th May.
Looking ahead to the Colon Challenge, the Foundation are holding a bicycle challenge taking place at St Anns’ Shopping Centre in Harrow on Saturday 19th March.
To find out more about The St Mark’s Hospital Foundation’s work and The Colon Challenge head to http://www.stmarksfoundation.org
Listen to the full interview with Alex Burton and Colm Sealy on our Mixcloud:
Gareth Thomas, the Labour MP representing Harrow West joined Radio Harrow’s Breakfast Show to answer questions about issues facing the borough.
Hosts Gary Walker and Situl Shah asked Gareth Thomas about his daily duties. They also quizzed Gareth about the challenges facing the borough, including the proposed changes to policing, cuts to council services, the housing crisis and migration.
He also revealed some of his plans for the future such as a festival event in the borough. From the quality of roads to the services in the NHS, Gareth encouraged his constituents to come and see him about any issues they may be facing and said that “making a difference to an individual” is one of his favourite bits about his job.
Encouraging young people to engage with politics, Gareth also described how he got into politics. He talked about his Welsh connections, his interests in sport and music and also spoke about his earlier life – including the year he spent as a volunteer at Radio Northwick Park (the former incarnation of Radio Harrow) when he was aged 16.
Listen to the full interview on our Mixcloud:
Holby City and Casualty actor John Michie joined the Radio Harrow Breakfast show to talk about his acting career. John has played DI Robbie Ross in Taggart, Karl Munro in Coronation Street and is currently playing Guy Self in Holby City and Casualty.
Hosts Gary Walker and Daniel Cash spoke with the veteran actor John Michie about the similarities between the drama that is seen at Holby City and what happens at NHS Hospitals. John shared his support for the work done by the NHS.
John also talked about his background and upbringing in Kenya and Scotland. He spoke at length about his acting career and described some of his favourite roles. He also offered advice for young people looking to get into acting.
Listen to the full interview on our Mixcloud:
Daz Wiltshire and Vickie Owen of the Harrow Metropolitan Police Service in Harrow talk about their campaign to raise awareness of hate crime in Harrow. Hate crimes can be defined as crimes against people because of their ethnic background, religion, disability or sexual preference.
Acting Sergeant, Daz Wiltshire also talked about an app called ‘Self-Evident’ which you can get on your phone to record any video and audio and report any hate crimes through Hate Crime Support.
Constable Vickie Owen is the liaison for the LGBT community in Harrow. Hate crimes amongst the LGBT community have been gradually increasing in the community. She talked about the different types of support available for them.
They both talk about how encouraging people to report any hate crime they may experience can help to raise awareness and improve hate crime prevention.
Listen to the full interview on our Mixcloud:
From the Savoy Hotel, Alex Mendham’s highly acclaimed youthful 1920s/30s Orchestra are coming to Harrow.
The Orchestra have featured everywhere from Hollywood in ‘Avengers: The Age of Ultron’ to primetime TV on ‘Downton Abbey’ and ‘Mr Selfridge’. Now holding a residency at the Savoy Hotel, the orchestra are preparing for their upcoming gig at the Harrow Arts Centre.
Bandleader Alex talks about his 11-piece Orchestra describing how they formed and how they like to maintain the authenticity of the music they play. Performing their sweet dance music from the Art Deco area, you can catch the Youthful 1920s/30s Dance Band at the Harrow Arts Centre on Friday 11 March at 7:30 PM. Tickets are available here.
Listen to the full interview below:
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