The Radio Lollipop, Southampton station will be out and about this Summer, so come and join in with some SERIOUS FUN and help us raise money to continue providing care, comfort, play and entertainment in Southampton’s General Hospital.

Saturday 11 June: Netley Abbey Family Fun Day at Castle Recreation Ground, Victoria Road, Netley Abbey.

Sunday 19 June: Krazy Character Day at Marwell Zoo, Colden Common, Near Winchester.

Saturday 25 June: Shamblehurst School Summer Fayre at Shamblehurst School, Hedge End,

Friday 8 July: Stoke Park Junior School Summer Fayre at Stoke Park Junior School, Bishopstoke, Near Eastleigh.

Thursday 21 July: Bursledon House/Radio Lollipop Strawberry Fayre at Bursledon House Children’s Unit, Southampton General Hospital (in Tremona Road).

The Newcastle branch of Radio Lollipop have teamed up with a charity fundraising group based on the auction site eBay to help raise funds to buy gifts and prizes for the children at Newcastle Royal Victoria Infirmary.

“Charitysigs” are a group of ladies who provide signature designs and logos for use by people trading on eBay and in the community discussion boards. In return, they encourage the recipients to donate to their charity of choice.

After being informed about the great work done by Radio Lollipop, the charitysigs team agreed to raise funds for the Newcastle branch for a period of three months. They did so by creating their signature files, selling keyrings and arranging a raffle and raised a massive total of £700.

Radio Lollipop Newcastle is very grateful for the efforts of the charitysigs team and on behalf of our branch of the charity and are happy that they have found a way of using their design skills to benefit good causes.

From 13-15 May, volunteers from Western Australia, Queensland and New Zealand joined President and Co-Founder, Hedley Finn MBE to participate in the annual Australasian Conference and Training Weekend.

Held this year at Queensland’s No.1 Tourist Attraction – Dreamworld, we had the opportunity to share with each other what each particular location had achieved over the past year and what plans are being considered for the future.

Several highly qualified speakers joined us on the second day to present a series of interactive workshops for some seriously fun learning on topics such as volunteer management, leadership, fundraising and public relations, as well as developing our creativity and imagination.

The final day saw us in strategic-thinking mode to consider practical strategies to develop and enhance the “Lollipop experience” for our patients, families, hospitals, volunteers and the public.

We also found time to visit the newest member of the Radio Lollipop family at the Gold Coast Hospital, which is due to open its doors very soon and therefore allowing even more children and their families to enjoy the fun and excitement that Radio Lollipop has to offer.

The Conference and Training Weekend provided us all with the opportunity to share our thoughts and ideas as to what future direction we feel Radio Lollipop can, and should, take to ensure that we continue to provide our service to as many children as possible, not just throughout Australia and New Zealand, but indeed the World!

On May 5th 2005, a small team from Metro and Magic 1152 and their official charity “Just For Kids” came to visit the children on ward 7 at Newcastle RVI.

They brought with them lots and lots of goodies and toys to give out and enjoyed meeting the children who are benefitting from all of their hard work. Radio Lollipop Newcastle was given a grant of £1750 by Just for Kids to maintain the Radio Sustaining service and to help us to get up and running on patientline.

There were some famous faces around on the day. Presenters Ingrid, Dan Black and Kenny all gave up their morning off to come and see us, and Sunderland commentator Simon Crabtree enjoyed some lively banter with Newcastle fan Aaron.

Ingrid said “It was our pleasure to come and see you all today. I know we all had a great time and felt really welcome thanks to Radio Lollipop and the team on the ward”.

Radio Lollipop Newcastle are very grateful for the support of Just for Kids and enjoyed the visit very much.