Radio Lollipop History

Radio Lollipop has an exciting history. It began in 1978 at Queen Mary´s Hospital for Children in Carshalton, Surrey. At the time, Queen Mary´s was the largest children´s hospital in Europe with over 460 beds in 36 wards on a site covering over 92 acres. In addition to its paediatric cases, the hospital was also home to many children with learning disabilities.

It took just over a year to raise funds, wire the wards, build the studio, recruit the team and get the very first dedicated entertainment service for children in hospital ready.

At mid-day on the 5th May 1979 the very first Radio Lollipop went on-air.

Following a successful first year an application was made to the International Year of the Child Committee for a grant to develop Radio Lollipop. The Committees were so impressed with the work of Radio Lollipop they agreed to provide a grant to enable Radio Lollipop to establish itself as a national charity, and to provide the special Radio Lollipop service in other hospitals.

Since that time there has been an international expansion. In 1985 the first Radio Lollipop outside the UK was started in Perth, Western Australia, at the Princess Margaret Hospital for Children.

From these beginnings the organisation has expanded further with services in America, Australia and New Zealand joining those developed in the UK.