75 for 75

A series of 75 articles with photographs capturing aspects of our rich history since 9th April 1951 when we began as an activity at Port Sunlight Boys’ Club.

1) In the beginning…

After school on that significant day in April, members of the Port Sunlight Boys Club (organised by an adult called John McNeilly) entered Pensby Ward, at Clatterbridge Hospital, with a portable gramophone and a pile of 78rpm records. Unfortunately, the sound was either too loud or tinny, depending on patient location. The hospital authorities liked the general idea and made it possible to pipe broadcasts around some of the huts on the site, via a landline telephone system. A primitive radio room or studio was set up at the back of one such hut, Larch House (where Claire House is now), with a very heavy microphone. By 1954 a tape recorder was provided weighing a whopping 35 pounds!

2) Racing Rafts and Beds!

In July 1983 Simon Cadell, Tim Bedson, Richie Moore, Neil Southerin and Jan Whitehouse manned ‘Titanic II’ in the Chester Raft Race. The following year ‘The Shed’ was the name of our Radio Clatterbridge raft. There was an Easter Bunny feel to our entry to the Heswall Bed Race which started in 1982 and lasted a decade. Fancy dress was mandatory and the yearly epic saw wheeled beds sent down steep hills and around sharp turns from a starting point of the long-demolished Sandon Arms Pub.

3) 40th Anniversary Booklet

To mark our Ruby Anniversary in 1991, a special booklet sponsored by local companies was released. The Programme Schedule was separated into the weekend (pictured) and weekdays. As well as an Introductory page, our President Roger Hazlewood was in nostalgic mood remembering when he joined the station in 1966. Other features included fundraising, staffing, the changing nature of the hospital itself and an explanation of our programming. The wonderful patient in a bed illustration even adorned the newsletters sent out to our membership.

4) Cramped Clatterbridge!

By 1974, guests such as Gerry Marsden still managed to pop in but we were beginning to grow out of our cramped studio. Access was also not easy, via a narrow-overgrown passage. The Port Sunlight Boys Club (Sundays) and Radio Clatterbridge (the rest of the week) amalgamated in this year.

5) Can I pack your bags?

Our fundraising activities are rich and varied. It used to be the case that barely a week would go by without charities packing bags at your local supermarket. Nowadays bucket collections have largely taken over. The pictures here are from November 2008 (Paul Johnston, Natalie Kelly, and Beth Meredith from the team backing the bags at a local ASDA supermarket) and December 2010 (Steve Evans and John Roberts doing similar at Tesco).