Radio Warneford’s New Studios Officially Opened

Radio Warneford celebrated the official opening of its new studio complex at Warwick Hospital on Saturday night (5 October).

The event at the studios in Lakin House was attended by the Town Mayors of Warwick, Royal Leamington Spa and Kenilworth, who are joint patrons of the station, alongside one of Radio Warneford’s founding members, a representative from the Hospital Broadcasting Association and Radio Warneford’s Chief Engineer, who has designed and installed the new studios. The event was hosted by one of Radio Warneford’s Trustees, Andy Dowell.

Radio Warneford also held a ceremony to name both of its broadcasting studios after two former members – Graeme Meanley MBE and John Glare – who did much to enhance the life of the station and raised thousands of pounds each for both the Radio Warneford and for their other charities. Members of Graeme and John’s families attended and unveiled plaques for each studio.

The Town Mayor of Warwick, Councillor Dave Skinner, performed the opening ceremony, outside the entrance to the new studio in Lakin House, on behalf of the South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust by handing a ceremonial key to the station’s founder, John Flaherty, who was instrumental in setting up Radio Warneford as “temporary Christmas entertainment” in December 1973.

The official opening of Radio Warneford’s new studios at Warwick Hospital on 5 October.
Left to right: Andy Dowell, RW Trustee; Roy Dickel, Hospital Broadcasting Association; Mike Squire, RW Chief Engineer; Cllr Dave Skinner, Town Mayor of Warwick; John Flaherty, founding member of Radio Warneford; Cllr Judith Clarke, Town Mayor of Royal Leamington Spa; Alan Chalmers, Town Mayor of Kenilworth.

In his opening message, the Mayor of Warwick said “Radio Warneford has received fantastic support from the South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust along with the SWFT Charity. The Trust have provided this superb space in which to create the new studio complex and the station looks forward to working closely with the Trust moving forward.” The Mayor then announced the opening of “Radio Warneford’s Squire Studios”. The complex itself has been named after the Chief Engineer, Mike Squire, who has been a volunteer at Radio Warneford since 1974 and has almost single-handedly designed, installed and maintained all the stations’ studios since that time.

After the opening ceremony, the special guests moved inside to witness members of Graeme Meanley and John Glare’s families unveil plaques to name the two studios. Andrew and Maureen Meanley, Graeme’s son and daughter-in-law, and James Glare and Elizabeth Cooper, one of John’s sons and daughters, each unveiled their plaque, which was accompanied by a short piece about the work of each of the men and a photograph. The plaques will each be placed on the door to the respective studios and the photographs and personal information on the wall inside.

Following the ceremonies, our guests had a tour of the new facilities. The mayors were shown the new studio by one of Radio Warneford’s Duty Producers during his live broadcast. They were able to choose some of their favourite tracks which included Peter Gabriel and Elton John.

Mayor of Royal Leamington Spa, Cllr Judith Clarke, Mayor of Kenilworth, Cllr Alan Chalmers, and Mayor of Warwick, Cllr Dave Skinner, are shown the new studio by Radio Warneford Duty Producer, Cliff Proctor