13 August 2017 – On this Sunday’s edition of Brenda’s Bag our trusty Radio Fox cleaner interviews volunteer co-ordinator Penny Hefferan to discuss the sighted guide service My Guide.

My Guide is a service provided by Guide Dogs. My Guide aims to support blind and partially sighted people to get out and about and do the things they want to do. The My Guide service has vetted and appropriately trained volunteers who use guiding techniques to help people with sight loss to work towards the mobility goals they want to achieve. This could involve accessing activities and places of interest in the local community, learning familiar routes and improving fitness.

The My Guide service can also provide training in sighted guiding techniques to friends and family in order for them to acquire the skills to guide safely. If you would like to be a sighted guide and make a special difference to someone’s life in Leicester click on the links below and get involved. Or call Penny Hefferan on 0118 9838882.

Listen to the Radio Fox cleaner Brenda as she meets Penny Hefferan and her guide dog Questa to talk about the My Guide service and guide dogs in general. Will Questa let Penny hand over Brenda’s official pork pie? To find out Listen Again to the entire show by clicking here.  Brenda, Penny, & Questa

Penny and Brenda also discuss how modern technology has made a big impact the lives of people with sight issues.

Just for fun checkout Guide Mogs For The Blind to see why dogs are preferred for guiding.

For more information call Penny Hefferan on 0118 9838882 or alternatively email penny.hefferan@guidedogs.org.uk

Click on the following links to find out more.

My Guide
Sighted guiding leaflet
Guide Dogs

21 June 2017 – Patients from four hospital wards will get specially created radio shows supplied on CD and designed to bring back memories of a bygone era. They will hear tunes, newsreels, and advertisements from the 1930s to the 1970s. All created by the volunteer presenters of Radio Fox.

The first Radio Nostalgia launch shows will be broadcast to patients at Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust’s (LPT) Bennion Centre on Tuesday 27th June.  The centre, on the Glenfield Hospital site, has two wards for older people with general mental health conditions.

This will be followed by a further broadcast at the Evington Centre on Tuesday 11th July.  The Evington Centre includes two wards for people in the advanced stages of dementia.

The initial concept began when Peter Hirst from the band Refuge appeared as a guest on the Jonny Bance Show on Radio Fox. A chance meeting of like minded people and the idea snowballed from there. Pete has been instrumental (no pun intended) from the start working behind the scenes literally making Radio Nostalgia happen.  The music concept and compilation were created by Hospital Radio Fox, a free 24/7 radio station manned entirely by volunteers who broadcast to the patients of the Leicester Royal Infirmary and the Glenfield Hospital. From any computer, smartphone, tablet, or laptop you can tune in to Radio Fox 24 hours a day by clicking Listen Live. You can also listen live via this website.

The first 2 disc compilation was called Alan T’s Tea Dance and some of the music choices on the CDs were suggestions from the Older Persons Wellbeing team as being some of their patient’s favourite songs.

With additional live music on both launch days from three-piece acoustic band Refuge.

Lyn Williams, service manager for mental health services for older people, said: “These broadcasts have been made specifically for older people. It helps elicit memories about how radio used to be with music and advertisements from their era that they can make connections with. It enhances wellbeing for people who have cognitive difficulties.  It brings back past memories from their lives. This has not been tried anywhere else as far as we know.”

Over the past two years LPT has brought live music onto its wards to entertain adult and older patients with mental health issues. Patients regularly sing and dance along as Pete Hirst’s band Refuge play a series of classic tunes including ones made famous by Elvis, Motown, and many others.

2 June 2017 – Volunteers’ Week is a chance to be part of the UK’s biggest celebration of volunteering, recognising the contribution of 23 million people who volunteer in their communities across the UK.

Volunteers’ Week is a long-standing, popular event in the voluntary sector, established in 1984. It is supported and celebrated by small grassroots organisations as well as larger, household-name charities, who together run hundreds of events across the UK. These events showcase and celebrate volunteers and the contribution volunteering makes in our communities.

University Hospitals of Leicester are celebrating Volunteers Week 2017 between 1-7 June and asking staff & patients alike to say thanks to our volunteers for all they do. The week culminates with the Volunteer Thank You Event for all UHL volunteers.

Every member of Radio Fox is a volunteer who gives their time, talent and expertise to run Radio Fox for the benefit of patients and staff of the Leicester Royal Infirmary and The Glenfield Hospital.

2 May 2017 – Brain injury can challenge every aspect of your life – walking, talking, thinking and feeling – and the losses can be severe and permanent. It can mean losing both the life you once lived and the person you once were.

Headway is the UK-wide charity that works to improve life after brain injury. Through its network of more than 125 groups and branches across the UK, it provides support, services and information to brain injury survivors, their families and carers, as well as to professionals in the health and legal fields.

Radio Fox member Tindy Chaggar has recently been appointed a Brand Ambassador for Headway Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland.  Tindy says “They provide an invaluable service to survivors of a traumatic brain injury – I know this as I am such a survivor and they provided me with a fantastic service. In 2003 I was hit by a van on my way to work and sustained very serious brain injury (including stroke & hemorrhage) and other life threatening conditions”.

We are now launching a ‘Hats For Headway’ Day – which we will hope will be as popular as Red Nose Day! On Friday 12th May – we are inviting people to wear a hat for their normal daily activities for local Headway which is in Leicester. We hope to raise the profile of Headway and the fantastic work they do; plus raise some essential funding for this service. If you are unable to wear a hat – they can also donate.

See the attached links and if you are able please donate to Headway.

Hats for Headway poster:
Hats for Headway info:
Headway website: