Radio Cavell Trustees Annual Report and Accounts For the Year Ending 31 March 2025 Charity Number 1090707
Radio Cavell Trustees Annual Report and Accounts 2024-2025
Mission Statement
To extend and improve the relief of sickness, infirmity and old age by providing a quality ‘Entertainment and Information’ broadcasting service, supporting the work of The Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, The Oldham Care organisation and The Oldham Primary Care Trust.
This is the Annual Report of Radio Cavell, for the period 1[st] April 2024 to 31[st] March 2025.
Legal and Administrative Information
Tel: 0161 656 1350
Web: www.radiocavell1350.org.uk
E-Mail: information@radiocavell1350.org.uk
requests@radiocavell1350.org.uk
Radio Cavell is a Charitable incorporated organisation, registered as a charity in England and Wales.
Charity Number: 1090707 (England & Wales)
Trustees:
| Name | Date of retirement by rotation |
Meetings Attended / Meeting eligible to attend |
Additional information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phil Edmonds | 2026 | 6 out of 6 | |
| Philip Lightfoot | 2027 | 3 out of 3 | Appointed Sept 24 |
| Kent Wells | 2025 | 6 out of 6 | |
| Arthur Chorley | 2025 | 4 out of 4 | Retired |
| Ian Wolstenholme | 2027 | 6 out of 6 | Appointed representative of Oldham Community Radio |
Principle Office:
The Studios, The Royal Oldham Hospital Rochdale Road Oldham OL1 2JH
Governing Documents:
Radio Cavell CIO Constitution adopted on 11[th] October 2021
Co-Operative Bank Oldham Branch 12 Market Place, Oldham OL1 1HE
Page 2 of 7
Radio Cavell Trustees Annual Report and Accounts 2024-2025
In October 2021 Radio Cavell Ltd was superseded by Radio Cavell as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation which took over the operation and assets of the former limited company which was formally dissolved on 11th October 2021
Further references in this document to Radio Cavell can be taken as referring to Radio Cavell CIO.
Charitable Objectives
The objectives of the charity are:
(1) The relief of sickness, poor health and old age amongst people living in the Oldham Metropolitan Borough by providing a local broadcasting service for hospitals, residential homes and similar institutions, and for patients receiving community care; and
(2) The advancement of health and prevention or relief of sickness for the public benefit through the promotion of the benefits of living a healthy lifestyle, and the importance of maintaining good personal mental and physical health by (mainly, but not exclusively) the means of broadcasting health education messages to people living in the Oldham Metropolitan Borough.
Organisation and Management Structure
Radio Cavell is governed by its Constitution as adopted on 11[th] October 2021.
The Trustees are responsible for the overall governance of the organisation. The Board consists of a maximum of six elected trustees, elected by the Full Members for a three-year term of office. Our governing regulations allow the board to co-opt members to the role of trustee in the event of a vacancy becoming available mid-term. Such appointments are valid only until the following AGM.
We currently have the appointed post-holders of Record Librarian and Social Media assistant who are members with specific skill sets, who are not trustees, but who are given responsibility for a specific area and who are overseen by the trustees.
During the year ending 31[st] March 2025 the trustees met officially on 6 occasions. On top of this the trustees had numerous informal meetings regarding individual topics arising from the monthly discussions and to make decisions as they presented themselves on a daily basis.
Radio Cavell Management Team during the period 1[st] April 2024 – March 31[st] 2025.
| Chairman | Kent Wells |
|---|---|
| Admin Secretary | Vacant |
| Treasurer | Phil Edmonds |
| Broadcast Manager | Phil Edmonds |
| Human Resources | Vacant |
| Communications | Vacant |
| Fundraising | Vacant |
| Technical Co-ordinator | Phil Lightfoot |
| Record Librarian | Steve Bolton |
| Social Media | Richard McLarnon |
Related Organisations
Radio Cavell is a member of the Hospital Broadcasting Association, the national charity that supports and promotes hospital broadcasting in the UK.
Phil Edmonds, is also a director of Oldham Community Broadcasting Ltd. Radio Cavell is a member and corporate director of Oldham Community Broadcasting Ltd. Ian Wolstenholme was appointed to represent Oldham Community Broadcasting Ltd as a trustee of Radio Cavell.
Page 3 of 7
Radio Cavell Trustees Annual Report and Accounts 2024-2025
Report on the organisation’s activities
Radio Cavell is proud to say that it continues to maintain the 24 hours a day broadcast to the patients and staff within the Royal Oldham Hospital. Broadcasting through the Hospedia internal network which services the hospital bedside monitors and via a low power Medium Wave transmitter on 1350 AM to those areas of the Hospital without the bedside connections.
Request programmes continue to be our flagship programme and we aim to broadcast them between 9.00pm and 10.00 pm every night of the week. These are complimented by various other programmes including interviews, specialist music, sports, special events and a broadcast of the Sunday morning hospital chapel service. Additionally, some sizeable hospital departments listen to Radio Cavell in the workplace.
While continuing to broadcast through the Ofcom licence for the 1350AM transmission Radio Cavell
trustees are continuing to monitor the changes in licence conditions brought about by the reduction in AM broadcasting and the moves to FM and new digital platforms with DAB. Radio Cavell must continue to look forward at the opportunities these changes may bring and must not be left behind by any such changes.
Radio Cavell continues to receive support from Northern Care Alliance and more specifically the Oldham Care Organisation, through the provision of premises, services and support from the Trust's Volunteer Services Manager.
Radio Cavell has always had great pride in its ability to meet the requests of our patients and listeners within the hospital complex with its extensive music library. Following the decision in 2023 to reduce the vinyl and CD collections and to digitise as much of the music as possible, our record librarian has done an excellent job in moving to a predominantly digital collection and identifying areas where we need to review our music library. This continues to be an ongoing task but has made the building alterations more viable than was expected.
Since the pandemic and restrictions resulting from it, the benefits of working collaboratively with others, in particular Oldham Community Radio has added to both the quantity and quality of our output and general programming. Our live output through shared daytime programmes such as Oldham Today, The Wireless Programme, and other sports and local interest programmes from time to time has been a significant change to daytime broadcasting and bringing more local interest into our programmes. It has also increased our request show audience through the shared output of request shows on both stations.
During the year Radio Cavell was pleased to be able to assist with the PA and the switching on of the Christmas lights in the fountain area. Father Christmas switched on the lights with the support of a choir of local high school pupils. This was well received by our live audience as they joined in with the carol singing.
It would be wrong at this point not to mention the most difficult part of the last 12 months and the sad passing of our long serving member, trustee and great friend Arthur Chorley. With his wealth of technical knowledge Arthur was an asset to the station for almost 30 years and his passing leaves a hole not only on the technical side, but also on our sports broadcasts where he was best known for his studio production of the Rugby commentaries. He is missed but not forgotten.
Page 4 of 7
Radio Cavell Trustees Annual Report and Accounts 2024-2025
The last year has been disappointing in terms of recruiting new volunteers and this must be a priority for the coming year. Restrictions in the recruitment of new members working on the Hospital site mean all volunteers are required to have a current valid DBS certificate and while this is necessary it does slow down the possible recruitment of new members.
While recruitment is a priority for the coming year, so to is fund raising. The current studio is past it’s best in terms of technical equipment and a provisional target of £10,000 is needed to move the station forward to the point of having the latest Myriad licenced software on new computers which can handle 24/7 running 365 days a year.
The trustees have allocated some existing funds to the project, a Just Giving campaign has been started and it is intended to hold a number of events throughout the year to enable the upgrades to be funded. It is also intended to seek appropriate grant funding where possible.
Financial Review
The financial situation with regards to Radio Cavell remains finely balanced. Radio Cavell is extremely grateful to those people and organisations who have been able to support us during this difficult time.
During the year we were extremely grateful to a number of our supporters, the largest being a donation of £3,000 from Arthur Chorley. This money while not formally restricted will be used as part of the reserved funds for the update required to the studio and myriad radio playout software system.
As funding has become more difficult new ways to raise funds have been a constant source of discussion and we are please to say that Cavell is now registered as a charity for both Gift Aid and eBay and it is hoped both will bring in additional funds going forward.
Radio Cavell is also registered with Easy fundraising who make charitable donations based on purchases made by people who nominate Radio Cavell as their Charity and over the period we received £124 from them.
Cavell has its own Just Giving account for donations to campaigns and events and this year we have a campaign for the refurbishment of the studio
We are registered as a good cause in the Oldham Community Lottery; in this period we received £209 from this.
No grant income was received in this period.
We received support ‘in-kind’ from The Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust in the form of premises, heat and light and some technical and telecoms facilities.
Page 5 of 7
Radio Cavell Trustees Annual Report and Accounts 2024-2025
Receipts and payments account
Period start date: 01/04/2024 Period end date : 31/03/2025
Section A: Receipts and payments
| Unrestricted | Restricted | Total | Previous year | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Funds | Funds | Funds | Funds | ||
| £ | £ | £ | £ | ||
| Receipts | |||||
| Grants | - | - | - | - | |
| Donations | 3,251 | - | 3,251 | 2,550 | |
| Fund Raising Activities | 332 | - | 332 | 653 | |
| Sub Total | 3,583 | - | 3,583 | 3,203 | |
| Asset and investment sales | - | - | - | - | |
| Total Receipts | 3,583 | - | 3,583 | 3,203 | |
| Payments | |||||
| Broadcast Licences | 2,112 | - | 2,112 | 2,650 | |
| Telecoms and Internet | 451 | - | 451 | 442 | |
| Administrative Costs | 50 | - | 50 | 50 | |
| Publicity and Promotion | - | - | - | 47 | |
| Misc | - | - | - | 339 | |
| Sub Total | 2,613 | - | 2,613 | 3,528 | |
| Asset and investment purchases | |||||
| Equipment | - | - | - | - | |
| Total Payments | - | - | 2,613 | 3,528 | |
| Transfers between funds | - | - | - | ||
| Cash funds last year end | 4,334 | 597 | 4,654 | ||
| Cash funds this year end | 5,026 | 597 | 5,623 |
Section B: Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| Unrestricted | Restricted | |
|---|---|---|
| Funds | Funds | |
| £ | £ | |
| Cash Funds | ||
| Cash at Bank | 5,026 | 597 |
| Total Cash funds | 5,026 | 597 |
| Other monetary assets | - | - |
| Investment assets | - | - |
Assets retained for the charity’s own use
| Fund | Cost £ | |
|---|---|---|
| Computer Workstation | restricted grant funds’22 | 1,164 |
| HP MFP Printer | restricted grant funds’22 | 157 |
| Audio server storage drives | restricted grant funds/ | |
| General funds | 440 | |
| Outside Broadcast headsets | restricted grant funds’21 | 570 |
| Laptop computer system | restricted grant funds’21 | 569 |
| Audio switcher | restricted grant funds’21 | 711 |
Additionally, the charity has assets of CD and record library, technical equipment comprising broadcasting studios, transmitter equipment and office equipment. The majority of these items are in excess of a decade old.
Page 6 of 7
Radio Cavell Trustees Annual Report and Accounts 2024-2025
Liabilities
In the next 12 months immediate liabilities consist of broadcasting licences and telecoms costs to the sum of approximately £2,750.
Signed on behalf of the trustees
Kent Wells Phil Edmonds
Page 7 of 7