Budding Radio Presenters from Harrogate School Entertain Orchard Care Homes Residents

Seven budding radio presenters from St Aidan’s Church of England High School in Harrogate, will have their work broadcast to hundreds of care home residents across the country, as part of a new partnership with Orchard Care Homes. Orchard Care Radio has been broadcasting online to homes across the Group for three years. The project with St Aidan’s School began in September 2017, when the care home company approached the school with an opportunity for students to take part in creating a series of bespoke radio programmes, aimed at its residents. Over the course of the academic year, weekly meetings held at the school saw students from the school’s sixth form working on both solo and group projects, with a brief to research, write, and record a 30-minute radio show, to be broadcast to residents across the Groups’ 46+ homes. Students were given access to the care home company’s radio equipment and studio, based at its Support Centre in Hornbeam Park, and given demonstrations on audio editing and production by Media Assistant Briony Axe. Dan Richardson, Sixth Form Student at St Aidan’s School CE High School commented, “I have really enjoyed being involved with this project, as it has been really practical and hands-on, and has also helped me to develop my public speaking skills.” Gemma Linscott, another student from the school commented, “I am hoping to go into a career in performing arts in the future, and what has been really useful about this project is being able to get experience in both the production and performance side of things, and seeing how a production comes together.” Marian Farrar, Business and Community Partnerships Coordinator at St Aidan’s CE High School commented, “This initiative has been really well received by the students, who have demonstrated impressive tenacity and commitment to delivering high quality audio content. “We are enormously grateful for the opportunity to work with Orchard Care Homes on this project, and hope to continue this valuable community link in future.” Tracey Tomlinson, Group Head of Sales and Marketing at Orchard Care Homes commented, “This has been a wonderful opportunity across generations, presenting young voices into an elderly care setting, whilst raising the profile of older people within this young group. Our ethos is to be at the heart of the community where our homes are, and this also extends to our Support Centre in Harrogate and this local school. We are incredibly grateful to the students and their level of commitment to the project, and we hope to build on this in the future.” If you would like to get involved with volunteering for Orchard Care Radio, email radio@orchardcarehomes.com. To keep up to date with news from the home, follow Orchard Care Homes on Facebook or YouTube.