On May 27th, Pro Skaters Jack & Bugs Fardell and John Dickenson ‘Peewee’ paid a visit to the children at the Gold Coast Hospital.

Sponsored by Real, Thunder, Spitfire (flow) (OZ), Volcom Australia, Osiris, Jack is no stranger to the elite world of professional skateboarding. The guys turned up to some very excited fans, some of the children had already painted welcome signs for their arrival!

After that the guys got busy, challenging the children at ping pong, table tennis, table soccer, and doing the rounds to visit the children who couldn’t make it down to the playroom.

The guys also went on air for a Radio Lollipop interview which kept everyone laughing to their funny answers to the kids’ questions.

All in all it was a great night and we really enjoyed having such professional young sportspeople come and hang out with the Radio Lollipop Gold Coast team. The children were rapt with the magazines the guys brought in and signed, a great keepsake for them to take home.

Houston …..we have a TV Crew!!! That’s right KTRK the local ABC affiliate joined the Terrific Tuesday Team this week! The studio was a buzz as the camera man caught a glimpse of great jokes and sweet dance moves. Tuesday terrifically rounded out the last hour, as usual, with the Cupid Shuffle and the crew couldn’t wait to be a part of the fun. The team at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston was contacted because the station wanted to highlight the way over 60 volunteers each week bring smiles to the face of sweet kiddos in their segment “Today’s Hometown.”
The TV crew roamed the hallways with Roving DJs to deliver prizes and the children were delighted to be on camera. Parents beamed with excitement to share the joy that Radio Lollipop brings to their children. Houston now knows it’s more than doctors and nurses that heal the small patients it’s the healing power of play… like call in contests and sharing jokes. The highlight of the evening was ten minutes before “Dingy Debbie” signed off – A child slowly made her way to the studio, her parents explaining that she was too sick to participate in anything all day, she said she had to see the studio for herself because “It sounded like they were having a lot of fun up there.”

Last year, the South West Harley Davidson Owners group (HOGS) kindly committed to have Radio Lollipop (based at the Bristol Royal Children’s Hospital) as their chosen charity for the next three years. They have already raised over £5000 for us at their regular meetings and various events such as charity auctions and The Bristol Motorbike Show. Recently they roared up to the hospital on their motorbikes and donated many gifts including Playstation 2s for every bed on the adolescent ward (35) and 10 televisions with buit in DVD to be distributed amongst the other wards. They also bought games, DVDs and CDs from a long list of ones suggested by the patients themselves.
More recently they kindly donated lots and lots of chocolate Easter eggs for the patients and their siblings who were in hospital over the Easter weekend. At 2pm on Saturday 4th March, they presented them to us and again roared up to the Hospital with a generous donation which went a long way in putting a smile on the children’s faces.

Winterbourne Down Carnival took place on the Bank holiday weekend of 2nd- 4th May and Radio Lollipop Bristol was chosen as official charity of the year. The event was officially opened by four of our volunteers. There was a May Day carnival parade, fancy dress procession led by the City of Bristol Pipe Band and the Cohesion Colour Guard which put on displays throughout the days. Other events included a Barn dance, barbeque, treasure hunt, Irish dancing, a bouncy castle, chocolate fountain, a concert by Keynsham Brass Band and a Songs of Praise service in All Saint’s Church.

Radio Lollipop representatives also had the pleasure of crowning the May Queen, 10 year old Abigail Joyce, as well as judging the fancy dress! We appeared in the local newspaper, the Evening Post, who were there to cover the events of the carnival. All in all a fun day was had by all and hundreds of pounds was kindly raised and put towards the work we do to entertain young patients at Bristol Children’s Hospital.