Project Wingman installs a treat for staff at the Princess Royal Hospital

By Jacqueline Elmore

Pilots and cabin crew have come together to provide NHS staff with a well needed boost in the shape of a new first class lounge at the Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath.

Project Wingman was the brainchild of two pilots based in Moray and London which led to 5000 volunteers from the airline industry setting up ‘first class lounges’ in over 70 hospitals throughout the UK to help give something back to NHS staff.

Cuckfield resident, Wendy Tracey-Roberts, who works in Aviation crew training, had this to say about the project: “The idea for the lounges began at the height of the pandemic. Their purpose was to enable any furloughed airline crew the chance to provide a little wellbeing and care to frontline NHS staff.”

Crew from all the major UK airlines are participating and helping to run the lounges, by providing refreshments and creating a place in which NHS workers can de-stress.

Wendy continues: “The PRH struggled to find space for a lounge for a while, until recently that is. It opened at the beginning of last month. They were even lucky enough to be given a donation of £50,000 from a local Haywards Heath business to allow the lounge to be fitted out.”

Supplies of refreshments and snacks for the lounges rely solely on donations; these have come in from big chain supermarkets, smaller companies and individuals. Thousands of airline staff have offered their time and skills to the project.

“My involvement stems from the work I do for ‘Plane Training’. They were very much a part of the idea from the beginning and have been talking to the hospitals throughout the whole process.” The lounges have provided a sanctuary for many carers; be that in the form of a listening ear or a hot cup of tea.

Wendy concludes: “It’s been a very stressful time for all of the NHS staff and in order for them to do their jobs as best they can, they need a safe space, somewhere to relax, and somewhere they can feel at ease.”

With an average of 250 NHS staff visiting the lounges every day and to allow the service to keep running, donations still need to be made. Donations can easily be made through Amazon. To find out more please email wendytrmacrae@aol.com.

A look back at Cuckfield Life after reaching 100 issues

The man himself, David Tingley

By David Tingley

It is not without a little pride that I happily recognise the fact that we have reached the 100th issue milestone for Cuckfield Life. And I say ‘we’ because creating and building a magazine like this from nothing is very much a team game! But more of that later.

Cuckfield Life was, in all honesty, a test-case. I had been publishing a village magazine in Lindfield for a few years and with CL I was trying to establish whether the format would work somewhere else.

I didn’t have a lot of prior knowledge of this community, and so I recall setting up a number of coffee meetings with folk from various groups and organisations in the early days. Most were happy to embrace the concept and even local businesses got on board – with the exception of one retailer who told me it wouldn’t work!

Thumbing through the back issue library has provided some highlights. For instance, issue number one may have only been 20 pages but had a great feature on the recently completed reordering works at Holy Trinity Church. The Independent State of Cuckfield were on page six with a piece on Lindy Elphick’s victory at the mayor’s election in 2012. And we started our recipe tradition early as the apprentice chef at Ockenden Manor provided two soup recipes for readers to try out.

It’s also worth noting that five of our original cohort of advertisers are still with us eight years later. Honourable mentions (and thanks) go to Lucy Locksmith, Helme & Hallett, Cuckfield Local, Gielgud Academy and Norto5 Kidz. As I’m sure you understand, this product is only free because businesses like these pay to be seen on our pages – and so, our readers using their services in return is crucial to our success.

In issue 12 (back in 2013), it’s interesting to note HHRFC celebrating the approval of plans for their new clubhouse at its Whitemans Green site. While in the following month’s copy newly elected mayor Mike Schlup begun our tradition of that post-holder writing a monthly column for us.

Two years in and we included an article showing some superb photography of the Tour of Britain as the cycle race passed through Cuckfield.

In September 2015 we begun including special content for Bolnore village, which makes up a considerable area of our door-to-door distribution. By 2017, the magazines had grown in size making our first 48-page edition.

Our Village People interviews have always been a strong part of what we do, and I’m delighted that we continue to find fascinating people whose stories we can share. Thank you to all who have taken part.

I do need to thank the team, who have come and gone over the last eight or so years, but who I am tremendously grateful to for their service. Claire Cooper with whom I started CL, Matthew Buss, Natasha Hannah, Simon Yeend, Elaine Goodwin, and the incredible Jacqueline Elmore and Emily Billson who continue to make it happen every month. Not forgetting the behind the scenes support of Justin and Ella with layout, proofreading and social media.

Here’s to the next 100. We know there’s plenty of life left in Cuckfield!

Mid Downs Radio at the Princess Royal Hospital

Sampling the delights of Cuckfish at MDR

Mid Downs Radio has continued to broadcast 24/7 throughout the pandemic from studios on the first floor of the Princess Royal Hospital. The station is a registered charity and provides music, entertainment and regularly updated information on health, hospital, social care and community matters to patients, staff and visitors to the hospital complex as well as to the wider community.

All the MDR presenters are volunteers who host a wide variety of shows. Production Manager Paul Barnett presents his ‘Tiffin with Paul’, an eclectic mix of music, poems and lively banter with co host Cathy, on Thursday afternoons from 3-5 pm. He has also been seen regularly in the Outside Broadcast Unit compering Cuckfield Christmas Night with MDR Technical Manager Gary Simons.

MDR has been delighted to help promote the brilliant Cuckfield Bookfest since its inception as well as the Music Festival, the 100th anniversary of Cuckfield Tennis Club and the opening of Cuckfish. Since launching the Listen Live service through the website and TuneIn App there has been an increase in listeners. MDR continues to support other charities and organisations by publicising their work and events through interviews and in some cases providing promotional fillers that go out regularly on air. If you would like to know more about promoting your charity through MDR please contact Wendy Swinton-Eagle at wendy@mdr.org.uk.

MDR funds itself through Grants & Membership fees but mainly through hiring out our distinctive Outside Events Unit and now the new fully equipped Mobile Disco complete with professional DJ, Lee Gillet all at very competitive rates.

To find out more about Mid Downs Radio, to read our latest magazine or to Listen Live please visit our website at www.mdr.org.uk