Ken Anton is known to a number of hospital radio stations for his ‘Sunny Side’, ‘Time After Time’ and ‘In The Drawing Room’ programmes, and is the secretary of Northern Air Hospital Radio in Manchester, as well as broadcasting live on Northern Air and BridgeFM hospital radio in Dundee – all in addition to his day-job as a technology lead with TalkTalk in Salford.
The plan for a sponsored cycle run started with a chance comment that Ken made about his work with hospital radio to Ian, one of his colleagues at TalkTalk, and invited him to join Ken and his co-presenter Freddie on their live ‘Snippets’ programme. Ian was impressed with the service that the volunteers at Northern Air provide, especially as so many patients don’t have visits from friends or family while in hospital, and so he hatched a plan to help raise funds to support the station’s work.
Ian is a keen amateur cyclist, and persuaded five of his colleagues to take part in a 50-mile sponsored cycle run. On the 4th of July, 2021, Ian, Lee, Andy, Darragh and Marlon set out from Salford Quays to cover the 50-mile ride to Blackpool. At the same time, Chris set out from Edinburgh to St Abbs in Berwickshire as he was unable to join the others on the day in Manchester.
The event was generously sponsored by TalkTalk colleagues and friends, and Northern Air members and friends, and over £1500 was raised to help towards Northern Air’s running costs. Northern Air is an independent charity, and is staffed solely by volunteers, who are grateful to Ian and his colleagues for giving their time and energy, organising and promoting this event, which will help Northern Air continue to entertain hospital patients at North Manchester General Hospital and Salford Royal Hospital.