As we reach the end of the year – our first year, here at H&DRG – I’d like to reflect on the group’s meteoric rise. Just over a year ago there was relatively little hobby radio activity in and around Heckington. 12 months later, we have a thriving group of around 60 signed up members, 250 on Facey and PMR446 is alive, pretty much every evening, with people chatting away. We have several new radio amateurs, H&DRG has a healthy bank balance, despite charging no fees at all, we have distributed dozens of radios and we’ve helped many of you to get on for the first time, or back in the air after a long break. We’ve been featured on BBC Radio Lincoln and in the RSGB’s house magazine, RADCOM. Best of all, we’ve all made many new friends via radio. Achieving all of this in such a short period is quite astonishing. It’s a testament to all of you that we have managed it. So, thank you!
We have achieved this, not by accident but by design. I say this, not because I want to blow our collective trumpet, though there is nothing wrong with a bit of trumpet blowing where it’s due. But if we want the group to continue to succeed, we need to look after it and that requires us all to hold to that design and keep up the good work.
It’s not always easy. Clubs of all kinds can just as easily fragment, lose their mojo, and go into decline. We’ve had our ups and downs at H&DRG, but we have a couple of key strengths, and we can all play a part in maintaining and building on them.
One of them requires me to use that horrible word, ‘inclusivity’. Our motto at H&DRG is “Radio for all” because we believe that the whole community should be able to realise the benefits of radio communication – not just business users and those who can or want to pass an exam and obtain a licence. By using CB and PMR, we’re able to get people on the air from day one and introduce them to our fantastic hobby.
Inclusivity also means valuing everyone, whatever their background and interest in radio. Whatever your level of ability and whether you’ve come to the hobby from a technical interest, enjoy contesting, DXing, or for its social side and chatter, the part each of you play in maintaining the group is valued equally.
Another of our strengths comes from that word, ‘positivity’. We all have stresses and strains in our lives and things that get us down. But what we say and how we respond to people on the air, matters. Nothing puts people off from switching on that radio than hearing moans, division and argument when they do. If we want to create more activity, then we need to give people a positive reason to want to join us. That’s what we try to do at H&DRG. Remember: – every time you press that PTT, you’re acting as an ambassador for the group and the hobby. You can either send listeners running for cover or encourage them to join in.
One of my favourite sayings is ‘our thoughts create our feelings’. Think positive and you’re much more likely to feel it. Feel and think positive and you really can achieve the things that the Negheads will tell you are impossible. Like building a thriving radio club out of nothing! That’s what we’ve all done together in 2024 and that is what, with your help, we will keep doing in 2025.
So, a massive THANK YOU to all of you, have a very Merry Christmas and here’s to doing lots more radio in 2025!
Andy Mellett Brown
Chair, Heckington and District Radio Group
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