Keech Children's Hospice
Great Bramingham Lane
Streatley
Luton
LU3 3NT
01582 492339
LOCATION:
Keech Hospice Care Children’s Hospice is located just to the north of Luton, in Bedfordshire, and works with of Together For Short Lives, formerly known as Children’s Hospices UK. Together for Short Lives is the leading UK charity for all children with life-threatening and life-limiting conditions and all those who support, love and care for them. They support families, professionals and services, including 52 children’s hospices in the UK, and their work helps to ensure that children can get the best possible care, wherever and whenever they need it.
HOW INITIAL CONTACT WAS MADE:
It was early in 2011 when contact was first made with Keech Hospice Care Children’s Hospice, and a visit was made later that year on July 21st. This was one of the very first children’s hospices visited by Together For Cinema and sadly we were unable to help with their requirements at the time but we learnt a great deal about what we could offer going forward… Three years later, and following regular PR from the Together For Short Lives group to their members, I was contacted again by Keech Hospice Care with a view to possibly installing a cinema room in their new adult Dining Room . A meeting on August 20th, 2014 followed and Cheryl Huntingford and Guy Murray from Smartcomm (our volunteer installers) had no concerns about installing a comprehensive home cinema facility in the very same room that I had initially had concerns with! This is why Smartcomm are regular industry Award Winners I suppose!!
HOW THE INSTALLER / PROJECT MANAGER WAS FOUND:
It was at the end of 2011 that I was initially contacted by Smartcomm offering their services to help with one of the installations. They had read about our work in our trade media and simply felt that they would like to get involved with a local project to themselves. Going forward to early 2014 and having been contacted again by Keech Hospice Care I felt it would be worth contacting Smartcomm to see if they might be interested in taking a look… I spoke to Cheryl Huntingford and we met at the CEDIA Awards dinner in Greenwich, and following this meeting we arranged to visit Keech Hospice Care with her colleague Guy Murray.
INITIAL MEETING AND SPECIFICATION:
This took place on Wednesday August 20th and was between myself, Cheryl and Guy from Smartcomm and Shirley Scotcher and David Rigg from Keech Hospice Care Children’s Hospice.
We were all welcomed very warmly by Shirley and David, and were shown the three possible locations for the cinema to be installed. As it turned out the only option was the room I had seen three years earlier and both Cheryl and Guy felt they could really create something special that could also be used for training, fundraising, gaming, and of course a wonderful cinema room.
SOURCING OF PRODUCT:
With Smartcomm’s uncompromising professionalism and growing desire to make the installation as good as it could be we created an ambitious wish list of product. Fortunately, as we all knew most of the main manufacturers and distributors very well we were able to open conversation very swiftly to secure all the product that we were looking for.
Brands such as Arcam, ConnectorCo, Crestron, CYP, Dataflow IT, Epson, Kaleidescape, Middle Atlantic (donated by RGB Communications), Monitor Audio, Unicol and Wyrestorm all generously stepped up and contributed, helping transform the room into a wonderful cinema.
An ambitious kit list indeed, but with the right contacts, and a lot of generosity and goodwill, we were able to secure all the products required fairly swiftly. A big thank you to all that have helped to create a very special cinema room that will be used and enjoyed by the kids and their families for many years to come...
INSTALL STARTED:
Monday 12th October, 2015.
INSTALLER INSTALL COMMENTS:
“Our first site visit brought with it so many emotions. There was no doubt in our minds that “we must provide these lovely children, parents, families and nurses with a space where they can quite simply relax, smile, laugh and enjoy time together”.
The provided space itself was a challenge – A very large space with lots of natural daylight.
The projection screen and speaker positioning had to allow for children in beds to watch movies from the back of the room, whilst also ensuring that entrances, exits and fire escapes were all kept clear.
Control of the system was also a major consideration. This had to be a robust fixed solution, that had an extremely user friendly interface, allowing ANYONE to walk into the room and understand how the system turned on/off, select movie, connect a laptop etc.”
Guy Murray, SmartComm Ltd
INSTALL COMPLETED AND FINAL SIGN OFF:
Friday 16th October, 2015.
CUSTOMER POST INSTALL COMMENTS:
“On behalf of Keech Hospice Care, I would like to thank you wholeheartedly for your generosity in providing us with a projector and screen for our cinema/conference room.
Your equipment is very useful for Sparklers, our support group for siblings of our life-limited children. As part of a programme of fun activities, they use the screen for watching films, giving the kids a much needed break from the reality of having a very ill sibling.
Our Bereavement Support team also uses the equipment when conducting 6 week training courses for our highly valued bereavement volunteers. The high quality of the screen enables our trainers to deliver their presentations more professionally, giving the volunteers a better introduction to the important work they do for Keech Hospice care.
Your generosity is of great benefit to everyone at Keech Hospice Care in our work to deliver our specialist palliative care for adults and children, facilitating the delivery of effective company presentations, conferences and meetings in general.”
David Rigg, Buildings Manager, Keech Hospice Care Children’s Hospice
INSTALLER POST INSTALL COMMENTS:
“The Smartcomm installation engineers did a fantastic job to deliver the project.
Seeing the finished product, with Crestron control interface, Kaleidescape movie server, laptop connection points and more…..all this proved to provide the Hospice with the flexibility and user friendly system that was sought after.
We demonstrated the working system to a handful of children, families and workers and it was at this point that you really appreciated the installation. The reward of a single smile was enough to make us want to provide an install like this again in the future.”
Guy Murray, SmartComm Ltd
KIT LIST THAT WAS DONATED:
Other accessories were donated directly by Smartcomm Ltd
PEOPLE INVOLVED IN MAKING IT HAPPEN:
THANK YOU to you all!! …you have all helped create a little bit of magic at Keech Hospice Care Children’s Hospice.
FINANCIALS:
All products and services were sourced, supplied and installed free of any charge. The approximate total cost of the install, including consultation, installation, products and any other associated costs would normally have been in the region of £19,000 for an end user price.
Smartcomm Ltd have also committed to be available for any servicing and technical queries post install.
SUMMARY:
For Together For Cinema this installation was our 14th completed cinema room in a children’s hospice, and we have now also completed our 15th room at Naomi House in Winchester. There are two more due for completion in Summer 2016 and after these we will be at 17 by the end of 2016. With a Together For Cinema target of 25 rooms completed by the end of 2020 we will now look to complete 2 rooms a year from 2017 to hit target and then consider how Together For Cinema moves forward.
The installation at Keech Hospice Care Children’s Hospice is another fantastic result, with more great support from the industry to help make it happen. Thanks must go to all involved and particularly Guy Murray and his team at Smartcomm who have given a great deal of time and effort in ensuring the end result is a great solution for the staff, the children and their families at Keech Hospice Care. The generosity of all concerned will make a difference to all those that use the room for many years to come. Very simply, another installation for our industry to be proud of
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