Long Serving Sunday Ceilidh Host Passes Away

Highland Hospital Radio is saddened to learn of the passing of former member and host of the Sunday Ceilidh Graham Wilson. 

Graham was a talented musician and composer writing compositions for accordion which he would perform on stage and play out as part of his Sunday Ceilidh programme on the then Inverness Hospital Radio.

Joining Inverness Hospital Radio in 1994, Graham remained a member for 30 years and contributed a wealth of programmes for listeners.  During COVID Graham was an innovator in performing on social media to entertain his fans, also making use of online platforms to host his shows to be listened to on demand.  When his show was broadcast live online, he was sure to have many listeners tuned in from the hospital bed, across Scotland and even globally. A keen amateur astronomer, Graham enjoyed photography of the sky at night.  

The excellent quality of the Sunday Ceilidh was recognised in 2016 by the Hospital Broadcasting Association when at their annual awards, the show received a Silver Award in the ‘Best Specialist Programme’ category. 

The programme contained a wide mix of traditional and more modern Scottish music, some classic clips of Scottish variety acts as well as Graham’s own humour.  This humour shone through in our first Radio Pantomime in 2023 when Graham effortlessly took on the role of the Panto Dame. 

Thomas Nelson, chair of Inverness Hospitals Broadcasting Service SCIO the charity behind Highland Hospital Radio said; 

‘I was really saddened to hear of Graham’s passing.  Graham and I were messaging each other recently when he was telling me he was up in the wards at Raigmore.  He was upbeat as always and felt he was on the road to recovery.  His spirit and humour were as positive as always.  The news of his passing so soon after makes this all the more shocking. 

The membership of Highland Hospital Radio has all spoken with each other about the shock and sadness at the news.  Many of us all remember having him play the panto dame and how much we all laughed when he debuted the voice he was going to use! 

Graham’s keenness to use the online world to share his programming means that we all have the ability to listen again to Graham again when we want to hear the humour and music again. 

On behalf of the trustees and members I would like to extend my condolences to Graham’s wife Kay, his children and grandchildren and all those who knew him and will be saddened by his passing.’