Copyright resides with the original holders, no reproduction without permission.
This video was recorded by Thomas Graal, it shows the last days of BBC Pebble Mill Birmingham, including exclusive video footage of the Newsroom, all the News edit suites, the Crush Bar, the Pebble Mill garden, the main News studio, the conservatory & the car park. All this & the running commentary were recorded in October 2004.
Copyright Thomas Graal
Janice with her best trio of turkeys at the National Poultry Show 2013
Evesham the fox
Janice with Barnaby the Brahma
I worked on Countryfile from 1988 until 1999 and still use my Pebble Mill 21st anniversary mug for coffee!
For the celebration weekend I organised some sheep and chickens in a special Countryfile corner by the side entrance so visitors had something to look at whilst they queued up to get in the building
My time at Pebble Mill was very special and I am grateful to everyone for being such a friendly family.
I remember driving back to Fladbury (where I stayed with Anne Stephens during the week) after working late in the editing suite. I saw a fox that had recently been run over and picked it up. Next morning, I packed it up in the post department to send to a taxidermist. Those in post had never seen the like before!!! The fox still lays under the hall table and is called Evesham.
I have been teaching vet students, writing for various magazines, written a book on turkeys Not Just For Christmas, appeared with Gordon Ramsay on the F Word, helping him with his turkeys and lots of other things since leaving Countryfile!
Janice Houghton-Wallace now living in South West Scotland.
Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission
Thanks to Sue Sweet for sharing this press cutting.
I don’t know the date of this cutting, but it is either from the 1970s or very early 1980s, and is presumably from one of the Birmingham local papers, and by a journalist who can’t spell ‘Pebble’. The woman obviously came well armed with bricks, in case the first one failed to break the window! Was the woman an irrate viewer?
The article below was published in the Radio Times on 9th December 1949. It explains how the Sutton Coldfield transmitter will bring television to the Midlands, when it begins broadcasting on 17th Dec 1949. The map shows the area covered by the transmitter, with the main transmission area being within the 50 mile radius.
copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission
https://www.transdiffusion.org/2016/12/17/television-comes-to-the-centre-of-england
Peter James Briggs
Tony Jarrett
Karen Bevins and Janice Rider
Joe Franklin
Gill Hughes
Gill Hughes and Jane Barton
Kevin Lakin and Gill Hughes. Photos by Kevin Lakin, no reproduction without permission
Les Podraza
Pete Montgomery
It was Amin Hassan’s funeral today. Amin worked as a dresser for many years at BBC Pebble Mill, and then in the Post Room at the Mailbox. Below is a post from Jo Mainwaring about the service:
“Well it may have been Black Friday [25th Nov 2016] in more ways than one, but the sun was shining and there was a very good turnout. Nice to see so many familiar old faces from all areas where Amin had worked and made friends. The service was short and sweet, with two hymns, ‘Morning Has Broken’ and ‘Jerusalem’. Amin’s niece was too emotional to give her eulogy but Rev Brian Atkins stepped in to read. Quite a few people went on to the Pavilion afterwards, but some had to return to work, eg. those taking time out from the Drama village. There are some lovely pictures of Am in the order of service which I’d like to post, if I wasn’t technologically challenged! Perhaps one of his other friends can do that. Rest in peace dear Amin, we shall miss you.”
Josephine Mainwaring