Memories – Page 22 – What Was Pebble Mill?

Angela Profit (nee Horsman) RIP

copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission

Sadly I have to let you all know of the passing last week of Angela Profit, nee Horsman.
Angela’s husband John has sent the following email with details of her funeral:-

Angie’s funeral will be held at Knowle Parish Church on Friday, May 8th

at 1-30pm.

Flowers will be from family only, but any donations should be for Macmillan Nurses, Solihull or Marie Curie Hospice, Solihull, c/o

Thomas Bragg & Sons, 562 Stratford Rd, Shirley, Solihull B90 4AY.
Angie died peacefully, with her wish to be at home with her 2 sons and me at her side.

The most amazing help came from the team of NHS District Nurses who worked far beyond their call of duty, to ensure Angie was looked after in the very best possible way.

Johnathan, Angie’s son sent the following email to me:-
Thanks again for your support, my mum loved the BBC and having a continued connection post retirement was a joy for her. I know we would love to see as many BBC friends pay their respects at the funeral.
If you missed it the first time here is a link to an article in the Birmingham Post 19th March on Angie. Click to download then you will have to go into your downloads for the page.
https://gallery.mailchimp.com/ea346a575a52cca4a71329735/files/angela.pdf

Our condolences go to Angie’s husband & sons.

Ann Gumbley-Williams

The following comments are just some of those left on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:

Marie Phillips: ‘Who could forget the permanent smile of a vivacious cheerful lady.’

Janice Rider: ‘So sad . Who doesn’t remember Angela . Always such a cheery , lovely soul . RIP’

Jean Palmer: ‘RIP Angela. Loved to hear your happy laughter coming from the contracts office.’

Lynn Cullimore: ‘What a battle she fought. Sad. Angela you will be missed.’

Pete Simpkin: ‘Farewell and deserved rest to a wonderful lady.’

Robert Davies: ‘Never saw her without a smile. RIP beautiful lady.’

Guide to Your Payslip

This Guide to Your Payslip was published in 1987, but was still being issued to new staff many years later. The booklet seems more complex than the actual payslip itself, and I bet most staff never read it!

Thanks to Dharmesh Rajput for sharing this booklet, and for keeping his copy safe all these years.

The following comments were left on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:

Andy Bentley: ‘1987 was the year I started at Pebble Mill, I remember this but you are right I never read it.’

Lynn Cullimore: ‘I once tried to read it! Gave up. But my gut instinct always told me if the figures were wrong!’

Sheila Brown RIP

Sheila Brown sadly died on 14th April 2015, at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham. Sheila started work as a secretary in Personnel, and then later in the Press Office and PR department, organising visitor tours of Pebble Mill.

Sheila is shown in the right of this photograph, which was taken at the Friday Night at the Mill party in 2004. The party which marked the closing of the Pebble Mill building, prior to its demolition in 2005.

Clara Hewitt, Janet Collins, Margaret Barton, Sheila Brown. Photo by Ruth Barretto, no reproduction without permission

The following comments were left on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:

Andy Bentley: ‘Remember Shiela well, she received an MBE if I remember right. Lovely Lady.’

Malcolm Hickman: ‘We used to take parties around the Mill, including parties of staff newly arrived at Bush House. Sheila used to organise the catering and for some inexplicable reason, there was always one or two bottles of red wine left over. A very sweet lady and an accomplished ballroom dancer in her younger days.’

Jane Ward: ‘Wasn’t she a keen ballroom dancer?’

Conal O’Donnell: ‘I remember Sheila very well- quite mischievous on her way & always good fun .I am sorry to learn of her passing.’

Julian Hitchcock: ‘What a lovely, funny soul she was: her very memory brings a warm smile to all who knew her. I do hope she enjoyed her later years.’

Tim Manning: ‘I’m so sorry to hear the news about Sheila; she was – as others have said – a lovely lady, and someone who cared deeply about Pebble Mill. And yes, Jane Ward, she was a very keen and skilled ballroom dancer; when I was directing a film for The Golden Oldie Picture Show, she loaned me all her trophies and lots of memorabilia.’

Marie Phillips: ‘Sheila was very kind to me when CIN was regarded as something of a misfit in the Press Office. Very very efficient. A well deserved MBE.’

Andy Caddick: ‘We used to have long chats on the No1 bus on the way to Pebble Mill. So sad, lovely lady.’

Graham Todd – A55 course

A55 course July 1978: L to R, Back row: D Slingsby (Terminated), M Swain, G Todd (Birmingham), J Willis (Belfast). Middle row: N Meadwell, R Pickering (Terminated), D Purdham (Glasgow), S Rowsell (Cardiff), G Russell (Cardiff). Front row: N Barnes, A Best, M Brown, M Devareux, G Fry, N Godden (Resigned at end of course)

A55 30 yr reunion Sept 2008. L to R, back row: Martin Swain, Neil Barnes, Steve Rowsell, Graham Todd, Joe Willis. Front row: Andy Best, Martin Brown, Martin Devereux, Gary Fry

A55 35 yr reunion 2013. L to R, back row: Steve Rowsell, Graham Todd, Joe Willis. Front row: Neil Barnes, Andy Best, Martin Brown, Gary Fry

The photos are from the VT Old Boys website: http://www.vtoldboys.com/etd/etd24.htm.

Thanks to Joe Willis for giving permission to use the photos, from the original TA course, A55 at Wood Norton, and the subsequent reunions. Graham Todd, from BBC Birmingham, was one of the first people that Joe met, when he joined the BBC, and they shared a room in D-Dorm, on the course. The A55 course, Engineering Training Department, visited Pebble Mill as part of the course, to see Pebble Mill at One going out live on air.

Graham Todd, died in October 2014.

The following comments were left on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:

Andy Marriott: ‘Graham was a great bloke. It came as a real shock to hear he’d died.

I made it to his retirement do (which I think was in 2010?) and that was the last time I saw him.

Unlike many retirement do’s I’ve been to where the person in question is usually a little sad to be leaving, but ultimately looking forward to a bit of R&R, spending time with family and hobbies and the like, I got the feeling he retired out of frustration at the way things were going. It was really quite upsetting.’

Malcolm Hickman: ‘I worked with Graham for many years and a better colleague you couldn’t wish for. Another fine fellow gone.’

Angela Horsman B’ham Post article

The article above, tells about how Angela Profit (formerly Horsman) has lived with cancer for the past 14 years. It appeared in the Birmingham Post on Thursday 19th March 2015.

The following comments were left on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:

Jane Ward: ‘She’s so wonderful – still sending texts – got one this evening….No words to describe how amazing Angie is…x’

Pete Simpkin: ‘This is so moving. I have just lost my wife who was an active lady like this to cancer and my thoughts go out to Angela and her family.’