Category: Memories

Pebble Mill – First Day Covers

50 Years of Broadcasting first day cover

Pebble Mill 10th Anniversary first day cover

There were two ‘First Day Covers’ issued by the Royal Mail to commemorate anniversaries at Pebble Mill.

The first dates back to September 1972, and celebrates the 50th anniversary of the BBC.  Special BBC stamps were produced.  The stamp on the first envelope cost only 3p! The logo for this website is inspired from the ‘First Day Cover’ stamp on the envelope.

The second ‘First Day Cover’ marks the 10th birthday of BBC Pebble Mill, and dates from 10th Nov 1981.  The price of the stamp has gone up to 14p by this time!

Thanks to Ian Collins from Post Production for making these available.

Scenic Workshop – Gus’s photos

Scenic Workshop

Photos by Willoughby Gullachsen (Gus), no reproduction without permission.

These photos are of the Pebble Mill Scenic Workshop, where the studio sets were made.  The Scenic Workshop opened onto Studio A, so that sets could easily be moved into place.  You can see the studio doors in the lower photo.

Scenic Workshop

Rum Punch Day Football Match


RUM PUNCH DAY FOOTBALL MATCH

These photos are taken of the Pebble Mill football match, organised by the BBC Club, traditionally held on ‘Rum Punch Day’, just before Christmas each year.  Thanks to Gail Herbert, who was Chair of the BBC Club at Pebble Mill for many years for making the photos available.  The match was ‘Personnel versus the Club’.

Top photo (not sure which year) were the losers, top row left to right: Colin Spears, Rick Thompson, Steve Lee, Alan Towers, Brian King, Peter Urie, Jock Gallagher.

Bottom row: Paul Howell, Bridget allen, Mark Duggan, Jane Morgan, Andy Tylee, Roy Saatchi.

Lower photo: Rum Punch Day Football Match 1985.

Bottom Row: Andy Turley, Mary Mallett, Mel Stevens, Paul Howell, Roy Saatchi, Jock Gallagher Row l to r: Colin Spears, Andy Tylee, Kevin Knock, Peter Urie,?, Brian King,Peter Windows (freelance producer on The Archers, then lecturer at BCU), Ted Woodhead ?.

If you can fill in any of the unidentified players in the second photo, or know the year of the first photo, please add a comment.


Phil Sidey’s Leaving Party – photo Paul Scholes

Phil Sidey's leaving party

Photo from Paul Scholes, of Phil Sidey’s leaving party, in the Pebble Mill Foyer, Studio C, the home of ‘Pebble Mill at One’.

Phil Sidey was the head of centre from 1973 to 1983, when David Waine succeeded him.

Phil Sidey, born in 1926, died on the 15th October 1995 whilst walking in the Peak District, below is a quote from his obituary in the Independent, written by Leonard Miall:

‘As the Head of the BBC Network Production Centre at Birmingham, Phil Sidey was the man who converted Pebble Mill from a structural white elephant into a thriving source of daytime television. He was the first manager of Radio Leeds and played a leading role in establishing lively local broadcasting on a financial shoestring. He was a programme innovator with a spate of lively ideas and an abrasive tongue which tended to upset some of his colleagues. He was also an accomplished public speaker and a successful chairman of the Royal Television Society.’

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituaries-phil-sidey-1579330.html

Please add a comment if you knew Phil Sidey and can add more information, or if you can identify people in the photo.

Commemorative Dish – Dave Bushell

Commemorative Dish

The opening of Pebble Mill in 1971 was obviously an occasion to be celebrated, prompting Wedgwood to produce a limited edition commemorative dish!

Fortunately Dave Bushell found this dish in a charity shop – it doesn’t seem to have had a lot of wear!  I wonder how many more there might be out there – and whether they are now a collector’s item?