Building – Page 11 – What Was Pebble Mill?

Regional Clubs Day 1990

These photographs were published in the BBC newspaper, Ariel, in July 1990. They were taken at the annual Regional Clubs Day held at Pebble Mill.

The second photo shows the Midlands winning badminton team, including Arif ?, Jane Dance, Pippa Jones (Graphics), ?.

The photos were originally shared on the Pebble Mill Engineers’ Facebook page.

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

Craig Wood: ‘Front row, second in on the left is my good pal, Mike Brown. Who I worked with in graphics. Very sadly passed away a few years ago.’

Ruth Barretto: ‘Front row: Colin ? Mike brown, Karen Hewson, Richard Pearson, middle row: Jane Dance Bartley, Maria Hurley, Lynne ? Julie Adams, David Wayne, Mary Sanchez’

Nationwide visits Pebble Mill

https://www.facebook.com/BBCArchive/videos/583616358678065/?t=0

Tom Coyne shows the viewers of Nationwide around the brand new Pebble Mill studios in 1971, including TV Studios A and B, and Radio studio 3, the home of The Archers.

Bernard Falk goes behind the scenes at Pebble Mill 1974

This link is to a short video posted by BBC Archive, of Bernard Falk taking a behind the scenes trip round BBC Pebble Mill in 1974.

https://www.facebook.com/BBCArchive/videos/560479220991779/?t=129

Election night 2001 Studio C gallery

Stuart Gandy and Keith Knowles on Election night in 2001, in Studio C gallery, in the early hours waiting for the results to come in. In the first photo you can see the names of the locations of the various OBs on the monitors.

These photos were originally posted on Pebble Mill Engineers Facebook group.

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

Stuart Gandy: ‘I remember the night well. The console in front of us with all the switches on was a special bit of kit (known as Robespierre – and I can’t remember why) that was only fetched out on election nights, that provided extra comms between the regions. It had to be connected back to comms centre with a lot of cabling a few days prior, which took quite a bit of planning and effort, but Pebble Mill was a regional election hub, so needed to communicate with a lot of places.’

Pete Simpkin: ‘I presented two General Election results Radio programmes on WM along with some local council ones and really enjoyed the through the night experience….. total exhaustion afterwards! Ten pm till 6 am the next morning was some ‘on air’ stint!!’

Andy Walters: ‘I was at the ICC that night Engineering for Radio WM. I remember it being a very late (or early morning) finish.’

Steve Johnson – Clearing the News VT Library 2002

Photos by Steve Johnson, no reproduction without permission

‘Clearing out the News VT Library at BBC Pebble Mill sixteen years ago. Preparing for the move to the Mailbox. My previous manager Garry Campbell looking on wistfully.

I was by this time working in the newsroom on BBC Birmingham Online but still daily visited my old offices next to the newsroom, sad to see them being emptied. Harvinder plugging a beta tape into a machine in the newsroom in the second photo.’

Steve Johnson