Local – Page 10 – What Was Pebble Mill?

Yoga on the Radio

This is the front page of a free leaflet available to listeners, to accompany ‘Relax with Roundabout’ – yoga on the radio, an innovation by BBC Birmingham producer/presenter, Pete Simpkin, and featuring yoga teacher Pat Mellor. It was part of Pete’s ‘Roundabout’ show. The leaflet includes line drawings of the different yoga postures that Pat was going to explain to listeners on her live programmes with Pete. As far as Pete is aware, Radio Birmingham was the first, and only station to do proper yoga lessons on the radio!

The following comment was posted on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:

David Shute: ‘ “Roundabout” was originally on the Light Prog. produced by Peter Duncan. In the 60’s whilst I was a reporter based in Bristol I did lot of on-air work for him including making the first ever live broadcast flying through the Sound Barrier. Those were the days when broadcasting really was fun, lucky we who were at it then.’

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The day the Pebble Mill studio opened

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-birmingham-29109003/the-day-pebble-mill-studio-opened-in-1971

This link is to a clip from Nationwide on 15th June 1971. Midlands Today presenter, Tom Coyne gives a guided tour of the brand new Pebble Mill studios. Included in the tour are Studio B, the home of Midlands Today; Studio A, where many dramas were produced; and the Radio studios, home to The Archers, we also see Radio WM in action. There is no mention of Pebble Mill at One, because the programme had not yet been planned.

Thanks to Malcolm Hickman for sharing the link.

Still from Tom Coyne’s piece on Nationwide. Copyright BBC.

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

Keith Warrender:’The EMI cameras were still going in 1983 when they were replaced with Link 125s. Link are long gone but the old factory is still standing unused in Andover.’

Sue Astle: ‘Such an amazing exciting time for us then, we were privileged to have worked there. Susie Bancroft. Ex make up’

Sarah Tongue: ‘My mom ran the Library!’

Helen Smith: ‘Loved watching that, my Dad was the cameraman at the beginning of the clip.’

Michael Fisher: ‘Radio Birmingham as it was at the start!’

Andy Marriott: ‘What was the little mini cart system they were using for spot effects, called?’

Malcolm Hickman: ‘It was a device called a P.E.G. Programme effects generator. They used a spool of tape in a case with a metal loop fitted at one end. When you inserted the cartridge, the machine grabbed the tab and cued the effect. It had loads of slots so a sequence of effects could be built up. A BBC designs department product, IIRC.’

Sue Welch: ‘Actually remember Tom Coyne from Tyne Tees Television. A very long time ago.’

Malcolm Adcock: ‘Happy memories, joined Top Gear in 1988 and our production office was later in the old Pebble Mill at One studio area.’

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Malcolm Stent awarded a BEM

From Pebble Mill News 1984. Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission.

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Congratulations go to Malcolm Stent, who has been honoured as a ‘Medallist of the Order of the British Empire’ (BEM), in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours (2017). The award is for ‘services to Entertainment and charity in Solihull’.

Malcolm was a presenter on Radio WM, in ‘the Barmaid’s Arms’, alongside Mary Kendall (Rosie), he also presented ‘Folk Scene’. In addition, he used to do audience warm-up for Pebble Mill at One.

Malcolm is still very active on the stage, writing and appearing in pantomimes particularly in Solihull.

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

Pete Simpkin: ‘I worked with Malc so much on his radio adventures and feel so proud of him achieving this honour . He has worked….sometimes too much…. but always with love and dedication to the people around him. the lad from Saltley off to Buck House!! Great news!!’

Clare Bryan: ‘I was lucky enough to work with Malcolm and Mary. Great days and great memories. A richly deserved honour.’

Jim Knights: ‘You’ve come a long way kid since “Stent on Sea”‘

Ned Abell: ‘Great warm-up “Coventry – a little fishing village just off the M6″‘

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Pebble Mill campaign for a blue plaque

Adrian Goldberg. Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission.

A chance to listen to one of the Plaque For Pebble Mill Campaigners making their case on a recent edition of Radio WM’s Adrian Goldberg Show. It’s about 1 hour 50 minutes in.

http://bbc.in/2g519Ha

The show will be available to listen to until 10th December 2016.

Thanks to Steve Weddle for sharing the link.

BBC Millennium Oral History Project

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The Century Speaks was the BBC’s Millennium Oral History project. It was a national regional and local radio initiative to record biographies of up to 8000 people, on a number of different themes. The recordings were used to create sixteen programmes per local station, one on each of the different themes. The recordings and programmes are stored in the National Sound Archive of the British Library.

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

Dave Harte: ‘I was interviewed for this project. Helen Lloyd came to my house and recorded an interview with me. I think there was also a Birmingham-focused book about the project?’

Robert Thompson: ‘Gosh. I remember this – it was a big BBC Local Radio project which culminated in some extraordinary programmes some of which were re-broadcast on Radio 4 and are held by the British Library. There was a follow-up a few years later called A Sense of Place. It was an epic under-taking delivering a snapshot of life across the country as the century turned.’

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