Bob Sinkinson – What Was Pebble Mill?

Midlands Yesterday – photos Maureen Carter

Here is a selection of photos from the Midlands Today reunion – entitled Midlands Yesterday, held on Saturday 3rd September 2016 at the Midlands Arts Centre. Thanks to Maureen Carter for sharing the photos.

Anita Bhalla, Sue Beardsmore

Ann Gumbley Williams, Jim Knights

Sally Morris and Ann Banks

Jane Ward, Mary Sanchez, Kay Alexander

Maurice Blisson

Pete Shannon, Gary Hudson

Pete Shannon, Maureen Carter

Richard Uridge

Rick Thompson and Gill Thompson

Rick Thompson, Pete Shannon, Jim Knights, Maureen Carter, Cathy Houghton,

Roz Gower and Mike Wilkie

Tony Francis and Roy Saatchi

Sue Beardsmore, Maureen Carter

? and Keith Ackrill

Brian Conway, Kathy Rochford, Sally Morris

Bob Sinkinson, Frances Coverdale, Mike Wilkie, Jim Knights

Gary Hudson and Mark Readman

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Midland Today newsroom

Bob Sinkinson, Steve Lee Milton, Roy Saatchi, Maureen Carter. Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission

A pensive moment in the Midlands Today newsroom at Pebble Mill. Included in the photo are: Bob Sinkinson, Steve Lee, Roy Saatchi and Maureen Carter.

Thanks to Maureen Carter for sharing the photo.

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Newsroom – Maurice Blisson

I came across this old photo taken in Pebble Mill newsroom, in the early 90s at a guess. I am in the foreground and also on it are Harvinder Singh, a newsroom stalwart who still does news shifts at the Mailbox, and Bob Sinkinson, Network News reporter, now retired. It looks like it is the old assignments desk, with me as intake editor and Harvinder on Camera Diary, controlling the movements of the crews and reporters. The early computers were the Hewlett-Packard BASYS system and were very rudimentary. There is the reflection of a red light at the end of the newsroom, indicating transmission.

Maurice Blisson

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

Becky Land: ‘Ah BASYS, that takes me back. I went from an electric typrwriter (ILR) to Basys and Rip n Read and thought I was in vanguard of technological age. Cart anyone?’

Peter Poole: ‘Maurice was a great character. The BASYS system could be logged in to remotely using a dial up connection. Somehow the modem phone number, user name and password was leaked. And a person who was due to be interviewed hacked into BASYS. And was able to read the scripts for their interview.’

Radio Birmingham Newsroom – photo from Annie Gumbley

The photo is of the Radio Birmingham Newsroom. It probably dates from 1974, judging by the calendar, phones and the haircuts! It includes: Peter Perks, Jim Rosenthal, Stuart Woodcock, Michael Woodhead and Bob Sinkinson.

Thanks to Annie Gumbley-Williams for making the photos available.

Birmingham producer/presenter Pete Simpkin adds the following comment:

“Fascinating picture because it shows just how similar Radio Newsrooms in those days were to newspaper office layouts………just phones and typewriters……….no sign of any technology……….any tape recorders and editing machines were hidden away behind pillars and in corners.
When the Newsroom moved upstairs under ten years later the whole design was more like what we now know as technology led with tape and recording facilities much more in evidence and visible…….there were cart machines in the duty editors workstation and there was even a dedicated broadcast studio in the newsroom.”