Mike Day – What Was Pebble Mill?

Tony Newbury, Mike Day, Gail Herbert, Peter Skinner

The photo includes Tony Newbury, Mike Day, Gail Herbert (now Everett), and Peter Skinner. It was taken in the BBC Club at Pebble Mill one Christmas.

Thanks to Gail for sharing the photo.

The following information was added on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:

Paul Hunt: Mike was the Broadcast Systems Engineer. In a nutshell he knew everything about all the wiring of Pebble Mill and kept all the records up to date. Additionally he had an encyclopaedic knowledge of all the Post Office landlines across the midlands region!

Steve Dellow: ‘He was also given an ‘Unsung Hero’ award recently’

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/get-inspired/46454426?fbclid=IwAR3lHi6eZp0AjzpVqpft-C89ZwTjK3Z2fksytN5JYu4QsvKFDxnhtu5li3U

Stan Smith’s retirement party

Photo from Malcolm Hickman of Stan Smith’s retirement party (circa 1983/4), which was well attended by Comms Centre staff.

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

Brian Johnson: ‘Will give it a try: Front row L to R – David Robinson, John Noble, Chris Donovan, Stan Smith, Keith Lindsey, Graham Hewitt: : Second Row L-R Shaffiq, John Nestor, Brian Johnson, Ian Gordon, Roy (Cyril) Thompson (peering over his shoulder), Glynn Benbow, Roy Winson, Jon Parker, Bob Allison, Mike Day, Fred Norton, Nigel Harris, Keith Brown, Paul Wheeldon, Derrek Smith, Malcolm Hickman,: Back Row R-L- John Malby, Phil Partridge, Guy with Glasses (??), then Graham Todd, Richard Taylor.
Can anyone fill in the (??) .

Great Photo. but what a male orientated lot we were’

Malcolm Hickman:’Guy over Roy’s shoulder is John Parker. Went to VT. Nigel Harris with beard, Keith Brown looking sideways.’

Andy Marriott: ‘Graham (on the right, with his hand on the trolley looking thing) was one of the Comms supervisors when I started.’

What’s Your Story

These photos are from a 1988 children’s live drama, recorded in Studio A at Pebble Mill, called What’s Your Story, with Crew 3. Included in the photos are Keith Salmon, James French, Derek Hallworth, Simon Bennett, Richard Stevenson, Adrian Kelly, Nigel Beaumont, Noel Paley, Karen Lamb and Dave Ballantyne.

What’s Your Story was a drama series with the storyline continued daily with ideas phoned in by viewers.

Christopher Pilkington was the exec producer, Richard Simkin the director and Richard Simon the producer. Dave Bushell was the lighting director.

The series featured: Sylvester McCoy (narrator), Bill Stewart, Susie Baster, Ben Benson, Tim Diggle, Lisa Rose (Laura), Stephen Tredre and Grace Wilkinson.

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

Stuart Gandy: ‘I remember this well. It was quite a challenge from an engineering point of view, but it worked well. I think this was the programme that I got my name on the credits. Engineers usually didn’t unless they were directly driving the gallery. In this case the credits included absolutely everybody that had been involved, however slight.’

Paul Grice: ‘I think it also held the record for the number of phonecalls generated at one time. As a fairly new Comms manager at the time it was my responsibility although I think Mike Day did the real work!’

Pebble Mill Skiing Photos by Ian Collins

Photos by Ian Collins, no reproduction without permission.

These photos date from April 1974. They may have been taken during a skiing holiday organised by some of the VT engineers. The photos include John Duckmanton (brown coat and with camera), Mike Day (in brown sweater) and Tony Newbury (just peeping out from behind John). Please add a comment if you can add information about the trip and location.