Pete Simpkin – Page 4 – What Was Pebble Mill?

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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Last Pebble Mill at One – Five Star

This is a performance of Five Star on the last ever episode of Pebble Mill at One in 1986. The group dance in locations all round the Pebble Mill building, including the canteen, PBX, the roof, courtyard, and even the Pebble Mill at One production office.

Thanks to David Croxson for pointing out the video on YouTube.

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

Ruth Barretto: ‘I have to say it bought a tear to my eye. So loved working in this building. Many happy memories. I remember watching them rehearsing .’

Stuart Gandy: ‘Wow, Can’t beleive this is 30 years ago!. I remember this so well, especially the bit they did in comms centre.’

Caroline Feldon Parsons: ‘Looking at that you realise once again what an iconic building it was. Loved my time there.’

Dharmesh Rajput: ‘Love this! Great to see the building again – I don’t think I remember the quadrangle without the conservatory in it!’

Pete Simpkin: ‘Fantastic!…brings back so many memories after all this time….yes and the lump to the throat!…..and what brilliant editing. Just this one clip shows clearly why ‘The One Show’ is such a feeble imitation too!!!’

Claire Chambers: ‘The very talented Roger Casstles directed this – only he could make Pebble Mill look like a Miami backdrop ( well at the beginning -not the bit in the canteen!)I think I was the P.A.!!!! How many locations and shot variations has he used -excellent.’

Pete Simpkin and Richard Jeffs remembering 1976

Photo from Andy Walters, no reproduction without permission.

BBC Radio Birmingham presenters Pete Simpkin and Richard Jeffs, with BBC WM presenter Danny Kelly, live from Sutton Park this morning [4th August 2016] with memories of the summer of 1976.

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

Colin Pierpoint: ‘I remember the hot summer of 1976, the Pebble Mill front lawn turned brown. The government appointed a minister for drought; the BBC followed him making live statements on the television news, and everywhere he went it rained!’

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Electrical warning sign

Photo by Martin Fenton, no reproduction without permission

Martin Fenton took this photo in the radio studios area of Pebble Mill in autumn 2003.

Electrical safety was obviously taken very seriously, if only ‘authorised staff’ could put a plug in a socket!

The BBC logo, with the rounded corners seems to date it between 1971-88.

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

Kathryn Shuttleworth: ‘I certainly know where this sign is. I have it along with other bits from Studio 3. I was one of the last to leave Pebble Mill and on a final walk round noticed most of the studio signs and door plates had gone. I guess quite a few people took a bit of Pebble Mill with them before the bulldozers turned up.’

Pete Simpkin: ‘In most BBC studios there were visits from musical groups of some sort and another and this notice was to be seen all over the place. I remember doing a late Christmas eve show at WM and was horrified to see my wife in the Ops room pulling out a mains plug (which could have been powering anything!) to plug in a hotplate containing eggs and bacon which she had brought in for the crew!!’

Angela Rippon presenting Top Gear

Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission

Here is a screen grab of Angela Rippon presenting the first ever episode of the motoring magazine show, Top Gear, stood outside BBC Pebble Mill, from 1977. An excerpt of this episode is included in the following BBC show, Back in Time for the Weekend, episode 3, The 70s: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b071c07m/back-in-time-for-the-weekend-3-the-70s

Here is the Radio Times entry for an early episode of Top Gear, from July 1978, courtesy of the BBC Genome project: http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/53d7caaca2db42e9af4b102cb6bb061b. You’ll see from the text that the programme was much more consumer and safety conscious than the current iteration of Top Gear:

“Top Gear with Angela Rippon and Barrie Gill
Rippon on the Road
The big holiday rush begins this weekend and many drivers plan to travel through Friday night. How dangerous is this practice? What are the stress factors and what are the signs of fatigue? Angela finds out for herself by night driving to the West Country. Twenty people are killed and over 200 seriously injured each week yet these figures could be cut to one tenth if we used our seat belts. Should we leave it to persuasion or is compulsion the final answer?
Director PHIL FRANKLlN Producer DEREK SMITH BBC Birmingham