Robin Sunderland – Page 6 – What Was Pebble Mill?

Pebble Mill Charity Parachute Jump

This photo was taken just before the Pebble Mill charity parachute jump, circa 1981.

Included are: Chris Goode (far left), Lesley Hope Stone (in yellow on left),John Priestley behind Lesley, then Trina Bond, Sue Robinson (in blue, first row standing), Wendy Mawson (next to Sue), Robin Sunderland (to the left and behind Sue), Brian Watkiss behind Robin, Phil Thickett (sunglasses at the back) Bob Cosford (glasses at the back), Nick Patten (in orange, wearing sunglasses, to right and behind Sue), Barrie Foster (blue suit, dark anorak), Dave Lowe (red suit, with beard), Andy Turley just behind Dave Lowe, next to Ian Fisher, Steve Mitchell (in khaki), Paul (?) Patterson to right of Steve, Merrick Simmonds (in blue, kneeling in front of Sue), Kevin Hudson (next but one to Merrick, blonde hair), Prakash photographer from Graphics (head in hands), Brian Bishop (blue jumpsuit, crouched on right).

Thanks to Sue Robinson, Kevin Lakin, Jane Mclean, Kevin Hudson for adding in the names.

Thanks to Dave Lowe for sharing the photo.

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

Sue Robinson: ‘I’ve got a newspaper cutting about this somewhere. We raised money for the RNLI, I think?’

Kevin Hudson: ‘The young lad behind Steve Mitchell is Brian Bishops son. I remember the day well, I was slightly off course landing, and was dragged through a pile of sheep sh…t. Oh happy days.’

Carol Churchill: ‘Steve and Brian scenic artists. I saw them all jump, lot of green faces that day.’

Susan Astle: ‘I watched them all too, with Carol, it was an amazing sight. Susie (Bancroft as was).’

On Your Farm

This cutting is from a Pebble Mill newsletter from 1984.

The article commemorates the 1,000th edition of On Your Farm, the Saturday morning Radio 4 programme, produced and presented by Tony Parkin. Tony had a long career at Pebble Mill which included working on Midlands Today, and Farming as well as being the agricultural editor on The Archers.

Thanks to Robin Sunderland for sharing the newsletter.

David Lancaster – Pebble Mill News 1984

This article is from Pebble Mill News 1984, the internal newsletter.

David Lancaster was a producer on Top Gear, and perhaps being a non-driver gave him an objective perspective when reviewing cars on the programme.

David Lancaster went on to work on Pebble Mill at One.

Thanks to Robin Sunderland for sharing the newsletter, and for keeping it safe all these years!

The Archers – another baby for Clarrie Grundy

Pebble Mill News March 1984

The Pebble Mill News of March 1984, announces that The Archers’ Clarrie Grundy is pregnant with her second child: the baby is of course Edward Grundy! The Grundy’s first child, William was named after Prince William, and coincidentally Princess Diana was also pregnant at this time, with her second child.

Thanks to Robin Sunderland for sharing his copy of the Pebble Mill News.

Torvill and Dean at the 1984 Olympics

This article is from Pebble Mill News, March 1984. It tells how a Pebble Mill single camera crew comprising of Eric Wise, Roger Guest, Bill Youel and John Allinson, brought Torvill and Dean’s, Bolero performance to 17.5 million viewers of the Winter Olympics, when the six Yugoslav rink-side cameras gave disappointing coverage!

The second article is about Nigel Pargeter’s drinking habits in The Archers.

Thanks to Robin Sunderland, for sharing this newsletter, and keeping it safe in his loft for many years!

Here is a link to a clip on YouTube of Torvill and Dean’s gold medal winning performance. Notice that consists of just one shot! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcCj0xfO3H8

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

Stuart Gandy: ‘Wow, how amazing that Robin has still got this after all these years. Funny thing is memories come flooding back, I can remember myself and my engineering collogues standing in TAR reading that very article back in 1984 and thinking what a coup it was that a Pebble Mill team got this coverage. Good stuff.’