Photo by Bhasker Solanki, no reproduction without permission
This dome appeared on the roof of the Pebble Mill office block circa 1980.
The following comments about were posted on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:
Annie Gumbley Williams: The dome was built to be used for recordings, interviews etc. Remember doing one there with Robin Cousins in Roy Ronnie & Roy Norton days. Roy Ronnie used it for meetings sometimes to get out of the office. It made a lot of noise when it rained so not good for recording!
Malcolm Hickman: It also acted like a greenhouse and anything left in there suffered with the condensation.
Andy Shepherd:The dome was bought second-hand from Granada who had used it in the summer of 1979 for their Saturday morning children’s show The Mersey Pirate. The show was based aboard the ferry MV Royal Iris moored at Liverpool Docks. The dome structure was built on the promenade deck of the vessel. The run of the series was cut short by the ITV strike which started in August.
Here are a couple more photos of the dome being installed in 1981. They are from Stuart Gandy.
Photo by Stuart Gandy, no reproduction without permission
Dome being hoisted on to the roof. Photo by Stuart Gandy, no reproduction without permission
Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission
These photographs were published in the BBC newspaper, Ariel, in July 1990. They were taken at the annual Regional Clubs Day held at Pebble Mill.
The second photo shows the Midlands winning badminton team, including Arif ?, Jane Dance, Pippa Jones (Graphics), ?.
The photos were originally shared on the Pebble Mill Engineers’ Facebook page.
The following comments were left on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:
Craig Wood: ‘Front row, second in on the left is my good pal, Mike Brown. Who I worked with in graphics. Very sadly passed away a few years ago.’
Ruth Barretto: ‘Front row: Colin ? Mike brown, Karen Hewson, Richard Pearson, middle row: Jane Dance Bartley, Maria Hurley, Lynne ? Julie Adams, David Wayne, Mary Sanchez’
Photos by Jane Partridge, no reproduction without permission
‘News Team’ T-shirt belonging to Phil Partridge.
The following comments were left on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:
Ian Collins: ‘It was an animated logo and a version of it was on the front of the building for a while.’
Stuart Gandy: ‘You are right Ian, it was on the front of the building as can be seen in the picture on this wikipedia page about Pebble Mill.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pebble_Mill_Studios. I think I remember it being animated when it appeared at the start of the programme. I’m sort of guessing late 80s.’
Camilla Fisher: ‘The logo was designed by Tony Fisher based on transport etc meeting in the middle (rather than something going down the drain).’
Photos by Raymond Lee, no reproduction without permission
The top photo is of SCV6 (possibly with Roger Guest operating), on the OB for the Tom O’Connor Roadshow in Port Talbot in March 1987. CM1 was also needed on the OB, because of the sound requirements. The lunchtime entertainment show toured the country with an OB unit, broadcasting a week’s worth of shows from each location. Unfortunately, although popular, it proved too expensive in the long term.
The lower photo includes soundman Tim Green on the left, and Mark Botfield with the blond hair, Kenton Allen in the demin jacket.
These photos were originally shared on the Pebble Mill Engineers’ Facebook group.
The following comments were made on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:
Raymond Lee: ‘SCV6 was an articulated trailer, of a similar length to to the Type 5 CM1. It had an SSL Desk, some specially shaped LS5/8s and a 24 track Otari Multitrack tape machine. It also had 2 or 3 1/4″ tape machines, a cart machine, and record deck. It was quite tight for space which is why the jackfields used Bantam Jacks, unfortunately, they proved fairly unreliable in O.B. conditions.’