Stuart Gandy – Page 3 – What Was Pebble Mill?

Children in Need outside Studio A

Photo from Rod Fawcett, no reproduction without permission

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A busy Children in Need night in the corridor outside Studio A. This photo probably dates from the 1980s.

Thanks to Radio WM engineer Rod Fawcett, for sharing the photo.

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

Stuart Gandy: ‘Those were the days when CIN was a big event inside and outside the Mill.’

Andy Marriott: ‘It’s a shame, all the regions would get a decent chunk of airtime and places like Pebble Mill and Oxford Road used to make the most of it. It seems very London-centric now.’

Gyn Freeman: ‘Standing behind this red haired beauty is the timid, yet well dressed beauty Steve Woodhall. This is an audience I think off into the studio, but who is on the ladder at the back trying to maintain order? No doubt about it, the good old days!’

Rod Fawcett: ‘On the far left it’s Jenny Wilkes as Robin Hood.’

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Building of Pres Gallery 1991

Room to the side of Pres, before the Pres Gallery was built. Photos from Stuart Gandy, no reproduction without permission.

Pres Gallery building 1991

Pres Gallery in use

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These photos from Stuart Gandy show the building of the Pres Gallery in 1991. The first photo shows the ‘before’, the second the ‘during’ and the third, the ‘after’.

Stuart describes how the gallery was built: “the talkback panel in here with the mic sticking out of it was entirely home built, like we did back then – all analogue wiring in and out of the panel designed by me and Charlotte – built by Mech workshop and wired by Pete Holmes.”

These photos were originally shared on the Pebble Mill Engineers Facebook group.

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

Paul Hunt: ‘Is it Clare Clibbery-Davies on the Pres desk and Craig Wood on the Paintbox? Not sure who’s on the Aston?’

Craig Wood: ‘that’s going back a bit, yep that’s me lurking at the back. I can’t work out who it is on Aston either.’

Gary Williams: ‘Jacqui Cawston on the Aston?’

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Studio C Galleries

Studio C sound desk, prior to the refurbishment at the end of the 1990s. Photo from Stuart Gandy, no reproduction without permission

Studio C sound desk prior to refurbishment

Refurbished sound desk in Studio C

Refurbished sound desk being removed when Studio C closed, with John Griffiths

Refurbished sound desk has been removed, as Studio C has closed

Studio C vision mixer

Vision mixer stripped out of the desk after Studio C closed

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These photos from Stuart Gandy show the Studio C galleries over time, from the 1990s to early 2000s. Studio C was where Pebble Mill at One, and Good Morning with Anne and Nick were broadcast from, as well as several other shows. The first two photos show the sound desk before the refurbishment, which took place in the late 1990s. The third photo is of the refurbished desk from the early 2000s, followed by photos of the desk being dismantled when the studio was closed. The last two photos show the Studio C vision mixer, and its removal, when the studio closed.

These photos were originally shared on the Pebble Mill Engineers Facebook group.

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Editing News

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This photo shows the editing of regional news in 1990. It looks like a rather makeshift edit suite.

This photograph was originally posted on the Pebble Mill Engineers’ Facebook page.

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

Brian Charles: ‘Makeshift?!? That was state of the art kit at the time – Edit Suite 2 I think.
That’s Inge Samuels managing to get a smile out of Gary Hudson. Can’t have been a last minute lead story edit then!!’

Richard Uridge: ‘Notice the heavy tape boxes ready for Gary to throw at unsuspecting passersby.’

Diane Kemp: ‘Blimey it does look very last century. Definitely Gary though at PM’

Simon Calkin: ‘Three-machine Betacam suite with an Audio Designs mixer.’

Gary Hudson: ‘It’s not me. I sent my stunt double and the bastard smiled, ruining my public image (see comments above about the legendary bad temper). He was a little fey, as you can tell from the girly haircut, and I made sure we were never seen in the same room together, partly to maintain the mystique but also because his immaculate dress sense and devastating good looks were an embarrassing distraction from my position as the only competent journalist in the newsroom at the time. He usually did the posy stuff – PTCs, cutaway questions and the like -while I got on with the proper job. This picture appeared in the book that was given free to staff when Pebble Mill closed – obviously as a tribute to those who were soon to embrace obscurity. Inge was brilliant though, as was Brian Charles, despite his cheeky comment above.’

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Comms Centre

Thanks to Stuart Gandy for sharing this photo of the Comms Centre at Pebble Mil. It probably dates from the early noughties. The Comms Centre handled all the radio and vision circuits coming in and out of BBC Pebble Mill.

The photo was first shared on the Pebble Mill Engineers Facebook group.

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

Malcolm Hickman: ‘Dear departed Graham Todd and I were attached to P&ID to build that. Probel supplied the routing system but didn’t appreciate what we wanted. Took 2 man years of programming effort of get it right.’

Andy Marriott: ‘I loved working there. My first proper job in the BBC. I’m going to hazard a guess that it’s towards the end of its life. Certainly post 2001 which is when I left. The old DOS mode CBIS machine appears to have gone from the right of the desk and there appears to be an LCD screen on the left that I don’t remember being there. Interestingly the left bank of Trilogy panels appear to be missing, could they have possibly been taken for use in the Mailbox? Which would put us squarely in 2004.’

Andy Walters: ‘WMs transmitter lines and the inter local radio programme sharing circuits and control systems went through there too along with those for network radio.’

Richard Taylor: ‘And the Energis distribution system and Digital TV, both 601 for the studios (those bays are in the background left) and ‘Freeview’ or DTT as it was then. The BBC1 DTT off airs can be seen to the left of the desk displays. BBC2 was to the right. I suspect it was close to 2003? Best desk I ever worked on and I include London Switching Centre and Cardiff CC. And it’s tidy, so can’t have been taken on my shift!’

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