Susan Astle – Page 3 – What Was Pebble Mill?

Pebble Mill Christmas Card

Thanks to Ruth Kiosses for sharing this Pebble Mill Christmas card. From the BBC logo, it looks like the card dates from the early 1990s.

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

Ruth Kiosses: ‘Found it in a box with my staff job offer letter pay scale etc from Kate Horton in HR and my pension info. The letter looks so ancient done on a type writer! Card definitely early 90s.’

Terry Powell: ‘It’s fab bringing back so many memories cheers’

Susan Astle: ‘Such happy and fun times….still miss it!’

Jim Woolley: ‘I Remember walking on the set of Howard’s Way.’

Pop at the Mill

Draft script front page from Pop at the Mill August 1976. The show was a pop festival from the back lawn of Pebble Mill.

Thanks to sound supervisor, Roger Guest, for sharing the script, and for keeping it safe all these years.

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

Keith Brook (Scouse): ‘That’s interesting. I thought I vision mixed that series. Was this before or after my sojourn into button pushing?’

Susan Astle: ‘Wish I could remember….as I worked on it!’

Lynn Cullimore: ‘I remember it very well – dancing in the courtyard and the guest were Joe Brown and dare I say Gary Glitter. Many years ago and I thought it was great. Wish I had worked on it.’

Saturday Night at the Mill – running order

This is the running order for a dummy run recording of Saturday Night at the Mill in December 1976.

Saturday Night at the Mill was an entertainment show which used the Pebble Mill Foyer studio and the courtyard area, for performances. The show was presented by Donny MacLeod and Bob Langley, amongst others, and Kenny Ball and his Jazzman were the resident band.

For live studio shows there were often dummy recordings to make sure that the crew were all up to speed, and that technically the show was going to work.

Thanks to Roger Guest for sharing this running order.

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

Jane Mclean: ‘Roy Norton was the director, Roy Ronnie the producer, Margaret Walne was PA and I was on autocue. The Kenny Ball band was the house band on all the programmes. The hospitality back at the Strathallen was legendary…!’

Annie Gumbley Williams: ‘I did autocue too. Roy Norton used to shout down the head phones! Liz Silver was PA then and she trained me as PA on Sat Night at the Mill. Roy Norton producer and Keith Ackrill was Researcher or Assistant Producer? Patricia Mifflin too. Great fun.’

Susan Astle: ‘Goodness ..those were the days. Trying to get artists back for makeup checks when they would rather be in hospitality. I think we had our own, obvs! Susie Bankers’

Keith Brook (Scouse): I think I vision mixed that show. I know I did the series. After we complained that there was no hospitality food left, Roy Norton used to shoot down to the Strathallan after the show to stop the office people from scoffing the lot. They didn’t work on the show which allowed them to get there early and hoover it all up!! The gallery talkback was distributed around Telly Centre to entertain the bored troops in London.

Michael Fisher: ‘Kenny Ball was a frequent guest on the show. Am I right in thinking that the recently deceased Alvin Stardust appeared in some Pebble Mill Saturday evening shows and a special stage with a catwalk-like extension so he could strut up & down!’ http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/36299c085523447eaa4bf3fac59b4563

Raymond Lee: ‘I remember working on many of these shows. The pilot programme actually went by the title “Pebble Mill at Night”. Kenny Ball was actually the “resident” musician for the show.’

Eurwyn Jones: ‘I remember working on the series with Ron Sowton. Ginger Rogers was the guest on a show, she arrived in a massive car live in front of the foyer.’

Tim Dann: ‘I remember it as though it were yesterday!!…fantastic fun!…then all back to the ‘Strathallan Hotel’ for hospitality. I was the Designer for the first series. Those were the ‘daze!!”

Keith Ackrill: ‘Patricia Mifflin and I were the two researchers on “SNATM.” Roy Ronnie was the Executive Producer and Roy Norton the Director. We had a great crew working with us, which made the programmes so enjoyable to work on.’

Kate O’Mara – Howards’ Way

Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission. Kate O’Mara is second from the right in the top photo. The lower photo shows the cast and crew of Howrds’ Way.

Kate O’Mara died on Sunday 30th March 2014, in a Sussex nursing home, aged 74, after a short illness.

Kate O’Mara played the part of Laura Wilde in Howards’ Way, series 5-6.

Howards’ Way was made at Pebble Mill between 1985-90. It was a London hosted production. The drama series was inspired by US soaps like Dynasty and Dallas. The series was created and produced by Gerard Glaister. It was set in a fictional town of Tarrant on the south coast of England, around the rich and glamorous world of sailing. It followed the trials and tribulations of the Howard family, and their rivals.

Here is a link to Howards’ Way on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oK03V7z_IA

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

Karen Lamb: ‘I remember when we were filming in Studio A for Howards’ Way and she had to drink some champagne during a scene, ever the professional (only after she had completed the scene) she went mad that it was real champagne & not fake!’

Susan Astle: ‘I was lucky enough to do Kate’s make up on most of the series.’

Mary Sanchez: ‘I worked on Howards’ Way with her for 2 series – she had a very dry sense of humour and had the men eating out of her hand ! Lovely lady – sorry to hear of her passing away relatively young.’

Attachment Allowance Claim Form

Thanks to Giles Herbert for making this 1988 Transfer/Attachment Allowance Claim Form available.

Staff going on Attachment (when staff were transferred temporarily to another department, often in another building elsewhere in the country) would fill in these forms to claim the allowances they were due.

The Attachment scheme was a great way for staff to develop, and try out departments and jobs they might always have wanted to work in, but without either the member of staff or the new department having to commit permanently to the arrangement. It allowed many members of staff to move from into more challenging positions.

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

Andrew Godsall: ‘I didn’t do attachments at Pebble Mill but did two when I was in London. It was just a great system that allowed you to broaden your horizons in all kinds of ways. It was really forward thinking and one of the best things about being a member of BBC staff.’

Steve Dellow: ‘Hmm…sounds like an good excuse to go in my loft and dig out some T&DE forms, and some of John Malby’s excellent Radio Links planning sheets! Sched A anyone?! My favourites were the Cash Advance forms! ‘

Fiona Barton: ‘What about leave forms – remember when we got bisque (sp?) days? And ERR forms…extra responsibility reward – when did they go?’

Bex Pitt: ‘I used to work for Relocation Unit in Cardiff when it transferred from London. It inspired me to move to Pebble Mill!!’

Stuart Gandy: ‘and remember the cash office on the 6th floor where we often used to collect the results of these forms.’

Andrew Godsall: ‘Oh there were disturbed meal break forms and short turn around between shift forms too….what were they called?’

Stuart Gandy: ‘It was an MHW, meal hour work-through.’

Peter Poole: ‘ERR is extra responsibility reward. It’s paid to staff working at a level above their job description.’

Dave Bushell: ‘As I remember, ERR was calculated by some esoteric formula which meant that even is you were a Technical Assistant standing in for the DG, you only got about an extra 45p a day.’

Pete Simpkin: ‘When I was an engineer I once was away from base for three days covering a cricket match and whilst there had to record the audition of a would-be commentator. In those days each recording had to be accompanied by a recording report . I duly filled this in including the mileage details base to OB site in miles etc.and including the details of the mileage. I missed a tiny box labelled ‘shared’ (with the OB) so when expenses received it my boss was reprimanded for letting me loose on exes for three days including two overnights for a twenty minute recording! Happy days!’

Gail Herbert: ‘Attachments – weren’t they wonderful! I had a terrific year in London at TVC in 1980 working for costume allocations. It was a great place to be then, so vibrant, & I met some lovely people who I sadly lost contact with over the years. Even got to visit the Top of the Pops stuido on a regular basis and stand next to the likes of Rod Stewart. TVC was under seige on those days but it was great fun. And yes, Jimmy Savile was creepy!!!’

Peter Poole: ‘I remember the “Stop Knocking” form. This was given to anyone doing noisy building work. They then had to stop work for the duration of the recording session.’

Susan Astle: ‘We, in make up and costume, had loads of disturbed meal break claims! Susie Bankers.’