Rum Punch Day Football Match


RUM PUNCH DAY FOOTBALL MATCH

These photos are taken of the Pebble Mill football match, organised by the BBC Club, traditionally held on ‘Rum Punch Day’, just before Christmas each year.  Thanks to Gail Herbert, who was Chair of the BBC Club at Pebble Mill for many years for making the photos available.  The match was ‘Personnel versus the Club’.

Top photo (not sure which year) were the losers, top row left to right: Colin Spears, Rick Thompson, Steve Lee, Alan Towers, Brian King, Peter Urie, Jock Gallagher.

Bottom row: Paul Howell, Bridget allen, Mark Duggan, Jane Morgan, Andy Tylee, Roy Saatchi.

Lower photo: Rum Punch Day Football Match 1985.

Bottom Row: Andy Turley, Mary Mallett, Mel Stevens, Paul Howell, Roy Saatchi, Jock Gallagher Row l to r: Colin Spears, Andy Tylee, Kevin Knock, Peter Urie,?, Brian King,Peter Windows (freelance producer on The Archers, then lecturer at BCU), Ted Woodhead ?.

If you can fill in any of the unidentified players in the second photo, or know the year of the first photo, please add a comment.


Phil Sidey’s Leaving Party – photo Paul Scholes

Phil Sidey's leaving party

Photo from Paul Scholes, of Phil Sidey’s leaving party, in the Pebble Mill Foyer, Studio C, the home of ‘Pebble Mill at One’.

Phil Sidey was the head of centre from 1973 to 1983, when David Waine succeeded him.

Phil Sidey, born in 1926, died on the 15th October 1995 whilst walking in the Peak District, below is a quote from his obituary in the Independent, written by Leonard Miall:

‘As the Head of the BBC Network Production Centre at Birmingham, Phil Sidey was the man who converted Pebble Mill from a structural white elephant into a thriving source of daytime television. He was the first manager of Radio Leeds and played a leading role in establishing lively local broadcasting on a financial shoestring. He was a programme innovator with a spate of lively ideas and an abrasive tongue which tended to upset some of his colleagues. He was also an accomplished public speaker and a successful chairman of the Royal Television Society.’

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituaries-phil-sidey-1579330.html

Please add a comment if you knew Phil Sidey and can add more information, or if you can identify people in the photo.

Commemorative Dish – Dave Bushell

Commemorative Dish

The opening of Pebble Mill in 1971 was obviously an occasion to be celebrated, prompting Wedgwood to produce a limited edition commemorative dish!

Fortunately Dave Bushell found this dish in a charity shop – it doesn’t seem to have had a lot of wear!  I wonder how many more there might be out there – and whether they are now a collector’s item?

Pebble Mill Opening Brochure

This brochure was produced to celebrate the opening of BBC Pebble Mill in 1971. Thanks to Juliet Dean for keeping her copy safe all these years.  The last image is a picture of the original Pebble Mill farm, which was on the site before the building was erected.  Before the building of Pebble Mill, production in Birmingham was scattered between sites in Carpenter Road, Edgbaston with a television studio at Gosta Green.  It was sold for the princely sum of 20p!

Pebble Mill brochure link

Brochure front cover

21st Anniversary of Pebble Mill

Juliet Dean of the Film Unit had kept this brochure and photos – thanks to her.

The 21st anniversary of Pebble Mill was held in 1992.

The first photo features (left to right) Jerry Johns (Press Office), David Waine (Head of Building), Lord Mayor of Birmingham and wife, Rod Natkiel (Head of Network Programmes).

The second photo features the Lord Mayor of Birmingham with a lady who’d baked a cake of the Pebble Mill building to commemorate the 21st anniversary.

A brochure was printed to celebrate the anniversary, the rest of the photos are of the brochure.

Jerry Johns, David Waine, Lord Mayor & wife, Rod Natkiel