Lunchtime in the Pebble Mill Club

Copyright resides with the original holders, no reproduction without permission.

The photo shows VT Editor, Mike Bloore, PA, Jane McLean, and VT Editor, Brian Watkiss, in the Pebble Mill Club.

By how young they all look, it probably dates from the early 1980s.  Looks like a typical lunchtime!

Thanks to Jane, for making the photo available.

 

 

VT E – photos by Brian Watkiss


Photos by Brian Watkiss, no reproduction without permission.

The photos are of a studio recording in VT E between 1990-2.  Editor, Nigel Evans is on the left, then Simon Bennett, with director, Philip Thickett on the right.  You can see the machine room through the window on the left hand-side.

The second photo also shows Nigel Evans in VT E.  The recording looks to be of a cookery programme, possibly ‘Hot Chefs’.  You’ll also notice an owl soft toy on top of the monitor. The owl still exists somewhere.  The owl has two eyes, a red and a green one. If it lit up red it would signify a non PAL edit IIRC!

Thanks to Paul Vanezis for adding information about these photos.

1 Inch VT Machines and their operators – photos by Brian Watkiss and Ian Collins


Photos by Brian Watkiss and Ian Collins, no reproduction without permission.

These photos show various Pebble Mill 1 Inch VT machines and their operators. Included are Mark Ray and Ian Pederson in the first photo, cameraman Simon Bennett in the second, and Brian Watkiss eating mini cheddars, with Jon Parker behind him.  Jonathan Dick is also featured.

2″ Video Machine Editing – photos by Brian Watkiss



Photos from Brian Watkiss, no reproduction without permission.

These photos show the 2″ Video Tape machines in the VT area of Pebble Mill.  2″ video tape was widely used in the 1970s before 1″ tape took over.

The main problem with 2″ tape was that you couldn’t spool in vision, so if you were looking for a clip from a show, you’d have to keep stopping periodically to see if you were on the right item.  Pebble Mill kept a 2″ machine right into the 1990s, for viewing and clipping archive tapes.

The photos probably date from the late 1970s.

The first photo shows VT editors Nigel Evans (who now works for Avid) and Tim Savage (now an editor and colourist).  I think it is Brian himself in the other photos.

Here are a couple of comments about the Quad machines from the Facebook page:

Pete Simpkin: I remember all the RCA TR22s had a kick dent in the modules near the floor which was the only way to stop video flashing during the run-up!

Steve Dellow: Ah – the old ‘Quad’ machines. As featured extensively in ‘White Powder Christmas’ and ‘Good King Memorex’!

Dancing Diggers at Pebble Mill

Stills from Ian Collins, no reproduction without permission.

These stills are of the JCB ‘Dancing Diggers’, performing in the back car park at Pebble Mill.  They were appearing an episode of Pebble Mill at One.

Video editor, Brian Watkiss,  thinks they date from the mid 1970s. He remembers them being in the 10th Anniversary compilation – one of his very first jobs in VT!