Photos by Paul Scholes, no reproduction without permission.
2″ Quad machines were substantial enough to be sat on!
This is Sue Robinson sat on the Quad, with Mike Bloore to the right, and Nigel Evans foreground. The photo dates from 1980 or ’81, when Sue was working in the Planning Department.
The lower photo is of Trudy Stanton.
Photos by Tim Savage, no reproduction without permission.
Tim took these photos on 23 Nov, 2004, one of the final days at Pebble Mill.
The photos include post production staff including: John Burkill, Jim Gregory, Amrik Manku, Brian Watkiss, Ivor Williams, John Duckmanton, Tony Rayner, Martin Dowell, Mike Bloore, Pete Shannon, John Macavoy, Dave Pick, Frank Stevens.
Please add a comment if you can identify others.
The following comments were added on the Pebble Mill Facebook Group:
Stuart Gandy: ‘In image 1016 the guy in the blue shirt holding a pint is John Macavoy, Engineer, and in image 1017 I see Dave Pick in the check shirt and next to him is Frank Stevens, former engineering services manager.’
Keith Brook: ‘If I may take friendly issue with Stuart Gandy about John Macavoy. He wasn’t just an engineer, he was a god. He was able to invent magical cures for any crazy idea that production could conjure up. Even worse, he would undertand their mumblings and give them more than they ever dreamed of. I hate him. The best days were, of course, when the bar was on the second floor. Very few managers realised all the post recording toxic, adrenaline, hyper-excitement that could corrode a great day’s work was diffused with a few beers upstairs. Incidentally, a truly ‘involving’, ‘participating’ and ‘egalitarian’ system, as we had at The Mill, works in any organisation. British industry, banking and the NHS would be major successes if they applied the same rules.’
Photos by Video Editor, Ian Collins; no reproduction without permission.
Ian took these photos before the sale of equipment when Pebble Mill was cleared prior to being demolished in 2005.
The portable 1″ videotape recorder (probably a VPR-20) was a useful piece of technology, meaning that shots could be recorded on location without a full outside broadcast, and before the advent of portable single cameras.
The VT editors shown in the photo are (left to right) Ian Collins, Steve Neilsen, Brian Watkiss, Ivor Williams, Mike Bloore, John Burkill, John Doidge, Steve May.
Peter Poole added the following information on the Pebble Mill Facebook page: ‘I remember a Clothes Show recording using the Ampex/Nagra VPR5. It was an audition for models in Studio 1. The queues stretched down Pebble Mill road.’
Please add a comment if you remember which programmes used portable 1″ recorders.
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.
Photos by Ian Collins, no reproduction without permission.
Here are the boys from VT proudly showing off their Ampex VPR20 Video Recorder!
The photos shows left to right: Ian Collins, Steve Neilsen, Brian Watkiss, Ivor Williams, Mike Bloore, John Burkhill, John Doidge, Steve May.
Boys from VT