Stuart Gandy – Page 15 – What Was Pebble Mill?

Memories of Wood Norton

The following memories of BBC technical training at Wood Norton were posted on the Pebble Mill Facebook Group:

Pete Simpkin: ‘I was at Wood Norton in the mid 60s and our engineerng course TA16 was the first engineer group to be allowed to produce a show in the famous Gym studio. It was relayed to the club in Evesham. I was Floor manager……we evn had to design our own captions!’

Take a look at the following 360 degree photo of Wood Norton, by Tom Poole: http://www.tompoole.co.uk/360/woodnorton2.swf

Stuart Gandy: ‘As an engineer my first 3 months in the BBC were at Wood Norton on my A course in 1979. Part of the A course for us TV engineers was to make a programme in the studio at Wood Norton trying out the different roles. In those days there were always a lot of trainees there and for our course we could not use the studio there as it was fully booked, so we had to come up to Birmingham University studio for 3 days. Whilst there we had the chance to visit ‘a proper TV studio’, that was Pebble Mill of course, one of the BBC’s most iconic buildings. It was an interesting visit especially for those of us like me that would be starting there later on. Who would have ever thought back then that 25 years later it would be gone!’

Gordon Astley: ‘Wood Norton was my rite of passage.’

Pebble Mill Building 1980

Pebble Mill car park 1980

View of the Quadrangle 1980

Pebble Mill Garden 1980

Photo by Stuart Gandy, no reproduction without permission.

The second photo shows the view into the quadrangle. Notice that this is before the sliding roof was installed and before the space was generally used as a studio area.

In the garden picture that bit of the garden that you can see I think was known as Peter Seabrook’s Garden. It was the studio garden for ‘Pebble Mill at One’.

The following comments were added on Facebook:

Pete Simpkin: ‘The ‘garden’ picture also shows three of the Radio studios, a great loss to the Birmingham area. The sky shot of the Quad shows the first floor wall of Comms Centre and on the ground level the Reception ‘bypass’ corridor, which came into it’s own when PM@1 arrived! ‘

Lorraine Randell: ‘Can’t remember the times I searched the car park for my car, then remembered I had parked on the street. Sun bathing in the quad – and oh the controversy over the sliding roof.’

Peter Poole: ‘I remember Midlands Today being broadcast from the Quad area one summer. Diane Kemp looked great in her summer dress! ……Studio 1 had excellant acoustics but did suffer from traffic noise at rush hour. After producer choice it became too expensive for radio use. It was then used as a TV studio but it’s acoustics were not ideal for TV programmes. Studio 2 in it’s final setup was a very well equipped music studio. Audio unit had the staff to produce top quality recordings.’

John Fincham: ‘I used to love recording there’

Diane Kemp: ‘I remember dancing through the Quad with Simon Bates for the top of one of our ‘Take a Break’ programmes. Worryingly I also remember John Craven and I discussing who’d take part in the live Guillotine demonstration we had in one of the programmes. Whose idea WAS that?’

Studio C Sound Gallery – Kathryn Shuttleworth

Carolyn Davies, Andy Freeth, Nick Johnson

Photo by Kathryn Shuttleworth, no reproduction without permission.

The photo is of the Studio C Sound Gallery. Studio C was the Pebble Mill Foyer, which housed shows like ‘Pebble Mill at One’ and ‘Good Morning with Anne and Nick’.

Stuart Gandy added the following comment on Facebook dating the photo: ‘Can’t say exactly, but I am guessing it is mid 90s when Studio C was revamped. The laminate floor and position of the desk is a clue. The original Calrec desk that had been there since the 80s was facing the other way and the floor was carpeted.’

Peter Poole adds: ‘I used the new desk when Studio B was being refurbished. I think it was about 1995.’

Eagle Tower – Stuart Gandy

Eagle Tower 1980

Photo by Stuart Gandy, no reproduction without permission.

The photo is of the Eagle Tower, it was taken in 1980 in the Pebble Mill car park. This vehicle was used by the Comms department at Outside Broadcasts. It had a 60 foot mast that was raised and had a microwave dish on top that was used to transmit the programmes back from the OB to a receiving point. The Comms engineers needed a good head for heights as they had to climb the mast to position the dish correctly. It was usually driven by one of the many Pebble Mill ‘rigger/drivers’ as they were known.

Stuart Gandy

Paul Grice, added the following comment on Facebook: ‘It’s interesting to think that these were the mainstay of OB transmissions until satellite technology took over in the 90’s and that they only transmitted over line of sight which meant some OB locations might need three midpoints to get the signal back. Here’s to the people who spent many a happy day stuck on a remote hilltop.’

Richard Taylor left the following comment: ‘I would hasten to add that we didn’t actually climb all 60 feet of it! The first stage was 30 feet, the mast was telescopic and rose from the centre of the first stage. It was all done by hydraulics, the engine gearbox being locked in to a hydraulic pump mode first. After the first stage was raised to the vertical, we’d climb up the fixed vertical ladder, through a small trapdoor and onto the platform raising the safety rails.

The radio link components had to be manually hauled up, using a hoist arm, and bolted into place. Once all was fitted together the tower could then be raised and panned remotely from the ground.

I remember giving David Robinson, an EM then, cause for concern at a Grand Prix rig. The tower chassis had been extended lengthwise for some reason, and the shuttle valve to convert prop shaft motion from driving to pumping would jam. The solution was to get into the chassis and “help” it with a long screwdriver. All perfectly safe, wouldn’t do it otherwise, but David was concerned because the engine was still running, and someone could have knocked it into gear accidently. Not with a burly Rigger Driver guarding the cab, they couldn’t!!’

Jim Hiscox

This photo was taken at Pebble Mill in April 1972.

It’s of Jim Hiscox, and was probably taken in the workshop at the rear of the original TAR (Television Apparatus Room).

Thanks to Dave Bushell and Jim Hiscox for identifying the photo.

Stuart Gandy adds the following information: ‘This was the original TAR location at the side of Studio A vision gallery. When the studio refurbishment in the mid 1980s took place TAR moved to the area above the foyer and the new ‘electronic’ graphics department occupied the original space.’