Memories – Page 53 – What Was Pebble Mill?

BBC Radio Birmingham – Blog by Nick Owen

I first worked at Pebble Mill in 1973 after I landed a job as a news producer on BBC Radio Birmingham, the forerunner of BBC WM. It was a case of third time lucky getting into the BBC, having failed twice in the previous months to get a job in the Midlands Today newsroom. I arrived from The Birmingham Post and was overwhelmed with all the technology! I was always hopeless with anything mechanical, so learning to work a tape recorder was terrifying, but I got the hang of it in the end and became pretty adept at editing too, with razor blades and tape etc! I was told I had a fairly boring voice so I had to work on my intonation, to try to sound a bit more interested, but I really felt I had found my vocation. In fact, I loved it. It wasn’t long before I read my first live bulletin – I was introduced on air by a young disc jockey called Les Ross, but I have no idea what happened to him!

Ultimately, I became Sports Producer, following my friend Jim Rosenthal, and that took me all over the country and Europe following the fortunes of our football teams. Up the corridor, of course, was the Midlands Today newsroom with such luminaries as Tom Coyne, Alan Towers, Geoffrey Green and Tony Francis ( whom I’d trained with long before I came to Birmingham). I remember one day Tom Coyne said hello to me in the gents and I was so thrilled I nearly had an accident.

I left in 1978 to join ATV but returned to Pebble Mill to present Good Morning with Anne and Nick in 1992. More about that some other time, but I have to say thanks to the BBC at Pebble Mill for giving me my first chance in television back in August 1977. They were doing a regional opt to herald the start of the football season, but Tony Francis, who would normally have been expected to front it, was away on holiday so they were clearly desperate and asked me! I co-hosted it with Peter Windows, then a familiar face on continuity, and our studio guest was someone who became a great friend Larry Canning, the former Aston Villa player, then well known as a reporter for Sport on Two. The show was produced by another long standing friend, Rob Kirk, now at Sky News.

Some very happy days!

Nick Owen

Security Team 1987 – photo from Andy Bentley

This photo shows the BBC Pebble Mill Security team in 1987, seated in the courtyard behind the Foyer Studio.

Back row L to R – Ted Mckeown, Andy Bentley (Me), Graham Kidner, Tom Edwards, Mick Dodgson, Adrian Hicks, Ben Mackenzie, Mike Hayes, Dennis Smith, Jim Homer.

Front Row L to R – Cliff Roberts, Charlie Biggins, Dave Fisher, Jayne Hobbins, John Harris, Pat Power.

The photo was taken on a Sunday, and non Security staff had to man the BBC entrances so that the photo could be taken.

Pebble Mill Nursery

This image is the front cover of a booklet presented to my daughter, Hattie, when she left Pebble Mill Nursery to start school in September 1994. She started at the Nursery in December 1990, when she was just 18 weeks old. She is now a 20 year old student! The photo shows Hattie enjoying a Nursery outing to Cannon Hill Park. The booklet itself includes drawings by Hattie and her friends at Pebble Mill.

Pebble Mill Nursery was a great asset for staff. It began in the late 198os, when David Waine was the Head of Building, although it was the brainchild of senior personnel manager Bridget Allen. I think there were around twenty places for babies and toddlers, and it was often over subscribed, with staff having to wait for a place. The Nursery was housed in a wooden building, which had previously been a sports pavilion, round the corner from Pebble Mill, on the Bristol Road.

The Nursery was managed by Pauline, who was there for almost the entire life of the Nursery, ably supported by Sarah. The staff running the Nursery were excellent and tended to work there for several years – always a good sign. Towards the end of Pebble Mill the Nursery was moved to portacabins in the car park, as the original wooden building and tennis courts were demolished.

Vanessa Jackson

(Nicola Silk commented with the following additional information:

The nursery actually began life in the mid 70s… I was there! Originally set up in 1974 (in the same wooden hut), the Pebble Mill nursery was the first creche facility in the entire BBC. I was one of the first intake of 5 children and I can remember the year I spent there. Enforced afternoon naps on green camp beds with fluffy purple blankets, riding in a go-kart round the tennis courts and the time I went in without any knickers on (my mum was away filming and my dad was looking after me). These things shape a person’s life. The highlight though, and possibly the highlight of my life, was when we went over to ‘the big building’ the day the Wombles were on Pebble Mill at One. Not only did I meet my heroes but I was filmed dancing with them on the front lawn. Uncle Bulgaria was quite a mover. Despite the campaigning of the Nursery Action Group (NAG) set up by my mum, it was closed the following year. It made the local paper when it opened and somewhere there’s a cutting with photo of me posing on a slide, with 2 other kids and the wife of the Chair of the Board of Governors to mark the opening.)

Post Production Staff Photos March 2004

These photos were taken just before the closure of Pebble Mill, in March 2004. They feature the post production staff and were taken in VTH, VTF, VTE, VTB & Dub 1. They show editors, assistants, dubbing staff as well as booking staff and runners.

VTH: John Reynolds, Louise Pearson, Jo Cairns, Peter Shannon, Dan Wardle, Jim Gregory, Russell Parker, Matt Taylor, Shirley O’Mara & Neil Stacey.

VTB: John Burkill, Angela Worrall, Phil Burrell, Ivor Williams, Karl Kelly, Brian Watkiss, Helena Lyons, Simon Prentice & Steve May.

VTE: Mike Brown, Ian Collins, Amrik Manku, David Chan, Tara, Gary Williams, Ant Smith, Tim Savage, Martin Dowell, John Walton, Dave Pick, Mike Palmer & Keith Brown.

VTF: Mike Bloore, John Duckmanton, Steve Killick, Steve Neilson, Dave Rhodes, John Doidge, Matt Jinks, Rob McGowan, Tristan Leon, Simon Wilson, James Cole & Louise Shires.

Dub 1: Ben Peissel, John Rosser, Dave Mason, Richard Hastings Hall, Andy Freeth, Brian Charles, Neil Roberts, Dawn Mears, Fiona Vooght, James Hey, Rachel Jayes, Ian Bellion, Kate Davis & Chris Rowlands.

Planning Office – photo by Ben Peissel

Photo by Ben Peissel, no reproduction without permission.

This photo is of the girls who worked in the Planning Office at BBC Pebble Mill, booking VT and other facilities.

The photo shows left to right: Kath Woolston, Margaret Barton, Mandy Holdcroft, ?, Janet Woodhouse, Helena Lyons, ?, Christine Grainger, Barnara Hynes.

If you can fill in the gaps, or add more information, please add a comment.