Category: Building

The Pebble Mill Building

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.

The Pebble Mill Garden – Pete Simpkin

Pebble Mill Garden

THE GARDEN

This was a feature on the ‘Pebble Mill at One’ daily programme but this picture shows our Local Radio production office on the top left, second floor, directly ahead on the second floor level can be seen the Local radio management office. The ground floor offices were part of the PM@1 offices.

Pete Simpkin

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