Tag: Kay Alexander

Royal Show for Midlands Today – Sue Robinson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo from director Sue Robinson, no reproduction without permission.

The photo dates from 1982 or 3.  It was taken at the Royal Show, in Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire, at an outside broadcast for ‘Midlands Today’.

The photo includes, back row: Dave Brazier (floor manager), Jane Green, Kay Alexander (presenter), Jacqueline Jones (newsroom journalist, who went on to work in news in London), Brian Conway,  front row: Sue Robinson, Tom Brisley.

Peter Poole added the following comment on the Facebook Group: ‘I remember Midlands Today broadcasting from the Royal Show. It was always a great show. I worked on the ‘Farming’ programme covering the Royal Show many years ago. I think the producer was John Kenyon. The sound recordist was Bill Barker. Bill was a great teacher and taught me many tricks of the trade. Sadly Bill passed away shortly after retiring.’

Midlands Today – TV Ark link

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a link to ‘TV Ark’, a site which includes short clips from a number of ‘Midlands Today’ episodes.  Clips include the first Midlands Today from 1971, as well as excerpts from presenters David Stevens, Alan Towers, Kathy Rochford, Nick Owen, Sue Beardsmore, Kay Alexander, Brian Conway, David Davies, Bernadette Kearney, Andy Knowles, Richard Uridge, Lawrence Lee, Michael Collie, Stuart Linnell and Suzanne Virdee.  The last ‘Midlands Today’ to be broadcast from Pebble Mill is also included.

http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/bbc_midlands/news.html

The following comments were left on the Pebble Mill Facebook page:

Jane Ward: ‘I vision-mixed that last 6.30 prog….an honour to do it, but very emotional….’

Stuart Gandy: ‘If you spend a few minutes looking at TV ark, you will find quite a lot from pebble Mill. After all we did make a lot of programmes there, probably more than the average viewer realised’

Ewan Kiel: ‘That is great. I probably spent far longer than I should have done on Midlands Today … but looking back, it was really fun and hey, it was where I met my wife – and now I list people people who were – to me – cool: Kay, Brian, Darren, Fiona Barton, Richard (Uridge), Steve (Lee), Pete Lowe, Patrick (thank you, Patrick), Cathy, Martin Dowell, David Davies, Fiona (again), Steph, Pam, Gary (yes, Hudson), Will Trotter, Mike Johnston, Paul Freeman, Ian (Pedersen – very cool man), John Carney, Kathy Rochford (always had a crush), Liz (camera diary – huge crush… huge), Harvinder ( coolest guy in the office), Fiona ( the memory won ‘t go away), Barbara Steele (were the rumours true?), Darren (again coz he is my abiding friend from that time, and I honestly love him … although nothing gay has happened yet!), Jane Green (aaah), Julie (Etchingham … didn’t she do well), Pete Wilson (cool), John McLeod (very, very cool), Peter Poole (loved him), Howard (HOWARD!!?), Sue Beardsmore (especially in that button up the front grey dress), Nick Patten (and his tendency to direct standing up), Merrick Simmonds, Mel and her stockings, Lindsay, Ian Bellion (and his gorgeous sideburns) …and christ, I spent too long there.’

Lynn Cullimore: ‘yep, worked on that….gallery flush as we called it always evident as things went wrong and you had to be on your toes! Dear david stevens too – dont think he is any longer with us. kay alexander too – she is lovely. oh many many names….oh yes geoffrey green – i loved him and he was so funny. Wonder if he is with us still?’

Peter Poole: ‘I will never forget Alan Towers resigning on air and his comments about BBC management. What a great presenter.’

Midlands Today – photos from Annie Gumbley

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

Midlands Today presenters 1977

This photo shows the Midlands Today presenters from 1977, front row, left to right, Guy Thomas, Kay Alexander, Peter Windows, David Stevens, back row, Michael Hancock, Tom Coyne.

Midlands Today started broadcasting on 28 September 1964, from a studio in Broad Street, Birmingham, and moved to Pebble Mill when the building opened in 1971.

Pebble Mill newsroom 1978

The second photo shows the newsroom itself and includes: Paul Freeman (standing on left), Jo Dewar (on phone), Annie Gumbley (slightly bent over), Julia Gray (Simpkin).

I wonder if the hand bell (foreground) was for organising meetings!

‘Children in Need’ – photos by Lynda Kettle

Photos by Lynda Kettle, no reproduction without permission.  Lynda Kettle was a Production Designer at BBC Pebble Mill, working on factual, entertainment and drama shows in studio and on location.  The photos were taken as records of the Sets.

This was pirates year. Kay Alexander is upstage right in this photo, so she must have been presenting the regional ‘Children in Need’ output in this particular year.  It looks like floor manager Dave Brazier talking to Kay.  Dave Bushell (lighting director) is at the back admiring the palm trees, and it is probably Adrian Kelly on the camera jib. The guy towards the back left in the white shirt and tie is probably Mike Day from comms engineering. Those items look like telephones at the back there which he would have been responsible for.  In the second photo cameramen Robin Sunderland, James French and Andy Payne are by the grand piano. Sue Beardsmore is rehearsing.  Alan Titchmarsh & Sue were presenting this year. Merrick Simmonds was the Director and David Nelson Producing.  Please post a comment if you recognise anyone else in the photos.

‘Children in Need’ was a big annual occasion at Pebble Mill.  Sets, like this one were built for the evening regional ‘Children in Need’ output, and other programmes in the building would regularly join in.  Teams of willing volunteers would man the phones.  This often included staff from non-programme departments who were just as keen to lend a hand – and to dress up in costume!

Production Designer, Lynda Kettle also worked as a theatre designer and an artist, and now runs courses from her art studio http://www.lynda-kettle.com.  She is a member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, Birmingham Water Colour Society. Midland Pastel Society and Birmingham Art Circle . She exhibits her paintings several times a year at selected galleries.

‘Now The News From Your Region’ – Maurice Blisson

‘NOW THE NEWS FROM YOUR REGION’
I wonder how many people remember the VHF regional radio news bulletins that used to go out at 6.55 and 7.55 am every weekday from Pebble Mill during the 70s.They were read mainly by John Hogarth and also by Christopher Stagg, David Stevens, Terry Coates and Guy Thomas, if my memory serves me right- and it’s been 30 years!.They were written by a reluctant team of BBC journalists, including me, who got in before 6am and cobbled together a read of overnight stories(left by the late sub the previous evening) to give our limited, but growing, VHF audience the latest news from the West and East Midlands, together with a brief weather roundup. Sometimes a tape insert was included, from the likes of reporters Barney Bamford, Geoffrey Green and Kay Alexander. I seem to remember Sue Beardsmore may have been involved on the technical side.Then along came breakfast optouts, the continuing expansion of local radio, a separate East Midlands region based at Nottingham and waveband changes and the bulletin became superfluous and disappeared without any fanfare.   David and Guy went on to television news and continuity but the others disappeared.  How many are still with us?

Maurice Blisson