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TO 29 (Tech Ops 1968 September) (Read 6432 times)
Amigo
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TO 29 (Tech Ops 1968 September)
Nov 2nd, 2013, 3:03pm
 
Anyone there?
Does anyone remember the way it used to be?
The old coach to "The Club" in Evesham?
The rush to the station on a Friday afternoon to get 'home'?
Monochrome cameras in "Studio A"?

Such a long time ago.

If there is anyone who was at ETD in 1968. Tell us how it was.
Lecturer, student, trainee....
The change from monochrome to colour,
The change from mono to stereo.

What a different world it was.

I was there, and the creaky-floors as the heavy old cameras tracked will always haunt me...
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JohnW
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Re: TO 29 (Tech Ops 1968 September)
Reply #1 - Nov 3rd, 2013, 12:44am
 
Yes, I was there on TO 29. I was in the Radio section, whereas I guess (from what you've writ) you were in the TV section. ISTR that there were over 100 of us joining on that 9th September 1968, with the course having 3 sections - Radio, TV and Regions.
I'm in regular touch with one lecturer - Tony Giles (again for Radio) - although I remember both John King and Rod Hart as Asst Lecturers from that time. They will have had more to do with TV resources than we did: I never even went into the big TV studio A up there in those days! Only much later in my career in the Beeb did we get to the various TV training rooms, and even into the transmitter training rooms in 1990 when I spent a year up there, retraining to Engineering. There weren't many more years after that before they really started to pull the place apart, and now all the dormitory areas are I believe 'derelict': the on-campus club (complete with 2 squash courts) is also a wreck, with the main building now a pricey hotel. There is still a small BBC presence on the site - the "bunker" is still functional (it was fully kitted out to take over everything had the 2000 bug been real) as a Radio area, with Bredon classrooms atop it, although I'm not sure if they're still used for anything.

I did/do have a list of many names of those who were there at the time, some of whom have sadly passed away, whilst now I guess almost all will have retired (like me!). Not sure how many of them will be aware of this forum though - it seems to be one of those "big secrets".

As many will atest, C & D blocks were full of youthful intent in those days: how times have changed since then.
Anyway Amigo, if there's more, then maybe we can reminisce off-forum?
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Bill Jenkin
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Re: TO 29 (Tech Ops 1968 September)
Reply #2 - Nov 3rd, 2013, 8:26am
 
Not TO 29 I'm afraid, I was TO 22 in 1965.
I just wanted to say that I was at the hotel last week, not staying there but researching a venue for our 50th anniversary event in 2015. According to the information we were given the hotel is not that pricey if you get a room not in the main building but in the "Pear Tree" block, remember it? You can get one plus breakfast for about £80 to £90 per room (not head). It has to be out of season etc.  and not when there is a race meeting at Cheltenham.
Also the club in Evesham is still in existence but as a private members club (we were also looking there for a venue). They don't mind ex-beeb people dropping in. There is still a skittle alley (which I see still has a scoreboard with 'Visitors' and 'BBC' as the two teams), also the room where there were those dances, I seem to remember nurses from Worcester Hospital frequented them quite a bit.
Bill Jenkin
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