| Wenvoe Open Day - 1965 A film by
Norman Marsden
This silent film, shot on super 8mm film, is of variable quality but
shows an example of the one of the last transmitter open days to be held.
Colour television was being broadcast on BBC2 but only in experimental
service (full service commenced in 1967) and many people had never seen a
colour TV set which may explain the huge numbers of visitors.
Click this link to start the film.
Windows Media Player should open and a 10MB file should play for 3
minutes.
Alternatively click this link if you do not
have broadband or Windows Media Player. Real Player should open and a
1MB file should play for 3 minutes. Notable scenes:
- Queue of visitors in late morning.
- External views (the white cylinders on the ground were part of the
transmitting antennas for Pontypridd, Aberdare and Kilvey Hill relays).
- General external view with OB vans on site.
- Clive Hosken (rigger), Dave Jagger (TMT Leader) in the ‘Skyclimber’.
- By mid afternoon the queue of visitors had grown enormously as shown
in this shot from the roof of the building.
- A television camera being inspected.
- EiC Jack Broadbent talks to SME Pete Thomas and Ron Weaver. No
doubt the subject is how to cope with the number of visitors!
- AEiC Dave Sandbrook with (unknown) and Jack Broadbent.
- Clive Hosken and TA Cliff ??
- Engineer Ron Weaver (later transferred to Cardiff studios) sets up a
camera.
- A Dalek on loan from TV Centre was an added attraction. It
turned out to be very useful in enticing visitors out of the colour
theatre where there was serious congestion, as they wanted to stay and
watch the colour TV pictures!.
- Dalek revealed! Engineer Alan Davies with son(s?) show how the dalek
is operated. Norman Marsden tried this himself and says that he takes his
hat off to anyone who can control this fiendish contraption!
TMT = Transmitter Maintenance Team
EiC = Engineer in Charge
AEiC = Assistant Engineer in Charge
SME = Senior Maintenance Engineer
TA = Technical Assistant
Dalek = A fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants from the British
science fiction television series Doctor Who! |