Apparently Sheffield used to have a cable and community TV system well before Telewest ever showed up (1960s?) and we're trying to find out more information about it or ideally some archive material. Does anybody have any more information on this as it seems very sparse on the ground otherwise.

Many thanks
Anthony

Cablevision was broadcast from Matilda Street to council properties that had cable TV. The station manager was a guy named John Brand. It relied a lot on local volunteers to supplement the meagre number of paid staff that they had. Don't think that anyone from Cablevision went on to become a household name but I may be wrong.

I was brought up in Burngreave in the mid 70s. On television we used to get BBC1, BBC2, ITV YORKSHIRE ITV TYNE TEES and SHEFFIELD CABLEVISION. We did not have airials on the roof we had a cable tv box fitted on the wall.
I believe it was a council opperated scheme.
To what i can remember of cablevision, during the daytime you would get a Sheffield city council logo on the screen with Radio Hallam playing in the background. Every hour or so you would get a local news programme aired from some studio centre near Sheffields railway station. Cant remember if they did a 30 minute news programme in the evening. On saturday morning i can remember them doing some live programmes from the now defunct ABC cinema on Angel Street. It was for kids. I think you had to live in a council house to be able to recieve this channel.
Not sure when Sheffield Cablevision started but me thinks in the region of 1973.
When the plug was pulled (late 70s i think) we got the delights of Lew Grades ATV piped to the house from Birmingham. Those were the days when ITV showed diffrent films at the same time in diffrent regions, we were spoilt for choice.

THink that was also an organisation called BRW was a cable company and a box was under the television that you subscribed to by paying cash into the meter underneath. You received a booklet every 2 weeks stating the programmes on and how much it was to subscribe. All I can remember it was going in 1966ish.

Wasn't it called 'Redifussion' or sommat back at the end of the 70's - weren't they the first to show C4 - I remember Friday tea-time the Tube - it could have been later - couldn't get C4 on normal ariel at the time...

The flats on the Hanover estate still have the old sockets on the wall with about 10 holes in which someone told me was for the old cable tv system.

Originally posted by Internetowl
Wasn't it called 'Redifussion' or sommat back at the end of the 70's - weren't they the first to show C4 - I remember Friday tea-time the Tube - it could have been later - couldn't get C4 on normal ariel at the time...



Yep.

Redifusion piped our TV way back in the late 60s-mid 70's after which time it was deemed to be no longer a viable option for distributing TV & radio signals.


The cables had a big socket with connections simular to a scart plug/socket combination.


Never had a cr4p signal until they killed the service & everyone had to have an ariel:loopy:

I lived just off Abbeydale road in a privately owned house and remember the apalling local Sheffield cable channel. A lot of it was in black and white and the presenters were always making mistakes or losing their train of thought particularily in the news bullitins. The HQ was on Matilda street and the cable was a half inch thick black rubber appearance. In the house you had a large usually black flat box on your wall and then a lead running from the box to your tv ariel socket.
No-one's mentioned that when there was no actual program being broadcast we sometimes had a girl dancing in a bikini to music. [I'm not kidding] I was only 12 or 13 and remember this very well.

Sheffield Cablevision started broadcasting on August 29th 1973 and died a death on January 2nd 1977. After it closed the old ITV company ATV in Birmingham began transmitting on that channel.
Sheffield Cablevision was run by a company called British Relay Network.
Not sure if any tapes of their programmes exist. Me thinks a very small company set up in some council house bedroom lol.

We had the "Rediffusion" boxes on Hyde Park Flats in the early 80's. My gran had it in her flat on Park Hill, in the 70's. (I also seem to remember my aunts, in their flats on Norfolk Park having it, too.)


What I DO remember about them was that you could get radio through these sockets, as well as the tv:-
we used to plug a speaker-wire -ends into the socket, and we could get the radio channels (depending on which holes you used, you got different channels.!!!)

I remember, there was a certain kind of tv you could rent, that had an aerial plug which would connect directly into the socket. This tv had unusual setup of channel buttons, which, if you pushed a switch, could alternate between the tv and the radio channels.

PT

One of the technicians in the Media Studies suite at the old Shirecliffe College formerly worked on the Sheffield cable TV station. I remember him showing us some video footage he had salvaged. His name was Laurence Fowler and was a legendary olympic smoker. Maybe some of the footage exist in the city archives (along with some of my dodgy media studies work.)

Originally posted by gerryuk
Sheffield Cablevision started broadcasting on August 29th 1973 and died a death on January 2nd 1977. After it closed the old ITV company ATV in Birmingham began transmitting on that channel.
Sheffield Cablevision was run by a company called British Relay Network.

Me dad used to work for British Relay in the late 70's early 80's.
I'll get some info off him.

Originally posted by desy
THink that was also an organisation called BRW was a cable company and a box was under the television that you subscribed to by paying cash into the meter underneath. You received a booklet every 2 weeks stating the programmes on and how much it was to subscribe. All I can remember it was going in 1966ish.

Correction
The normal channel programmes were throgh the cable on a normal rental charge. athe booklet for the extra programs were for films, all in wrestling and other sports you had to pay through the meter underneath and that was emptied once a month

How strange to sit here in Portugal and see my name mentioned by Maniclee. I never realised I was an olympic smoker, but my better half says different!The Sheffield Cablevision experiment was run on a very small budget and under severe constraints from The Home Office in London about its output. I was probably as responsible as anyone else for messing up the news. We had no autocue and had to read off a script we recieved only a few seconds before the transmission.
On one memorable occasion I had to read the main story about a Polish baker who had committed suicide. As Polish names are very difficult to pronounce, the rule is pick a pronunciation and stick to it. I unfortunatly forgot mine and gave the poor chap six different names. The producer (in my earpiece) said, "sounds more like a bloody massacre than a suicide". Try keeping a straight face after hearing that during a serious story!
I will admit that someone stuck a sign on my office door at Shirecliffe which said "Fagash Lol". I often wondered who, so own up Maniclee, was it you?

Who was you dad owlsman? I may know him? I used to work for BRW at Derbyshire Lane. Was he an engineer or a linesman?

Apparently (whether this was a national thing, or local to you), but a relative of mine used to do the delivery of the coin-operated tellys in the 80s.

Going back some time now.

BRW did well in Sheffield because reception was so poor and customers could be guaranteed good pictures and free radio programmes which was something the competitors couldn't offer. If he was a collector or an installer and he worked from Derbyshire Lane, then I would know him by sight but I didn't know all their names.

Hi "tsavo", I was one of the "volunteers" who helped out down there. It's my claim to fame that I was on the telly for....minutes. I once interviewed a girl who was trying to become a speedway rider. Don't think I helped her career much. But for me Cablevision was a stepping stone to ......complete oblivion.

Who was you dad owlsman? I may know him? I used to work for BRW at Derbyshire Lane. Was he an engineer or a linesman?

I think he was an engineer, he was at Derbyshire Lane :)

Cheers, I was an engineer at Derbyshire Lane.

we lived on parson cross & i can remember it, & I can remember my mum complaining she had to buy an ariel!

That's right. BRW had permission to put the cable on council property, but just for a few months there was a change of council leadership and the Conservatives took over, the only thing I remember them doing was they painted the wheels on the busses blue instead of red. I wonder if anyone else remembers that.

The other thing the Conservatives did while they were in the majority in the council chamber was to revoke the permission BRW had for all those years and they had to cease providing the service. It meant the end of a company and the loss of many jobs, and yes you are right, everyone had to have an aerial set and they had to get an aerial.

Efin Tories!!! :rant:

Hi! Pitsmoor lad. Sorry I can't remember your piece to camera but you were attempting one of the most difficult jobs in TV. (yes I know it looks easy but we know different, eh?) Volunteers were the lifeblood of the station and without them would have never lasted as long as it did. We didn't always remember to say thank you, so just in case we didn't, THANKS MATE!
Laurence.

How strange to sit here in Portugal and see my name mentioned by Maniclee. I never realised I was an olympic smoker, but my better half says different!The Sheffield Cablevision experiment was run on a very small budget and under severe constraints from The Home Office in London about its output. I was probably as responsible as anyone else for messing up the news. We had no autocue and had to read off a script we recieved only a few seconds before the transmission.
On one memorable occasion I had to read the main story about a Polish baker who had committed suicide. As Polish names are very difficult to pronounce, the rule is pick a pronunciation and stick to it. I unfortunatly forgot mine and gave the poor chap six different names. The producer (in my earpiece) said, "sounds more like a bloody massacre than a suicide". Try keeping a straight face after hearing that during a serious story!
I will admit that someone stuck a sign on my office door at Shirecliffe which said "Fagash Lol". I often wondered who, so own up Maniclee, was it you?

The "Fagash Lol" sign is what I associated with you Laurence and I think one of the other students conducted an interview on the subject. This was almost 20 years ago and being a wide-eyed, naive 16 year old fresh from his o'levels at the time, I fell for the legend hook, line and sinker. I hope I did'nt cause you too great offence.

Not guilty guv! btw.

A mr Nick Smart used to work for sheffield cablevision

He is still in Sheffield, but had a stroke a few years ago.

I know this thread seems long dead, but I thought I'd post anyway. My dad was John Brand the one time station manager of sheffield cable vision. Tsavo, I remember you when I was a VERY small girl! Good to see you here

best wishes

Gail

Tsavo if you want to contact me, google my name and go through my webby

Are you all saying there's NO cable left in the U,K by far in Ontario the bigest crooks still out of jail is a cable Co.and acting with the lighting speed of our Gov'they first allowed them to filch billions from our back pockets and are now THINKING of reining them in but just a little Grr I'm so mad I could spit

Are you all saying there's NO cable left in the U,K by far in Ontario the bigest crooks still out of jail is a cable Co.and acting with the lighting speed of our Gov'they first allowed them to filch billions from our back pockets and are now THINKING of reining them in but just a little Grr I'm so mad I could spit

The old system was four pairs of wire in a single cable but now there is a new cable company that uses fibre optics which has many advantages over the old system that had become obsolete and could only handle 4 TV channels and 4 radio programs. Also now it is all underground which is better.

.

A mr Nick Smart used to work for sheffield cablevision

He is still in Sheffield, but had a stroke a few years ago.

I remember Nick, he was a nice man, I think he worked with Doug Thompson and they were based at Derbyshire Lane, but I could be wrong.

I once remember Sheffield Cablevision doing a football match from Bramall Lane, 'cos they had to put a scaffolding unit up across the cricket pitch (roughly where the south stand is today).
Those were the days when it was almost unheard-of to televise a football match (you very occasionally got some odd highlights if you were lucky).

I remember watching it to see if they showed any film of the city and I sat there for an hour one day while a bloke showed how to change a plug.
He had an audience and I remember watching them yawning and falling asleep.

Just after I was married we lived on Archer Road, Millhouses. in 1962 British Relay Wireless ran a cable under the eves of all the houses and paid the occupier a Shilling per year rent. ( a Shilling is now 5p ).

We did not have a television in those days, We'd just got married so we had other things to occupy our minds!! Though now we've got four Television's!!

I remember the black plastic disk under the eaves of the roofs.. wasnt that the cablevision box?
My neighbour used to use it for target practise with his air rifle.

Sheffield Cablevision started broadcasting on August 29th 1973 and ceased on January 2nd 1977. After it closed the old ITV company ATV in Birmingham began transmitting on that channel.

In the Sheffield area, for several years, a local company offered cable TV subscribers an experimental public access channel . Sheffield Cablevision - the community cable television experiment began operations on the British Relay network at Sheffield, Yorkshire. For about 2 hours every night 8 to 10 the channel transmitted community TV - shows made by the public with help from a professional staff of six. It all ended in 1977, despite good local viewing figures, politics and the costs were to blame

Image 1 (http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c165/mindshadows/cablevision/sheffield_cablevision1975a.jpg)

Image 2 (http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c165/mindshadows/cablevision/sheffield_cablevision_ss1.jpg)

Image 3 (http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c165/mindshadows/cablevision/sheffield_cablevision_ss2.jpg)

Image 4 (http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c165/mindshadows/cablevision/sheffield_cablevision_ss3.jpg)

Sheffield Cablevision started broadcasting on August 29th 1973 and ceased on January 2nd 1977. After it closed the old ITV company ATV in Birmingham began transmitting on that channel.

In the Sheffield area, for several years, a local company offered cable TV subscribers an experimental public access channel . Sheffield Cablevision - the community cable television experiment began operations on the British Relay network at Sheffield, Yorkshire. For about 2 hours every night 8 to 10 the channel transmitted community TV - shows made by the public with help from a professional staff of six. It all ended in 1977, despite good local viewing figures, politics and the costs were to blame

Image 1 (http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c165/mindshadows/cablevision/sheffield_cablevision1975a.jpg)

Image 2 (http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c165/mindshadows/cablevision/sheffield_cablevision_ss1.jpg)

Image 3 (http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c165/mindshadows/cablevision/sheffield_cablevision_ss2.jpg)

Image 4 (http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c165/mindshadows/cablevision/sheffield_cablevision_ss3.jpg)

The office was situated down Shoreham Street / Matilda Street area and I was on the last live broadcast that they did to talk about Muscular Dystrophy. ( I made a right cock up of it !! Nerves ).

Just after I was married we lived on Archer Road, Millhouses. in 1962 British Relay Wireless ran a cable under the eves of all the houses and paid the occupier a Shilling per year rent. ( a Shilling is now 5p ).

We did not have a television in those days, We'd just got married so we had other things to occupy our minds!! Though now we've got four Television's!!

LOL, must be an age thing Albert, I married 30 years ago with a portable black and white and now have several tele's.

LOL, must be an age thing Albert, I married 30 years ago with a portable black and white and now have several tele's.

In the fifties and early sixties people did not look a television as long as they do these days. Probably this would be because of the poor reception along with the minute viewing picture.

Personally I was out on my cycle almost every evening or at Heeley swimming so by the time I'd get home, it was off to bed.

I believe that cable television still as a great future. One being, If those homes that are connected by cable, each connected a digital video recorder camera which could automatically switch itself on when it detected movement in the home during the night and sent the pictures to a central recording source.

I believe the house breakers, burglar's in short thieves, would be soon working for a living.

You would have to have some way of disabling it if you were in, or the monitoring guys could get their own free amateur porn channel !!!!!!

The thing I remember about Cable Vision is that guy Alan Biggs, was on it doing the sport. He did very well after, going to the sports departments of Radio Hallam and Five Live.

You would have to have some way of disabling it if you were in, or the monitoring guys could get their own free amateur porn channel !!!!!!

I never thought of that - old age!! .

My intention was that those living at the home would switch the monitoring on before they left it to automatically take over.

Might be abit late for this thread but just to add something from someone who was actually on it...i remember as a rather self satisfied eng.lit. student at the Uni in 1974 ending up reading some of my poetry on the channel. Some of it was done in their really poky studio but on one memorable occasion i remember reading my masterpieces live to camera by the duck pond in Hillsborough park.(don't ask why i don't remember) problem was the generator cable wasn't long enough and the roar drowned out my beautiful verse. I also remember John Brand swearing like a trooper as he tried to get the bloody thing to run more quietly. Ah memories.

Dont know if this helps. In late 50's , I worked as a wireman for British Relay and Wireles.(I think it was a newly formed company then. We ran a cable at gutter level from house to house on the Manor Estate and Arbourthorne. Every time I go up Eastbank rd. I see some of the cables still there. There was a giant mast at Crookes which received the signal from Holme Moss. At Crokes it was connected to the ends of the cables we had fixed on the estates. Received T.V. Radio etc., usually on slot payment.

Dont know if this helps. In late 50's , I worked as a wireman for British Relay and Wireles.(I think it was a newly formed company then. We ran a cable at gutter level from house to house on the Manor Estate and Arbourthorne. Every time I go up Eastbank rd. I see some of the cables still there. There was a giant mast at Crookes which received the signal from Holme Moss. At Crokes it was connected to the ends of the cables we had fixed on the estates. Received T.V. Radio etc., usually on slot payment.

I thought it was great when we had cable TV on the Manor Estate, think it was 1960, I was 13 then but it proved too costly for us, shame

Can anyone confirm that the electronics box which was installed in houses was called a Telemeter.
I recently got one of these at an auction and seem to remember buying one at a surplus shop in Sheffield in the late 60's or very early 70's.
I have pictures of the unit if anyones interested and I am keen to know how the setup worked.

Thanks

Maurice

Dont know if this helps. In late 50's , I worked as a wireman for British Relay and Wireles.(I think it was a newly formed company then. We ran a cable at gutter level from house to house on the Manor Estate and Arbourthorne. Every time I go up Eastbank rd. I see some of the cables still there. There was a giant mast at Crookes which received the signal from Holme Moss. At Crokes it was connected to the ends of the cables we had fixed on the estates. Received T.V. Radio etc., usually on slot payment.

so that's what those black cables are that connect many houses on the arbourthorne etc, then?

I always wondered what they were (when I and my Grandparents lived on PH Flats, and HP Flats, and we had the cable set-up, the wiring was all inside the building, not visible like on the houses.

Fascinated to discover this forum - I worked with Nick on the evening news bulletin and had the most amazing time. What an introduction to TV journalism! It was great to catch up with so many of the people from the glory days in Matilda Street ten years after the station closed and somewhere I still have a VHS of the compilation put together by Lawrence (or, sorry, was it Laurence?) and Malcolm. In it there was a certain young shop steward convenor of the Balfour Darwin works ... Derek Simpson, now joint leader of Unite. We did his first ever TV interview.

BRW (British Relay Wireless) was installed around the Parson Cross estate during the early sixties and there vans were painted a dark blue with a red flash on their sides. The wires were installed underneath the gutterings and were strung across from house to house. When I lived on Milnrow Road, the vans would all pull up on here at dinner time and the lads would go and play football on the field opposite (this was built on later). Dont know how much this cost as we didnt subscribe to it.

Hi All
I worked for BRW for 17 years as a TV engineer both in the workshop and field.
It was a system that saved all the unsitely tv aerails but was a complete monopoly to all the council estates. Now live overseas.
Mick

Hi All
I worked for BRW for 17 years as a TV engineer both in the workshop and field.
It was a system that saved all the unsitely tv aerails but was a complete monopoly to all the council estates. Now live overseas.
Mick

Hi Mick, is that Brizz?

Hi Grahame
No Mckeown's my name. I rember Brizz as he did Lowedges & Jordanthorpe before me. I also remember Dippy Downing, Steve Deighton, Hitler’s brother, who I smacked in the head, Ian Peck, Dave Osborne, Mick West, Dave Appleyard, Mick Tw*t Healey, Dave Morris, Bill Denton, Darryl Dipstick, Geoff Bower, Terry Aizethorpe, Terry Northcliffe, John Hudson, Arthur Evans, Captain Confusion, Terry Pashley, Alan Thomson, Ralph Major who was a good personal friend for many years, Fat John in stores, Jo the Mechanic, old Joe Ex councilor. Many of the linesmen and a number of the Ladies that worked in Accounts canteen & help desk taking calls. Also some of the "girls" in sales @ various branches.
I was there for 17 years and could tell you some stories that would embarrass a few and rattle a few cages to say the least. I worked in the Service dept and in the field & from a number of branches. Then after an argument with Don Stone may he fester slowly from something that they cannot cure, moved to Rumbellows then Mastercare. Took a sideways step into computing which was the best trick ever. Then in 1990 moved out Australia, not looked back at all until I saw a post this week and followed up on the BRW thing.
My wife and I also owned a Takeaway on Shoreham street that was a good earner for about 5 years. This p155ed off the jealous armholes at VH but who cares. I also used to run my own TV repair & Rental business that was also a good earner too!

Better not say too much on an open forum to protect the guilty & weak bladdered that I had the misfortune to have to work with! Not to say that some of the above were and hopefully still are exceptional human beings.
Mick

Hi Grahame
No Mckeown's my name. I rember Brizz as he did Lowedges & Jordanthorpe before me. I also remember Dippy Downing, Steve Deighton, Hitler’s brother, who I smacked in the head, Ian Peck, Dave Osborne, Mick West, Dave Appleyard, Mick Tw*t Healey, Dave Morris, Bill Denton, Darryl Dipstick, Geoff Bower, Terry Aizethorpe, Terry Northcliffe, John Hudson, Arthur Evans, Captain Confusion, Terry Pashley, Alan Thomson, Ralph Major who was a good personal friend for many years, Fat John in stores, Jo the Mechanic, old Joe Ex councilor. Many of the linesmen and a number of the Ladies that worked in Accounts canteen & help desk taking calls. Also some of the "girls" in sales @ various branches.
I was there for 17 years and could tell you some stories that would embarrass a few and rattle a few cages to say the least. I worked in the Service dept and in the field & from a number of branches. Then after an argument with Don Stone may he fester slowly from something that they cannot cure, moved to Rumbellows then Mastercare. Took a sideways step into computing which was the best trick ever. Then in 1990 moved out Australia, not looked back at all until I saw a post this week and followed up on the BRW thing.
My wife and I also owned a Takeaway on Shoreham street that was a good earner for about 5 years. This p155ed off the jealous armholes at VH but who cares. I also used to run my own TV repair & Rental business that was also a good earner too!

Better not say too much on an open forum to protect the guilty & weak bladdered that I had the misfortune to have to work with! Not to say that some of the above were and hopefully still are exceptional human beings.
Mick

Hiya Mick
You taught me to Drive , Swap Tubes , Pull Up Tree Roots the list goes on

Check Your PM`s
Ian

Hi Grahame
No Mckeown's my name. I rember Brizz as he did Lowedges & Jordanthorpe before me. I also remember Dippy Downing, Steve Deighton, Hitler’s brother, who I smacked in the head, Ian Peck, Dave Osborne, Mick West, Dave Appleyard, Mick Tw*t Healey, Dave Morris, Bill Denton, Darryl Dipstick, Geoff Bower, Terry Aizethorpe, Terry Northcliffe, John Hudson, Arthur Evans, Captain Confusion, Terry Pashley, Alan Thomson, Ralph Major who was a good personal friend for many years, Fat John in stores, Jo the Mechanic, old Joe Ex councilor. Many of the linesmen and a number of the Ladies that worked in Accounts canteen & help desk taking calls. Also some of the "girls" in sales @ various branches.
I was there for 17 years and could tell you some stories that would embarrass a few and rattle a few cages to say the least. I worked in the Service dept and in the field & from a number of branches. Then after an argument with Don Stone may he fester slowly from something that they cannot cure, moved to Rumbellows then Mastercare. Took a sideways step into computing which was the best trick ever. Then in 1990 moved out Australia, not looked back at all until I saw a post this week and followed up on the BRW thing.
My wife and I also owned a Takeaway on Shoreham street that was a good earner for about 5 years. This p155ed off the jealous armholes at VH but who cares. I also used to run my own TV repair & Rental business that was also a good earner too!

Better not say too much on an open forum to protect the guilty & weak bladdered that I had the misfortune to have to work with! Not to say that some of the above were and hopefully still are exceptional human beings.
Mick

Hi Mick, your post brought back a lot of memories and I love your comments, I am laughing at them now. I never knew that about what you did to Steve Deighton, you could have given him one for me as well. I was so glad I never had to work for him; he had his own service depo on Kettlebridge Road. Mick Healey went to South Africa when TV came out over there, I understand Bill Denton died of a heart attack, he was a great bloke and a big friend of Brizz if I remember correctly, weren’t they both from Woodside Lane? I spent hours talking to old Joe, I think he was once the Lord Mayor? I have fond memories of Joe the garage mechanic as a person and one person you forgot was Allen Senior who was the best bench tech ever in my opinion. I think Terry Pashley died of lung cancer?

Great memories, and sad ones as well. I went to Foxhill with VisionHire, then Granada took over and there were various closures, mergers and moves until in the end we merged with Radio Rentals and we had to drive to Leeds every day, you were best out of it. Then we got made redundant in 2001 and that was more or less the end of the TV rental trade.

I had eight years to fill until my 65th birthday in 2009 so I took a low paid job, the reason being it wasn’t stressful, then and I don’t know how it happened I got to be a school caretaker and I am still there age 65 and hope to stay on a bit longer if possible as I enjoy the work.

I found out recently that I have family in Sydney and there you are in Australia. How about that!

Good luck Mick and thanks for the memories.

Hi Grahame
Must be my punctuation but I did not thump Stevie but Geoff H who I used to call Hitler’s Brother, he was just one guy that was difficult to get on with & I did not suffer fools readily. I thought of maybe a dozen more names after my last post but I do not recall you at the moment but you seem to have been there at the same time as me so I must have met you. I am guessing that Grahame is a pseudonym. I remember most of the guys from foxhill who worked for VHire & I worked at Kettlebridge road with The Honey Monster (SD) & his gang, Mick H, Don S, John H, with the rest being me Dave A, Colin D, Mick W, Terry N, Anne T, Mary? We used to do some hairy things Ian & I used to rally his Metro and pay to fix it so SD did not find out, Ian drove his two day old Metro through a flood and seized the engine so I towed it home sucked all the water out of the spark plug holes, dried the paper air filter in the tumble drier, removed all the floor drains & removed gallons of water. It had flooded the car to dashboard level and it stunk for months, but he got a new engine under Leyland’s warranty. It confused the RAC guy. We used to ring in calls to make us look busy so we did not have to spend time in the workshop with SD. One time John Carothers took off to Ladybower res to watch the Dambusters reenactment & bumped into Tom Parry & the area manger with his bit of skirt, none of us should have been there so it was a Mexican standoff. But when I walked into the canteen there was a big cheer and they sang the dambusters march. Colin & I would copy DVD’s for a Video Library in Ecclesall road because I found a way to crack the encryption. So we would line up six or more VCR’s and have them running 24x7, all on loan of course! I heard that Don had Married Debbie Scott but I think someone was trying to wind me up, do you know. There is so many stories that come to mind but cannot air them here. Let me know more about you to see if I can remember you.
Regards Mick

When I bought my house from the council I had to accept a covenant (wayleave) whereby the company (BRW or its successor) can maintain right of access over the property with its cabling. Now that the company is long gone, I wonder whether any successor has any such rights? I and others had the cables removed years ago.

When I bought my house from the council I had to accept a covenant (wayleave) whereby the company (BRW or its successor) can maintain right of access over the property with its cabling. Now that the company is long gone, I wonder whether any successor has any such rights? I and others had the cables removed years ago.

There is no successor carosio and I believe the company was legally wound up. You won't be getting your shilling a year wayleave any more so the contract will be broken anyway.

Hi Grahame
Must be my punctuation but I did not thump Stevie but Geoff H who I used to call Hitler’s Brother, he was just one guy that was difficult to get on with & I did not suffer fools readily. I thought of maybe a dozen more names after my last post but I do not recall you at the moment but you seem to have been there at the same time as me so I must have met you. I am guessing that Grahame is a pseudonym. I remember most of the guys from foxhill who worked for VHire & I worked at Kettlebridge road with The Honey Monster (SD) & his gang, Mick H, Don S, John H, with the rest being me Dave A, Colin D, Mick W, Terry N, Anne T, Mary? We used to do some hairy things Ian & I used to rally his Metro and pay to fix it so SD did not find out, Ian drove his two day old Metro through a flood and seized the engine so I towed it home sucked all the water out of the spark plug holes, dried the paper air filter in the tumble drier, removed all the floor drains & removed gallons of water. It had flooded the car to dashboard level and it stunk for months, but he got a new engine under Leyland’s warranty. It confused the RAC guy. We used to ring in calls to make us look busy so we did not have to spend time in the workshop with SD. One time John Carothers took off to Ladybower res to watch the Dambusters reenactment & bumped into Tom Parry & the area manger with his bit of skirt, none of us should have been there so it was a Mexican standoff. But when I walked into the canteen there was a big cheer and they sang the dambusters march. Colin & I would copy DVD’s for a Video Library in Ecclesall road because I found a way to crack the encryption. So we would line up six or more VCR’s and have them running 24x7, all on loan of course! I heard that Don had Married Debbie Scott but I think someone was trying to wind me up, do you know. There is so many stories that come to mind but cannot air them here. Let me know more about you to see if I can remember you.
Regards Mick

Hi Mick,
I have to admit I don't remember you very well either, I remember people like John Caruthers better, the simple reason being that you were on TVR while I used to do all the off-air stuff in the field. My name is Graham by the way.

If you were with us when we had radio control in the van then I was on the Lima team and later there was a name change and we became the November team. I remember Ted Baker was on our team and I think Carl Binks who married Cynthia from out of the office. I can't remember many more. John Haggerty was with us for a while.

The India team who I remember best used to do Sheffield 5. I remember Paul Bishop and David Morris, I must be getting old? I always used to think the people who did pipeline sets had the best deal, what with fitting front ends and adjusting the de-tilt and kicking the elcon plug back into the socket and just about every other call being a line fault? :) Only kidding.

What happened is that I was working for Snelsons in 1960 and then they bought the old Malthouses building on Derbyshire Lane and I remember working with Aurther Sandford who was one of the Snelsons directors rewiring the Canteen. We were there for about five years and then British Relay took us over and you all moved up from Woodside Lane to Derbyshire Lane. Up until that point I hadn't seen a TVR set. Then as we have already said Vision Hire took over and we continued operating from Derbyshire Lane (do you remember the Morris Scheme) and then that building was sold and as we have said I went to Foxhill, Charlie Leesley was there, he married Jill from out of the office, she used to be the radio operator, do you remember Steve Williams and Allan Kettle? With a name like that he should have been at Kettlebridge Road, then it went to Service Scope and we started doing insurance work for people like Coal Brothers and then there was a merger with Wigfalls and all their men came to Foxhill, Graham Cliff was one of them but you had left by then. After that it was Hellaby, then Kimberworth and then Radio Rentals at Leeds. All together I was there for 41 years and didn't we see some changes. It was 405 lines when I first started, then we had to cope with the changer to 625 lines and BBC2, then CH4, then much later I was involved with the CH5 tune-in program but in-between there was the introduction of solid-state, colour, video and Satellite, I bet there has never been a trade that has seen so much change.

But there we are, and here we are now, still surviving and I am still working when I could be retired, but I would rather be active. I never knew anything about the fun and games you got up to, just think what I missed. :)

There is no successor carosio and I believe the company was legally wound up. You won't be getting your shilling a year wayleave any more so the contract will be broken anyway.

Thanks for that, can't remember getting any shillings, though!

Hi Grahame
No Mckeown's my name. I rember Brizz as he did Lowedges & Jordanthorpe before me. I also remember Dippy Downing, Steve Deighton, Hitler’s brother, who I smacked in the head, Ian Peck, Dave Osborne, Mick West, Dave Appleyard, Mick Tw*t Healey, Dave Morris, Bill Denton, Darryl Dipstick, Geoff Bower, Terry Aizethorpe, Terry Northcliffe, John Hudson, Arthur Evans, Captain Confusion, Terry Pashley, Alan Thomson, Ralph Major who was a good personal friend for many years, Fat John in stores, Jo the Mechanic, old Joe Ex councilor. Many of the linesmen and a number of the Ladies that worked in Accounts canteen & help desk taking calls. Also some of the "girls" in sales @ various branches.
I was there for 17 years and could tell you some stories that would embarrass a few and rattle a few cages to say the least. I worked in the Service dept and in the field & from a number of branches. Then after an argument with Don Stone may he fester slowly from something that they cannot cure, moved to Rumbellows then Mastercare. Took a sideways step into computing which was the best trick ever. Then in 1990 moved out Australia, not looked back at all until I saw a post this week and followed up on the BRW thing.
My wife and I also owned a Takeaway on Shoreham street that was a good earner for about 5 years. This p155ed off the jealous armholes at VH but who cares. I also used to run my own TV repair & Rental business that was also a good earner too!

Better not say too much on an open forum to protect the guilty & weak bladdered that I had the misfortune to have to work with! Not to say that some of the above were and hopefully still are exceptional human beings.
Mick

hi my name is dave barraclough i worked S5 from woodside lane, i do recall some of the names you mentioned kind regards D B

Hi
Myself ( Dennis Greatbatch), Nev Brinnen, Jim Greensmith (ex Radio Hallam and YTV now deceased), Tom Millard, Alan Deutrrom and Anne Brinnen( Nevs sister). Started with Sheffield Cablevision in 1972. I was transmission controller, Nev was chief Engineer, Tom was VTR specialist extrodinare, Jim Greensmith head of News and Alan Deutrom Station manager.d Anne was the staion PA who later becam a presenter.
Sheffield Cablevision was soley owned by British Relay Wireless known for their cable TV service. We opened the station with a live broadcast from the Sheffield city hall where all business and civic leaders where in attendance
The studios were based at matilda street in Sheffield ( which were haunted ) where we had 3 link 103 studio cameras, production technical area, transmission control, news and continuity studios. The VTR machines were all IVC 871 and 961 and we had 16mm and 35mm telecine( in fact the 35mm telecine machine was one I rebuilt from the studios of ITN, it was the machine that broadcast the JFK shooting in Dallas. The studio electronics were made by Link and the sound desk was a crappy thing made by Millbank. We had a rotaing caption machine that would provide on screen captions which would switch during its cycle time to a photographic slide machine. We also had super eight telecine with a film loop and soundtrack of "This is Sheffield Cablevison your community TV Station.... "
Sheffield cablevision was fairly unique the whole studio facility with exception to the telecine machines could be folded up and fitted into an outside broadcast van.
We had some great times and consumed vast quantities of beer in the nearby Truro tavern. We also worked with some great stars of the day including James Mason, Bob Monkhouse, Marc Bolan, Showaddy waddy, etc etc my favourite was pans people who we recorded doing one of their many dance routines at the Crucible. I still have photos of the many guests.
Later in the day arrived Nick Smart on news desk, Mel Day and Andy Barber ex Baileys nightclub ( we spent a lot of time in baileys Night Club and casino), John Brand our new station manager, Alan Biggs our sports reporter, Lol have you got a fag and run out of petrol Fowler presenter ( now deceased god bless), John Lane music producer
These were some good times.
The Studio equipment along with the tapes were presented to the Bradford Museum of Film and Television.
When the station closed I moved onto the TV transmission side of things working from British Relays depot in Derbyshire lane. After around 8 years I moved to YTV in Leeds where i met up once again with Tom Millard and Jim Greensmith . After 10 years at Yorkshire I joined Virgin Media and head up the TV Engineering team
In those days we had just 4 channels today we have 300 plus video on demand and catch up TV.
Anyone fancy catching up my email is dennis.greatbatch@virginmedia.co.uk

Does anyone remember when Sheffield had its own film channel - 21 years ahead of Sky Movies? PTV piped movies into people's homes via British Relay cable and cost six old shillings (30p) to watch a scheduled film. We lived on Winn Gardens estate (from new) with a British Relay TV (I'm sure was supplied by Wigfalls) that gave us ITV as well as BBC for the first time. At our previous house we could only receive BBC (that's just the one channel) and had to watch Yogi Bear and Robin Hood at a friend's house over a mile away. We now had 2 or was it 3 TV channels (another poster mentioned ATV) and I am sure also some radio stations (i think Radio Sheffield in 67 but not certain on that one) In 1969 we were able to watch Granada? when Yorkshire TV was taken off air when Emley Moor collapsed and then as this post has charted, Sheffield Cablevision was born. When you consider the current government's plans for local TV, you can see how far sighted John Brand and his team were in making local TV happen - 40 years ago. To read about the equipment is just amazing. I guess it's like most things, you don't realise what you'll miss until it's gone.

Anyway back to the PTV film channel. We had a box (beige?) connected to the TV set that had a coin slot and to watch the films you inserted 3 two shilling coins. I have no idea what happened to the money accumulated in the box. Did someone call round and empty it? I was too young to take much notice of how it worked. It seems incredible now with all the technology that provides movies on demand even on our mobile phone to think it was quite an occasion - so much so we would invite the neighbours round to watch (not sure if they split the cost of the film). We would select the film from the PTV programme booket - see the photobucket album for pages from my only surving programme from 1968) and be ready to insert the 6 bob, which I guess must have been a fair amount to pay when it only cost 5 shillings to go the the Pictures and see the latest release and in COLOUR. We did not have a colour TV till the early 70's so all these films would have been viewed in black and white. Amazing when you think about it.

Here is a link to the PTV programme guide for October 1968.
http://s168.photobuc...film%20channel/

I made some DIY programmes.

Sigismund