BECG - Our first open days!

[ppppenguin]

A fairly modern camera rigged in the inner foyer that will look at people as they come in. Mounted on a classic Vinten gas pedestal and pan-tilt head. Just connected to a picture monitor with waveform and vector monitors above.

Not sure what the stilsons below the monitor were used for.

[ppppenguin]

We're still very busy preparing for our open days. We'll be mounting a special display based around our Marconi Mk II camera. This was one of the cameras that televised the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. The other photo is of the BBC's senior cameraman DRG “Monty” Montague crammed into the triforium at Westminster Abbey along with a Mk II camera. In a book written to commemorate the life of Richard Dimbleby Montague said: "I used to enter with a sort of Groucho Marx straddle and make for the box seat where I could straighten up sitting down – a paradox this, but comfortably true"

Our Mk II could be the one that he's using in that photo, but we'll never know for sure.

[djrm]

An enjoyable and instructive visit to the museum this morning. Unfortunately forgot to take more photos.
I was pleasantly surprised to see so much being demonstrated.
     
It is often taken for granted what a huge influence TV has on our lives - for better or worse. I don't watch it much now but I grew up with it from its early beginnings and through the days of mass viewing.
Thanks to all involved for the hard work in restoring the building and preserving and maintaining the equipment in working condition.
Kind regards, David.

[ppppenguin]

Just got home after a very hectic week. Preparing duing the week, then the open days at the weekend. Thank you David for your kind comments.

We had about 200 people visit in total. Enough to be pretty busy but not totally overwhelming. A mixture of local people from Hemswell Cliff and people who had made a special trip. Thank you to all.

Lots of things we can learn from our first open days so that we can make it even better next time.

An email from Helen Casey arrived a few seconds ago. She is the widow of the much missed Terry. She lives not far away and came with a couple of friends.

.....I'm really delighted that BECG seemed to have attracted a goodly assortment of visitors. I think you have something there to interest most people from 'geeks' to 'oh, I've always wondered how that was done'.

To continue a conversation that was interrupted, I thought your explanatory notes were about right - informative without being overwhelming. I dislike museums and galleries where you're expected to spend more time reading than looking at the exhibits.......

[ppppenguin]

A few pictures from the open days.

RCA TR-70B quadruplex (2" wide tape) video recorder. We almost got it to work for the weekend. It weighs about 800kg and getting it from Paul's house to Hemswell was quite an effort. I'm sure it didn't enjoy the journey.

Three OB trucks including Southern

Local girl with an Ikegami camera in our foyer

Shot of Studio 1 shows some of the huge amount of work yet to be done. Studio 1 will serve a dual role as a studio, equipped with vintage and mdoern cameras, also as a place to keep some of our vintage OB vehicles under cover.

[ppppenguin]

The Marconi Mk II camera was used at the 1953 Coronation.  We augmented our display with various Coronation memorabilia, photos of the late Queen and additional material about TV at the Coronation.

Once we'd got a laptop to give us sensible looking video we ran Coronation archive footage on the 1949 Invicta TV.

[roadster]

I told my friend who lives in Gainsborough about the open day, so he went and enjoyed it. I was interested to see the 4wd Ford A-series generator(?) truck. I have the remains of a 4wd A-series here if any parts needed.
Rod

[ppppenguin]

The ITN truck is a links vehicle. The sort of thing used to establish a microwave relay where vision circuits weren't otherwise available. Rugged and 4wd because a typcial links location would often be on a windswept hill. The truck is driveable but has no technical equipment.

It belongs to a vintage commercial vehicle enthusiast who lives near Scarborough. We are very pleased that he brought it along to our open days.