Pat Heigham
At Wimbledon one year, I was taken up in the bucket of the Simon crane. With the arm fully up, near vertical, one could not see what was holding you up – most unnerving!
Geoff Fletcher
A bit like this then. We used it for a daylight top shot of a helo landing on the hall lawn, and for a mount for a single light source (10K or Brute – can’t recall now) for a night shoot on the Anglia TV serial “Growing Rich" in July 1991.
As Unit Manager, I went up with the sparks to set an example as some of the lads were a bit uneasy about the height. The views were magnificent but it did seem a long way down!
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Dave Mundy
I also had my career high point at Wimbledon. BBC Sports Dept. wanted to find out what the coverage of the site was from a 200ft. hoist, i.e. what courts, public areas, and general beauty shots around the district could be seen. So the Sports Unit was sent to Wimbledon and we went up the 200 ft. hoist for a pan around, no sound requirement apart from the camera-person’s commentary on the camera mic. but I went along for the view!
It was a ‘brown trouser moment’ looking down from 200ft. at the little Dinky toy holding us up but, strangely, the worst bit was when the arm first went horizontal! The hoist operator warned us that there would be a bump as each section of the arm started to extend which didn’t help the nerves either!
We both got a certificate from the hoist company as new members of the ‘200 foot Club’! Make of that what you will.
Mike Jordan
Trying out a Simon Hoist at Kendal Avenue.
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As part of our KA OB Simon Hoist training (I have my certificate) one had to go up in the cage then, in case the emergency pump ever failed, come down in the harness. All sounds like fun till one had to climb out over the rails and down the 6 or so steps of the short ladder then drop off. Not such fun as one got near the bottom and hands and feet were at same height.
We were stopped doing this later as the Sala safety block used as a dropping wire was only to be used ONCE as using it crushed the wire and made it unserviceable.
We used to use these as safety blocks when rigging water towers to avoid getting too near the edge until told of this cable problem which would have made them unsafe if ever needed in earnest. H&S – what?
Geoff Fletcher
Max height on that hoist was 210 feet.
Dave Mundy
I can’t see Simon ‘Hoist’ in any picture! (KA in-joke!).
My funniest hoist story was when we were covering Rugby League at Swinton. We were billeted at ‘The Stately Barn of England’ in Stockport , on the opposite side of Manchester – it had 7 bars and a haunted underground passage from the accommodation to the refreshments, heavens knows who booked us in there! Anyway, the hoist cam. was over the top of the grandstand and come the de-rig the hoist refused to work. A certain Gerry Levy was acting VS on the show and was desperate to get back to London for a PTA meeting that evening. He was giving a lift back to Dave (KA) Roberts.
Well, there is a standby donkey engine on such hoists just in case the hoist won’t behave. Albert Stewart and most of us tried for over an hour to start the damn thing! Including dismantling the carburettor and so on. In the mean time, having contacted Search in Leeds, a hoist engineer was on his way. When he arrived he gave one pull on the starting cord and the engine fired! Gerry Levy was by now hovering off the floor! To cap it all, Dave Roberts found that he had left his OB coat back at the digs! Happy days on the road!
Peter Cook
Sounds like Bredbury Hall and that was a favourite of Gavin Corrie.
Dave Mundy
Yes, Bredbury Hall rings a distant, muffled, bell and I think Gavin was on the crew for that show!
Peter Cook
Not to be outdone, imagine this: a Saturday morning in June; On the Mall opposite the junction with Horse Guards Approach. Having done line-up, got aloft in good time, looking down behind me on Nelson (a mere 52 meters to my 65). I adjusted the 3 way leveller with bubbles on panning head (and the horizon). Sat down to wait for rehearsal. Wind got up a bit so swapped newspaper for a book. Director talking to cameras before me on the mixer. Stood up, looked through the viewfinder. Oops the horizon was several degrees off level. Correcting that, I glanced down and noticed the boom now resembled a banana!! Consoled myself with the thought that aircraft wings deform in flight and recalling school work on stresses and strains supposed that there is some way to go before reaching the elastic limit. I agree that from 65 meters the truck looks more like a matchbox toy that a dinky. Glad to see the jacks out on spreaders. Wobbles a bit trying to pan a flypast though.
On another occasion at Silverstone one jack on a hoist was not on a spreader and punched a hole through a concrete drain cover.
Pat Heigham
Looking at the rather small stabilisers on the chassis, I post these pics – Irish rescue attempt.
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Peter Hider
Looking at the Irish rescue attempt brings to mind the time when I was Assoc. Producer on a “Ruth Rendell Mystery” shooting on a small exclusive estate in Fareham. I’d booked a cherry picker, 36 metre I think, from a nationwide company, to carry a 48 headed lamp called a Bronto, for the night shoot.
The crane started elevating to the required height but the broken arm was at its limit of horizontal reach. The operator ignored the warning light and continued elevating when the inevitable happened. The whole truck and arm fell over and completely demolished a garage together with the lamp which was underslung. That was a wrap!
I spent the next 2 hours in the pouring rain trying to get a crane big enough to lift the cherry-picker back onto its wheels. I found a mammoth crane from the Meon Valley, 26 wheels and 20 tonnes in weight to work on an estate road with a limit of 7 1/2 tonnes. The driver was amazing. He righted the CP by lifting it like a dinky toy with a Kevlar strap round the arm. I didn’t use the cherry-picker company again.
The aftermath was that the owner of the demolished garage was only too pleased that his Ferrari (genuinely) was at the dealers rather than in his garage. The film insurance company were also quite pleased.
Mike Jordan
This was the Comms Radio Links tower at Llandonna (N Wales) for the Prince of Wales Investiture.
It was custom and practice to attach guy ropes to these 60ft towers in case of excessive wind (not very H&S but we didn’t have anemometers and no set limits anyway).
The rope had been attached to the bumper of the Landrover and the rigger had suggested he go out to collect lunch.
Unfortunately the keys had been left in the vehicle and he drove off – pulling the tower over not long before the live TX.
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Hugh Sheppard
The tallest cherry-picker (Simon hoist?) I’d ever seen was at Bristol for “Jeux-sans-Frontieres” sometime in the 1970s.
Ex-studio cameraman Dave (Hodge) (once on Crew 7) was atop when the hydraulics failed at full height.
Daylight turned to dusk and he was still up there. All hands to the pump – literally – but to no avail.
Suddenly, Dave re-appeared; he had decided to step overboard harnessed to the emergency safety wire… Not a man to show his emotions, methinks it will have lived with him for a long time.
BBC Genome says:
24th August 1973
19.45 : It’s A Knockout
(Jeux sans Frontieres)
The fifth International heat in which teams from the
following seven countries compete for the Eurovision Trophy:
Great Britain: Blyth
Belgium: Koekelberg
France: Cognac
Germany: Marburg
Holland: Kapelle
Italy: Chieri
Switzerland: Sargans
From Durdham Down, Bristol
Introduced by EDDIE WARING and STUART HALL
International referees GENARO OLIVIERI and GUIDO PANCALDI
British referee ARTHUR ELLIS
Designer STUART FURBER
Director BILL TAYLOR
Producer BARNEY COLEHAN
So it was a Bill Taylor special!
Cliff White
I feel certain it was a guy named Dave Hodge, who moved from Crew 7 to Cardiff, and was part of the Welsh crew that worked the programme on the Clifton Downs. I remember him saying that it was the most terrifying thing he had ever done, even though the hoist engineer with him had ensured him that it would be perfectly safe! I also vaguely remember that the crews’ nickname for that monstrous beast was "The Moonshot". I don’t know why!
Great Somerford, 1973. Birthplace of Mark Phillips, who was about to marry Princess Anne.The Moonshot was used to give a panoramic view of the entire village, while two other cameras were at ground level, doing vox-pops with the locals. Nice!
Stan Westwood was scheduled to operate the Moonshot on transmission, but during some downtime between rehearsals, the other cameraman and I were given a ride to the very top, just for fun!! Laugh!?! I thought I’d never start! It was absolutely mind-blowing! You had to look down, of course, but it was stomach-churning!
Geoff Fletcher
Anglia TV provided two scanners for the ITV coverage of Charles and Diana’s wedding in July 1981.
We were based at the top of Northumberland Avenue with the small scanner, and my camera position was on top of a chimney breast on the roof of Northumberland Buildings opposite Nelson on his column. I always liked high cameras – nice and peaceful! Our big scanner was at St Pauls.
During a lull in proceedings I took a walk down to St Pauls and found my old mate Rex Palmer on a BBC Simon near Charing Cross Station.
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