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Date: 17th Oct, 1300hrs.
Link: https://www.reynoldsfunerals.co.uk/funeral/graham-reed-144/

have heard from Mike's executors - Michael Langley-Evans passed away on 4th August 2023 at his home in Wooburn Green. His funeral took place  on 27th September 2023 at Haycombe Cemetery and Crematorium in Bath.

BBC joins other PSBs with the launch of Freely in 2024.

This is from The BBC Media Centre:-

"For the first time for free, British viewers will be able to easily browse and watch live TV channels together with on demand content streamed straight to their smart TV via the internet."

More information, here.

Passed away late Aug 2023. No other details so far

Further information - Alan's funeral will be held on Wednesday, October 4th, 2023, at 14:00 hrs, at the New Southgate Cemetery & Crematorium.
Refreshments will be provided after the service.

Also, rather than flowers, please make any donations to the Alzheimer's Society - in Alan's memory!

Please note that friends are very welcome to attend - but please let TO29@gmx.com know (as a focal point) if you intend to be there, so I can advise the family.

Following a splendid attachment with the BBC Press Office, I’m happy to return to the BBC Alumni fold! Huge thanks to Kathy Humphreys for keeping things going over the summer.
We often hear, “I’d never heard of the BBC Alumni Network until so-and-so mentioned it”, so we thought the new school year would be a good time to find missing alumni. You can invite your old BBC chums to join our community of ex-BBC’ers by simply sharing the registration link below:
bbcalumni.co.uk/login/register/
It takes less than a minute to sign up and they’ll start receiving event invitations, updates and access to the BBC Club (subject to eligibility) straight away.
As ever, please drop me a line at natasha.maclean@bbc.co.uk if you have any suggestions for alumni activity - your feedback helps immensely in the continuing development of our alumni programme.
I hope to catch up with you soon.
With very best wishes
Natasha
Natasha Maclean, Alumni Relations Manager
E: Natasha.Maclean@bbc.co.uk
T: 07841 344750

Harold Briley died on the 26th June 2023.

"The Guardian" has an obituary for Harold, here, by Nick Caistor.

Nice to know, thanks Ian.

John

Well, well, well. If you have read the recently published annual report of the BBC pension fund trustees, you will have noticed a link to the recently published judgement of the High Court hearing in May, of the BBC's application to play jiggery-pokery with the pension scheme rules.

https://downloads.bbc.co.uk/mypension/en/summary_report_2023.pdf

In essence the BBC wanted permission to alter the scheme (in other words, close it) without the current necessity to have such a change signed off by the scheme's actuary. The result? The judge smacked the BBC's arguments to the boundary for six and told it to sling its hook. This is excellent news and shows that the courts do not always find for employers against the interests of their employees. I attended the first two of the three-day hearing and was alarmed at the robustness of the arguments put forward by the BBC's barrister: that active members have no legal interest in the build up of future pension in the scheme. The way he put it, he seemed to have strong points. But I was wrong. The judge politely but firmly dismissed the various arguments put forward by the BBC.  The corporation may appeal but will have to cite firm legal grounds for doing so. It can't just rock up to the Appeal Court and say it wants another go, this time in front of a more favourable judge. It asked the High Court for its opinion and got it. Just not the one it wanted. By the way, the report shows that scheme is now fully funded with a small surplus, which is excellent news.

It is with great sadness that I have to report that Alan C Short has passed away. He was 81.

A longtime stalwart of LBH Control Room, he'd spent much of his service in the one area, firstly as an operator and then, latterly, as an engineer.
However he fondly remembered that time he spent on attachment to the Film Unit at Maida Vale, and his conversing with the two Rays (Riley and White).

He was not a fan of Continuity operations - in fact I don't ever recall him doing a shift in any of the Cons! - much preferring to be involved with the operations carried out in the main body of the area. He was self-taught in electronics, computing and programming - skills he was demonstrably able to apply in the era of computerisation of BH. Only recently, he was telling me that 'one of his little projects' (involving wind direction) had been put into use in the mid-80s - and was still being used!!

With the reorganisation of BH Control Room staff in the late 80s, Alan volunteered to undergo the year's training to become a 'fully qualified' engineer, returning to LCR in 1990 as it was undergoing its' conversion to computer operation. With the remote control of equipment becoming the norm for broadcasting, Alan set about writing several programs to make the control and switching operations less onerous on the staff. Indeed, along with several colleagues, they effectively 'rebuilt' BH C/R a number of times over the following decade!!

So involved with what was going on in Control Room - whether it was known as that or as the EOC! - Alan took the opportunity to continue working there after his 60th birthday, albeit on a part-time basis, which didn't include night shifts(!) both to continue to challenge his brain as well as enhance his pension!!

Alan continued to act as organiser for "The Crumblies Annual Reunion" (held in North London) with the last one being in 2016, 25 years after its inception. He would also meet up with several of the older LCR staff who'd taken redundancy in the cull of 1989.

Sadly, he lost his beloved Lynn to cancer of the brain in the summer of 2021, distraught when she'd failed to recognise him when he would visit her.

He continued to live alone in the house they had shared in Enfield, feeling even more cut off when he became unable to drive, when it became evident that he was suffering from a form of dementia.

He passed away on Saturday, 26th August, 2023. Rest in Peace, my dear friend.