1969-70 - the Slough Studio

6 min 13 sec

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Some historical background notes on this piece

I started work in my first proper job at ICEM (Macmillan Films) in Richmond in early 1969. After a year I was getting itchy. The Canadian Government were offering incentives to attract people over into their animation industry but I really wanted to be working in the mainstream UK industry in Soho. So I decided to hand in my notice and see what I could find in that wider world.

During my time at ICEM I had met Val Pearce. Her father, Lionel, and mother, Susie, had an animation studio in their home on the edge of Slough in Berkshire. Val asked me if I could give her Dad a hand for a couple of weeks as they were overloaded with work. I was expecting a break in employment after I left Richmond while I figured out the scene and employment possibilities in Soho so I agreed to do a short spell working on one production they had going through.

When I arrived the work force was Li and Susie Pearce and John Percy. I have a memory of animating rats scurrying around a waste tip ! When that was complete I was expecting to move on but there was a mountain of work constantly coming in. So I delayed while doing one of the next ones. Before I knew it I had been there for months and it clearly needed more hands on deck.

So I contacted my mate from Art school, Dave Hall, who was still sharing a house behind Olympia with me, Tony Stead, and Rudy Duffield. As time passed we needed more help and Val joined the work force.

This piece is a snippet from that time. During the next few months another old mate from art school, Tony Stead, also put in some time ... and Dave Baird, Dave Kellehar, Mike Hickin ... and so on. We turned Val's old bedroom into a darkroom and there were 2 rostrum cameras working. Eventually, in 1971, we just ran out of space and moved the main studio to Athos House in Hanwell, west of Ealing. But that's in the future.