Sparky and Mrs Sparky's Pashley tandem

Sod the brake upgrade then. That sounds like a plan.

Old brake blocks on steelies are literally the worst, they go as hard and brittle as acrylic. Consider a second lever on the stoker bars for the second rear calliper as well instead of the double pull thingy.
You've already spent as much as it'll ever be worth so sod the wheelbuild. Smash it to the pub and round the park then sink your money in something fancy if you get the bug.
I'm down from 3 complete tandems to just one currently dismantled. Wish I had room for a double beater!

If the hubs are Ok what about rebuilding them into new modern alloy 590 rims, sjs do them for £20 each. You could then fit some decent cartridge pad holders with koolstop salmon pads or the koolsop thin line salmon v brake pads work really well in these brakes. Those old brakes can be made to work quite well if you strip them, give em a good clean and lube all the springs and pivots points.
Good luck, it's nice old bike.

Great bike! I had one of these in blue a few years back (pretty sure I sold it on here). Weighed a tonne and yep, didn't stop, especially in the wet with two people on board.

I remember tinkering with the brakes and somehow it started to play nicely, back wheel tended to skid a bit.

Regarding tyres I'm pretty sure I had some Schwalbes with white walls - they rode well and looked great.

Enjoy.

So the tandem hasn't moved an inch. I bought some leather brake pads to try and make it a bit less dangerous but they don't mount the same way. Any ideas how I can proceed?

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And the pads...

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Those look like canti blocks, and won't fit Weinmanns - they mount into an eyebolt on the canti arms. I've got Weinmann centrepulls on my touring frame, and as a big lad wanted to improve on their somewhat indifferent performance. I found that careful setup took them to good enough. I used some compressionless outer and made sure the ends were ground square, fitted a new cable hanger that was less flexy, stripped and greased the brakes themselves etc. That helped lots, but most important of all I've found you need to set the blocks close enough to the rims to be able to able to use the full amount of lever travel for braking. This may require fiddling with the straddle cable hangar (and without a fourth hand tool, lots of swearing...), or just spacing the blocks inwards using washers on the inside of the brake calipers. It may be possible to fit modern cartridge holders and pads, but if possible try before you buy - depending on rim width etc. they may or may not fit. Otherwise Kool-Stop 'continental' pads should fit, and can be had in the salmon compound; I think Spa Cycles do them.

(Edit: missed that this still had the steel rims; I'm not sure what the Kool-Stops will be like then. I vaguely recall they'll be OK in the dry, but leather pads are better in the wet; OTOH steel rims are never going to be much cop in the wet, especially on a tandem.)