“Gangway”, Tyne Tees, 1966-1967

[markdixon]

Here’s some information about an obscure children’s programme which often featured musical guests.

“Gangway” was broadcast in the Tyne Tees region only and it appears to have been a magazine show similar to “Blue Peter” and “The Five O’Clock Club”. It ran weekly from 07 April 1966 to 12 September 1967. I think that the show may have been partly set aboard a cargo motorship called Hopecrest. The presenters at various times were Don Spencer, Judith Chalmers, Jane Turner, Howard Williams and Sheila Tracy. The producer was Penny Wootton and directors included Anna K. Moore and Don Gollan.

Here’s a very short list of some of the performers who appeared on the show:

1966: Kiki Dee - “I’m Gonna Run Away From You”
28 July 1966: Paul and Barry Ryan
29 September 1966: Cy Grant
28 August 1967: The Small Faces

Does anyone have any more information about this series?

[williammcgregor]

Hi Mark,

I looked at the Newcastle Evening Chronicle via the British Newspaper Archive and it was a bit of a hit and miss here are the results ...

Each episode was on a Thursday night 5:25 to 5:55 pm

07th April 1966 Eric Burdon

14th April 1966 Newcastle Boy Scouts Gang Show and some of the numbers in their production

21st April 1966 (Unknown)

28th April 1966 (Unknown)

05th May 1966 Dusty Springfield

12th May 1966 (Unknown)

19th May 1966 (Unknown)

26th May 1966 (Unknown)

02nd June 1966 (Unknown)

09th June 1966 (Unknown)

16th June 1966 (Unknown)

23rd June 1966 (Unknown)

30th June 1966 Anthony Bygraves

07th July 1966 (Unknown)

14th July 1966 (Unknown)

21st July 1966 Judith Chalmers

28th July 1966 Paul and Barry Ryan

04th August 1966 (Unknown)

11th August 1966 Julie Felix

18th August 1966 (Unknown)

25th August 1966 (Unknown)

01st September 1966 (Unknown)

08th September 1966 (Unknown)

15th September 1966 (Unknown)

22nd September 1966 (Unknown)

29th September 1966 Cy Grant

06th October 1966 (Unknown)

13th October 1966 (Unknown)

20th October 1966 (Unknown)

27th October 1966 (Unknown)

03rd November 1966 (Special Swedish Edition of the show) see bottom of this post for details

10th November 1966 (Unknown)

17th November 1966 (Unknown)

24th November 1966 (Unknown)

01st December 1966 (Unknown)

08th December 1966 (Unknown)

15th December 1966 (Unknown)

22nd December 1966 (Unknown)

29th December 1966 (Unknown)

Attachments:

[markdixon]

Thanks, William. That information is great. It's surprising that a regional children's series featured so many good singers and bands.

[williammcgregor]

So on the 3rd November 1966 a special programme was broadcast in Sweden (Unfortunately I cannot at the moment find out who was on that edition?) maybe nobody significant but maybe there was?

[markdixon]

The evening of Tyne Tees programmes on Swedish TV on 02 November 1966 was connected to a cultural exchange festival called “North-East Meets Sweden”. This was sponsored by the North-East Development Council in Britain and the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation. I know that Tyne Tees Television did some filming in Sweden for this, so it’s possible that this special edition of ‘Gangway’ featured a Swedish singer or group.

By the way, I had a look online and I found details of a few more guests from other editions of ‘Gangway’:

06 March 1967: Cat Stevens
30 June 1967: John Walker - “Annabella”
21 August 1967: The Alan Price Set

[williammcgregor]

I'll check out 1967 tomorrow Mark...thanks for finding the 3 other 1967 guests most impressive

[williammcgregor]

1967 series

Once again I looked at the Newcastle Evening Chronicle via the British Newspaper Archive and the newspaper just was'nt interested in saying who was on the show ...

04th January 1967 (Unknown)

11th January 1967 (Unknown)

18th January 1967 (Unknown)

25th January 1967 (Unknown)

01st February 1967 (Unknown)

08th February 1967 (Unknown)

15th February 1967 (Unknown)

22nd February 1967 (Unknown)

01st March 1967 (Unknown)

08th March 1967 Cat Stevens

15th March 1967 (Unknown)

22nd March 1967 (Unknown)

29th March 1967 (Unknown)

05th April 1967 (Unknown)

12th April 1967 (Unknown)

19th April 1967 (Unknown)

25th April 1967 (Unknown)

03rd May 1967 (Unknown)

10th May 1967 (Unknown)

17th May 1967 (Unknown)

24th May 1967 (Unknown)

31st May 1967 (Unknown)

07th June 1967 (Unknown)

14th June 1967 (Unknown)

21st June 1967 (Unknown)

28th June 1967 John Walker Annabella

03rd July 1967 (Unknown)

10th July 1967 (Unknown)

17th July 1967 (Unknown)

24th July 1967 (Unknown)

31st July 1967 (Unknown)

07th August 1967 (Unknown)

14th August 1967 (Unknown)

21st August 1967 The Alan Price Set

28th August 1967 (Unknown)

04th September 1967 (Unknown)

11th September 1967 (Unknown)

[williammcgregor]

looked at the newspapers of the day and no sign of Gangway on the 6th March 1967 Mike

(Found it....Gangway was on Wednesday the 8th March 1967)

[markdixon]

The Alan Price Set performed 'Simon Smith and His Amazing Dancing Bear' on ‘Gangway’. A real bear appeared in the studio with them. It had been provided by Martin Lacey, a zoo curator, who was an occasional guest on the programme. There’s an article on the ‘Northern Echo” website from 15th October 2018 that mentions this.

We know that the Alan Price Set were on the show on 21st August 1967. However, the appearance with the bear might have been a few months earlier than that. ‘Simon Smith and His Amazing Dancing Bear” was released as a single on 24 February 1967.