GANG SHOW HISTORY
Updated 17 June 2011
Hist
ory
In
1992 Seaton Valley thought it would be a good idea to stage a Scout show in
order to bring the District together in a single project. Fortunately, they had some old boys and girls of the Newcastle Gang Show
to produce the show, and the benefit of the invaluable experience of the late Bill Moon (Musical
Director). Dave McClen and Barry Steel jointly produced the
first shows. They decided to give the show a unique title and the
Big Night Out was born.
The first three shows were staged at Astley High School in Seaton Delaval. However, in order to give the gang a taste of a real theatre, from 1998 the Show moved to the Phoenix Theatre in Blyth. Also in 1998 the Show achieved Gang Show status, which means that it is good enough to have the Scout Associations seal of approval.
In
2000 Seaton Valley District merged with Blyth to form Blyth Valley. In
2001 the Show was presented as the Blyth Valley Gang Show, but still with the
subtitle of Big Night Out, as was the 2003 and 2005 Shows.
Due to the Phoenix Theatre being unavailable in 2007,planning and rehearsals started late. The Gang worked through the summer holidays in order to present the Show in the theatre within St Nicholas Hospital in Gosforth. Thanks to this hard work, the support of the back stage crew and the generosity of various organisations the Show was a success.
In 2009 the Gang were unable to get a venue in our District and had to present the Show at Newcastle Academy. While providing a comfortable venue this did present a problem with travelling.
The programme and pictures for each Show can be found by clicking on the year boxes at the top right of this page. The aim of our Show continues to be to give young people the chance to enjoy a unique experience, gain a sense of achievement, make new friends and to entertain the community.