WORKING MENS CLUBS

GLORY BE – in conversation with stand up comedian Gavin Webster

/ Alikivi
(pic. Gavin Webster, Centurion bar, Newcastle. Alikivi Sept. 2025)

I first met Gavin back in 2021 where we are today in the Centurion bar in Newcastle Central Station. He talked about being brought up in Blaydon during the 1960s and breaking into alternative comedy in the early 90s.

I missed out on the workingmen’s club circuit. But there was still a buzz for the whole comedy scene. I’ve been doing this for 33 years, I’m 56 now.

We talked about TV shows we watched as kids – Wheeltappers and Shunters Club, The Comedians and Minder.

It was great. It seemed there was chaos and a caper everyday down London. I wanted to move down there and get to know these types of people, hustling and bustling during the days, loved it.

Scene from Sunday for Sammy in 2018.

In 2004 I was at Newcastle City Hall watching an afternoon of Geordie entertainment. Sunday for Sammy concert was organised by Auf Wiedersehen Pet stars Jimmy Nail, Tim Healy and Lindisfarne drummer Ray Laidlaw.

Among the TV, theatre and music talent on stage was AC/DC vocalist Brian Johnson ripping into Nutbush City Limits. A great afternoon. Played to packed houses the show returns to Newcastle every two years.

Yeah about 20 years ago I done a Sunday for Sammy show at Newcastle City Hall. Originally, I think Ray Laidlaw phoned me up about it. I really enjoyed it. In fact, I done it twice, the first time was with the lads from Viz. There was myself, Simon Donald, Simon Collier plus a couple of actors and I think the boxer Glenn McCrory done a part. We done a Sid the Sexist sketch. The next time I done my stand-up routine.

There were two shows. A matinee and a show in the evening. The matinee went well and at the later show I went on early because I had another show to do at The Stand in Newcastle. I had played the City Hall with 2,500 people there, a full house, but only about a dozen people turned up at The Stand. That has happened twice in my career.

At the Edinburgh Fringe in 2003. It was a benefit gig for an HIV/AIDS charity at the 3,000 seater Festival Theatre on Nicholson Street. It was a star studded line up and I did a 10 minute slot. My parents came up for the day. After the show I took them down to my other gig where only 11 people turned up. You get brought down to earth with a bump.

My agent at the time told me to go to the Oranji Boom Boom Club in London as it’s a good place to go, people get down there. I played the club on a Wednesday night and did a good decent job, worked hard, took it seriously. But in front of only a dozen people. However, a few year later I done some TV work on Channel Four and the producer came up to me and told me that he saw me at the Oranji Boom Boom Club.

During the past few interviews I’ve asked how do you survive in the arts?

Sometimes it’s been tough. I met a shock jock type of comedian from Australia his father was very rich. He was well supported. He would tell wild stories about how people walked out of his gigs. Now if I done that, I wouldn’t be able to pay my rent. It’s alright if you have unlimited funds coming in.

There has been times without work but I get by. I’ve done some voice over work, small comedy/drama parts. I’ve been in two Ken Loach films. I had speaking parts in I, Daniel Blake and Sorry I Missed You.

I done some of the animal voices on a children’s TV show called Walk on the Wild Side with Jason Mamford. We recorded that in a studio in Wardour Street, London. The set up is you watch the video on the big screen and read through the script. I got to write some of season three. Sarah Millican done it, Jon Richardson, Rob Gilbert, Mark Benton – loads of comics done voices on it.

I totally understand when some actors can end up working in shops and restaurants cos you need a regular income or you can end up skint. Actors need TV shows like Eastenders and Emmerdale. The films and voice overs don’t happen all the time – stand up has kept me going.

What am I doing now? I do a pod cast called Bazookaaah, small stand-up tours, regular gigs at Edinburgh Fringe and the Tyne Theatre in Newcastle. This new show on 21 November is called Glory Be its Gavin Webster. It’s stuff from Edinburgh with some new stuff that I’ve added. I always write a new show every 18 months or so.

Last time at Tyne Theatre was January 2024. For this show I arranged it and done a deal with them just for the one night so it’s not a massive commitment for them. Really looking forward to it.

Alikivi   October 2025

Link to podcast >>> Bazookaaah Number 37

Link to previous interview >>>

CRACK ON with North East comedian Gavin Webster | ALIKIVI : NORTH EAST UK CULTURE

Sunday for Sammy >>>

Sunday for Sammy | Supporting young creative talent in Tyneside

HAVE YOU HEARD THIS ONE? #8

/ Alikivi

How’s it gaan? After sharing stories first posted here in 2018 about the New Wave of British Heavy Metal there’s been a welcome spike in views from Poland, Slovakia and the Netherlands.

NWOBHM has always been popular since the first posts in 2017 which featured Fist, Raven, Mythra, Satan, Hollow Ground and Tygers of Pan Tang, plus stories from Impulse Studio big wig David Woods and producer Steve Thompson who brought the hammer down on seminal recordings on the Neat label. Also posted are stories from Durham’s Guardian Studio, although producer Terry Gavaghan has remained elusive. So far.

While new interviews are being lined up to take the site to the end of 2024, November has featured a compilation of stories from this year – and here’s another batch.

First up is a regular to the site, songwriter & vocalist Emma ‘Velvet Tones of Teesside’ Wilson. Emma first appeared back in 2019 talking about her influences in music…

‘Aretha Now’ and ‘Aretha Sings the Blues’ were both records that shaped my development as a singer. I used to sit for hours listening to the songs on vinyl’.

Emma kick started 2024 being pictured on the cover of Blues Matters magazine featuring her new album ‘Memphis Calling’ recorded in Sam Phillips studio, USA.

‘The studio breathes, it has an immense presence. The live room is awesome, beautifully designed. I let my emotions out on the recording’.

Full story >>> EMMA SINGS THE BLUES – with Emma ‘Velvet Tones of Teesside’ Wilson | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

100 year old actress and entertainer Helen Russell sadly passed away this year. She will be missed. In May, Helen featured on the site looking back at the start of her career.

‘We didn’t have a phone in the house so I’d take calls on the local public telephone box outside to tell me where I was playing that night. Sometimes it meant getting a bus to Newcastle and then catching another to Stanley in County Durham, or Ashington in Northumberland, then heading back after 10pm – all the time humping my guitar and other equipment. I had no helpers.’

‘When guitar groups became popular in the ‘60s I had to stop dancing on stage because of all the leads and wires. That’s when I took up the guitar and later started writing my own songs.’

Full interview >>> TON UP for North East actress and entertainer Helen Russell  | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

Another regular to the site is songwriter and former Neat records producer Steve Thompson, he got in touch in May.

‘I was 24 year old at the time and just quit a waged job to live on fresh air and follow a dream. I was either very brave, very stupid, or both. I quickly began knocking out songs and pitching them all over the place. I knew I needed some action or I was going to starve’.

‘One day I was at the dentist in Wallsend. I’d been called upstairs to the surgery when the receptionist called me back down. It was my publisher on the phone they tracked me down to tell me ‘Hurry Home just entered the charts at 63’. You could’ve knocked me down with a feather, that was the break I was looking for’.

‘From there on in incredible things happened it climbed the charts over a period of three months and peaked at 17. Here I am top 20, I had arrived! Then all sorts of things started to happen, the lyrics were printed in pop magazine Smash Hits, all the airplay on Radio One, name checks from DJ Mike Read on the Breakfast show, and of course Top of the Pops. All this was happening but I was still broke’.

Full interview >>> I WILL GO BACK– with songwriter & former Neat records producer Steve Thompson | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

In February former entertainer Peter Embleton recalled his time in clubland.

‘I had a marvellous time working the North East, the greatest training ground for anyone, my job was to put on a show not just be a singer of songs’.

‘As well as all over the North East I worked in Australia and the cruise lines, I was voted male vocalist of the year twice in the ‘80s in the National Club Mirror awards’.

‘I look at some of the talent now and feel sorry that they never experienced the Saturday night atmosphere of say the King Street club in North Shields. The club full at 7pm, great musicians to play for you led by the inimitable Micky Watson, what a buzz.’

‘Yes of course there were poor nights when it didn’t all go according to plan, but hey the good times by far outweighed the bad times. I feel lucky to have experienced the golden age of clubland, there were some brilliant acts and musicians’.

Full interview >>> GOLDEN AGE OF CLUBLAND with entertainer, Peter Embleton. | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

Got a story to add to the site? Just get in touch >>>

Contact | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

Full list of hundreds of interviews >>>

About | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE

Alikivi   November 2024

TON UP for North East actress and entertainer Helen Russell 

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A North East icon will celebrate her 100th birthday with the launch of her new book of poetry at The Word, South Shields.

Helen is one of the few surviving ENSA (Entertainments National Service Association) members from WW2 – the elite troupe who entertained military personnel. She joined ENSA at 15-year-old and toured the UK singing and dancing.

Helen was born in London on May 30th 1924 near the London Palladium. “I was bitten by the showbiz bug as a young girl and fortunately I could sing and dance well, so I was able to follow my dreams”.

Helen started her career aged eight and at 14 performed in her first professional pantomime, Dick Whittington, at the Winter Gardens in Morecambe.

During the war Helen married Colin Hillcote, who ran a dance hall in Belfast. “It was an exciting time there, too”. At the end of the war the couple returned to South Shields, Colin’s home town, and she has been an adopted Sand-dancer since 1946.  

In the 1950s Helen was singing at church events and played many roles as member of the South Shields Amateur Operatic Society. A friend who performed in working men’s clubs heard Helen sing and invited her to step up on stage.

“From there I became an artist in my own right, singing and dancing throughout the region” she said.

“We didn’t have a phone in the house so I’d take calls on the local public telephone box to tell me where I was playing that night! Sometimes it meant getting a bus to Newcastle and then catching another to Stanley in County Durham, or Ashington in Northumberland, then heading back after 10pm – all the time humping my guitar and other equipment. I had no helpers!”

“When guitar groups became popular in the 60s I had to stop dancing on stage because of all the leads and wires. That’s when I took up the guitar and later started writing my own songs.”

In 1965 a Vaux beers television advert came calling and a number of variety shows were filmed at Tyne Tees Television, including a double act with Bill Pertwee of Dad’s Army fame and working with Dick Emery. She was a contemporary of North East legends Bobby Thompson, Bobby Pattinson and Dick Irwin, all of whom she knew well and regularly worked with.

Her TV and film appearances include When the Boat Comes in, Supergran, Catherine Cookson adaptations, Highway (during which she sang with Harry Secombe), Emmerdale, The Fast Show and Billy Elliot.

On stage, Helen’s credits include performing in her self-penned plays Off the Shelf and Keep Calm and Carry On. She was also an original Dirty Duster, a play which transferred to Newcastle Theatre Royal and sold out twice. Helen was still performing in the Dirty Dusting tour until the age of 90!

She was also part of the hugely popular Angels of the North variety group with the two other original Dirty Dusters – Jean Southern and the late Gwen Doran. Their shows, mostly of original material, were self-written and performed to sell-out audiences all over the region.

Regular successful contributions to BBC Radio 4’s Poetry Corner sparked Helen’s creativity, she started writing in the 1970s and returned to poetry during the Covid lockdown.

Her new book of poems “Oh! Life is a Joy” will be launched at a free event in The Word, South Shields Market Place at 1pm Thursday, May 30th.

There will also be an ’in conversation’ with Helen to mark her remarkable life and career. All profits from the book will be donated to cancer charities. Helen successfully fought off breast cancer a decade ago.

 Alikivi   May 2024

GOLDEN AGE OF CLUBLAND with entertainer, Peter Embleton.

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‘I’m originally from Teesside but have lived South of York for 10 years now. I had a marvellous time working the North East, the greatest training ground for anyone, but retired from the business when live backing started to be replaced with self-contained acts, my job was always to put on a show not just be a singer of songs’.

‘As well as all over the North East I worked in Australia and the cruise lines, I was voted male vocalist of the year twice in the ‘80s in the National Club Mirror awards’ said Peter.

‘I look at some of the talent now and feel sorry that they never experienced the Saturday night atmosphere of say, King Street club, North Shields. The club full at 7pm, great musicians to play for you led by the inimitable Micky Watson, what a buzz!’

‘Yes of course, there were poor nights when it didn’t all go according to plan, but hey the good times by far outweighed the bad times. I feel lucky to have experienced the golden age of clubland, there were some brilliant acts and musicians’.

Peter at the back on the left in one of his club bands.

Did you appear on radio or TV?

I did regular radio broadcasts from Manchester with the Northern Radio Orchestra, for TV, I was the first act to appear on London Weekend Television’s ‘Search for a Star’, there were more TV including two appearances on ATV’s ‘Starburst’, also two appearances on Granada’s ‘The Video Entertainers’ and a guest spot on ‘The Cannon and Ball show’ for London Weekend.

I did a national tour and two summer seasons with Cannon and Ball when they were at the height of their fame playing to thousands at Bournemouth and Scarborough.

There was lots of radio jingles at Metro radio and TFM (radio Tees) plus I wrote and recorded ‘Up the Boro’ for Middlesbrough football club which is still played 50 years later at the stadium!

Peter first got in touch after reading the recent Guardian Studio post (14 Feb 2024).

I first became aware of Guardian studios in the late ‘70s, I had been working at the Club Fiesta in Stockton as resident singer/compere and had just left to become ‘Peter Saint’ and start a solo career in the North East workingmen’s clubs.

One night I worked with a young band who began telling me about their recent experience at Guardian, they had just finished an album in there and were singing the praises of producer Terry Gavagahn.

I’d been doing some writing with the keyboard player at the Fiesta club, Pete Jackson, and we were looking for somewhere to do some demos so I gave Terry a ring and booked some dates.

Pity Me in Durham was a typical pit village, blink and you’d miss it. Basically, it was a row of terraced cottages and in the middle was Terry’s house – Guardian studios! The most unlikely place you could ever imagine a studio to be.

But inside it was like the Tardis, walls had been knocked down to make a decent sized recording area, there was a glass fronted control room at the back with an excellent recording desk and pro reel to reel machine.

Terry seemed like a nice guy and was very welcoming, more importantly he seemed to know what he was doing. If I remember correctly, he was quite an accomplished Rock guitarist and that was his main love, but he did a good job for us.

I think we had about three days there and ended up with some decent demos. Shortly after that I was told by my agency that Tyne Tees TV were looking for a theme tune for a new show called ‘Friday Live’. I put something together and sent it to them and was as surprised as anyone when they said “yes, we like it.”

I assumed they would organise the recording of it but they handed it all over to me and said “there’s a budget, go and do it”. I relied heavily on Peter Jackson as it needed arranging for a seven-piece band, that’s when we made the decision to go back to Guardian.

I think a few of the more seasoned session players were surprised when they pulled up at the terrace in Pity Me, but it didn’t get too cramped because we recorded the rhythm section first then overdubbed the brass, and finally layered the vocals.

Terry did a fine job and Tyne Tees were very happy with the finished track. I think he got some more work from them after that session. ‘Friday Live’ ran for nearly a year, I even got a guest spot on it.

I’ve since worked in many studios including Strawberry and A.I.R studios – George Martin’s place in London, but I’ll never forget Guardian.

What are you up to now Peter?

Right now, I sing for fun, I have taken a huge interest in guitar, play in a few different bands and enjoy singing in a local choir which performs an eclectic mix of music.

Alikivi   February 2024

Drop me a line at garyalikivi@yahoo.com if you have any workingmen’s club or Guardian Studio stories.