Welcome to Southend Scout and Guide Gang Show's monthly feature 'Catching up with'. Here we will catch up with cast past and present as well as the adult volunteers who make It's a Date and SHINDIGS possible. 

This month we talk with Show Manager, Tim Browne

1. Introduce yourself and tell us what your role within Southend Gang Show is?

Hi I’m Tim, I’m the ‘Joint Show Manager’. I share the role with Lesley – and as the story goes she’s the manager and I’m the show!!

2. When was your first Southend Gang Show and how many shows have you now been a part of?

My first show was in 1984, back in the days when we weren’t at the Palace. I performed at the college and the cliffs. After the show in 1988 I left the area and when I moved back in 2005 it was as if nothing had changed. Well I might have been older but Jacky was still in charge and “If I were not upon the stage” still made audiences laugh! So I got roped back into it and here we are 12 years later on and I’m about to perform on stage with my 2 boys!
 

3. Best moment being a part of Southend Gang Show?

We used to do an item called the Regiment Calls, it was a line up in uniform and I was the joke at the end. One song had an item passed down the line, when the egg was passed down and I had no one to give it too it ended up under my hat. Yes the inevitable occurred and it was crushed leaving ‘egg on my face’. I realised the importance of milking the audience – a skill that has served me well in life!

4. What do you get out of being a part of Southend Gang Show and why do you think people should get involved in SHINDIGS 2017?

Simple – friendships, confidence & opportunities.

5. Favourite Southend Gang Show item?

There are so so many, In honesty though I think the finale in any show on the last night. To see so many enriched lives, a full of a spectrum of emotion, realising it’s their last chance to shine, be together, perform together. To acknowledge all the energy that has filled the gap from where they have come and the uncertainty and wonder of what will happen next. And to see all of that in their smiles and tears on stage as they belt out the final numbers. It always brings a tear to my eye, pride in those on stage and gratitude for all those who volunteer to make it happen.
 

6. What have you been up to in the past few months since It’s a Date 2016?

Well like many of us, I threw myself into the Essex International Jamboree. And after that started to think about the next show... it never stops!

7. What are you most looking forward to about the next SHINDIGS/It’s a Date? 

I’m very excited to perform with my two boys in SHINDIGS and to then have the opportunity to see them be part of the full gang in 2018! Wow that’s going to come around soon – too soon!!!