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Does anyone remember Westward Television?
It was the ITV franchise holder for south west England from 1961 to 1981.
When I was little, I always enjoyed Gus Honeybun's Birthdays. A Westward presenter would read out kids' birthday cards, whilst Gus did bunny hops or pressed a magic button as requested by the kid mentioned on the card. Sadly no-one sent in a card for me.:cry:
Then there was the main regional magazine at 6pm: Westward Diary. Here are some of the prenters whose names I remember:
Kenneth MacLeod
Judi Spiers
Jeniffer Clulow
Roger Shaw (he tended to read the news, and was also chief announcer between programmes)
Ian Stirling
Graham Danton (he did the weather forecast)
Topline Broadhurst (he did a gardening slot one day a week)
Ted Tuckerman (he did a fishing slot on Fridays)
There was a special slot within Westward Diary some nights, like "Pick of the Post".
Then of course there was the Westward ship. Here's the first version I remember, and revised version that was introduced circa 1978/9 and lasted till New Year's Eve 1981.
Sadly Westward TV lost its franchise to Television South West (TSW). Westward was supposd to broadcast until 31 December 1981, but (so I read somewhere) for some reason ceased broadcasting on 11 August 1981. TSW took over next day, but continued broadcasting under the Westward name until 31 December 1981, and began using their own name from 1 January 1982.
It was the ITV franchise holder for south west England from 1961 to 1981.
When I was little, I always enjoyed Gus Honeybun's Birthdays. A Westward presenter would read out kids' birthday cards, whilst Gus did bunny hops or pressed a magic button as requested by the kid mentioned on the card. Sadly no-one sent in a card for me.:cry:
Then there was the main regional magazine at 6pm: Westward Diary. Here are some of the prenters whose names I remember:
Kenneth MacLeod
Judi Spiers
Jeniffer Clulow
Roger Shaw (he tended to read the news, and was also chief announcer between programmes)
Ian Stirling
Graham Danton (he did the weather forecast)
Topline Broadhurst (he did a gardening slot one day a week)
Ted Tuckerman (he did a fishing slot on Fridays)
There was a special slot within Westward Diary some nights, like "Pick of the Post".
Then of course there was the Westward ship. Here's the first version I remember, and revised version that was introduced circa 1978/9 and lasted till New Year's Eve 1981.
Sadly Westward TV lost its franchise to Television South West (TSW). Westward was supposd to broadcast until 31 December 1981, but (so I read somewhere) for some reason ceased broadcasting on 11 August 1981. TSW took over next day, but continued broadcasting under the Westward name until 31 December 1981, and began using their own name from 1 January 1982.
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