THERE was no lack of enthusiasm or commitment when these young people were on stage.

They were some of the cast of more than 200 who took part in the 25th Oxford Gang Show in 1977.

Scouts, Guides, Cubs and Brownies had rehearsed for months to make sure the show went off with a bang.

At the end of the week-long run, producer Bill Greenough was well pleased.

He said: “There is terrific enthusiasm and it has been very successful.”

It was the ninth successive Gang Show that Mr Greenough, assistant Scout leader of the 10th Oxford (Marston) group, had produced.

That year, the show was held not at the Apollo Theatre (now the New Theatre) or the Playhouse, as was the custom in most years.

Organisers had decided to hire the hall at St Edward’s School, in Woodstock Road.

The change of venue, however, didn’t appear to have put anyone off from attending.

The 500 tickets for all eight performances were sold two weeks before opening night.

To mark the 25th anniversary of the show, Mr Greenough was presented with 25 copies of the autobiography, Ralph Reader Remembers.

Ralph Reader, a prominent performer and director at theatres in Britain and in the US, produced the first Gang Show, The Gang’s All Here, in 1932.

This one-off fundraising event for the London Scout Council rapidly grew into a worldwide network of Gang Shows that continues to delight audiences to this day.

The history of the Oxford Gang Show dates back to the late 1940s.

Ralph Symonds, a master at Magdalen College School, organised a light-hearted show called Maudlin Madness.

When he became leader of the 40th Oxford Sea Scouts, he suggested a show involving Scouts from all over the district.

Musical shows were staged at the Clarendon Press Institute, in Walton Street, in the early years.

In 1957, the Golden Jubilee of Scouting, the show moved to the Oxford Playhouse.

This year’s Gang Show, featuring the usual selection of singing, dancing, music and comedy, opens at the New Theatre, in George Street, tomorrow night and continues all week.