North Van duo wants kids to. TAKE PART MOVE OVER Sesame Street, some stiff competi- tion is coming to town. The new kid on the block is North Vancouver’s Lois Walker, who, along with husband Herb Walker, is launching ayiew television series for chitdren called Take Part. By EVELYN JACOB : Contributing Writer Beginning in September, Walker will host the half-hour educational children’s show, which invites children to use their imagination and share creative ideas. The series will be broadcasted on Canada’s new Youth channel, and will be available to every child living on the North Shore. The show has already been a major success in eastern Canada where it was first televised two years ago. Lois Walker, a columnist for the Province newspaper and a former university professor, gained a rep- utation as a children’s television host in the early 1980s after winn- ing a Canadian National Television award for the children’s show, In- vite a Puppcorn to Christmas Din- ner. Looking every inch the mother and schoolteacher, Walker says she was tired of watching her own kids sitting glued to the family televi- sion, and decided to do something to change it. That's when she came up with the idea for a new kind of children’s show, ane that would be educational; that would urge par- ticipation. ; *That’s the focus of Take Part — participation. You don’t just sit there and let television do it to you,” says Walker. ‘It’s designed to motivate rather than appease.’ It was while Walker was giving a story-telling and children’s theatre presentation at a local Ottawa library that she was approached by a Canadian network interested in the sort of work she was doing. Soon after, the Walkers began writing and producing “‘magazine’’ ’ format series, short programs on - things like cooking or magic tricks for children on an eastern net- work. But Walker assures it wasn't without a struggle. » “tH took a long time and effort _. to get a youth channel in Canada ‘because children.are always the lowest priority,’ she explains. “Now that we have a youth chan- nel 'there’s a place to put these kinds of shows.” - Now that the Walkers have erossed that bridge, they are busy _ writing and organizing ideas for “the upcoming series in the base- ment of their North Vancouver “home which doubles as an office. ma NEWS photo Terry Poters LOIS AND Herb Walker shew what a little imagination can do '— transform scraps of f paper into a robot. “It's really hard d work,” Walker says of the many hours spent com- ing up with ideas for the show. But the work has been worth it, Last year, the couple received over 10,000 letters in response to a write-in section of the show, where children send in ideas about arts and crafts, riddles and more. Those ideas are re-circulated and put back on the show for other kids to enjoy. : This year, the Walkers are film- ing at a number of Vancouver locations. Their latest venture is filming an Imagination Market at Bayview Elementary School in Vancouver. “We wanted to give the show a ‘NEW. YORK STEAK DINNER roast potatoes and rice ROAST LAMB DINNER With soup, Greek salad,” roast potatoes and rice LIVE BAND New at the Great Greek evely Thursday, Friday and Saturday night! . Complete with soup, salad, “=? AND MANY MORE HOUSE SPECIALS — _ BELLY DANCERS TOO! : THE GREAT GREEK —-986- 6211. 101 Esplanade (the Old Keg)... western presence,’’ says Walker. When Take Part hits the waves in . September, it will be beamed into - every home in Western Canada — for the first time. In the meantime, the couple is hoping that the formation of Take - Part means there will be even more. of a demand for educational .. children’s television. But that will require a change in the kinds of children’s programs currently be- ing made for television. “There’s definitely a shortage of good quality children’s television, you hear it constantly from parents. Most of what’s being shown is there to sell a product, but it hasn't been done well.”” | 5g $995 Free Parking please.cali in. 1988 - North Shore News 19 - Friday, July J,