Meet the team

Duncan Wood

I joined the Calendar team in May 2003 after seven successful years as the North Of England Correspondent and part time presenter for GMTV.

I started work as a reporter on my local evening paper straight from school. The adage of having ink under my finger nails could not be more true because my father worked for the same paper all his life and was the major influence in my career choice. I spent more than three years learning my craft before writing for the nationals and moving into broadcasting in the late eighties.

I love working at Calendar because it is like an extended family. Everyone looks after each other and wants to make the best possible programme for the viewers. I am able to have plenty of fun too, especially with the 'part-time' forecaster Jon Mitchell.

I have worked on many exclusives and big stories all over the world but get the most satisfaction from telling a story of real people in a real way. I enjoy the challenge of going up against leading figures like Prime Ministers and politicians and getting to the heart of the story. I started my television career, though, as a sports presenter and was able to mix business with pleasure as I am a sports fanatic.

I have had many funny moments on Calendar over the years, some planned, some not! Having my co-presenter Christine walk on set in a traffic warden’s uniform was particularly memorable and interviewing a noodle carton also stands out.

I have always wanted to interview Sir Paul McCartney but so far the closest I’ve got is to report live from Macca's first home in Liverpool when it was being taken over by the National Trust.

I am married with a daughter heading for university. I love my golf, but continue to be frustrated with the game as my handicap continues to head in the wrong direction!

Gaynor Barnes

I joined Calendar on June 24th 1991.

I was lucky enough to work in the BBC newsroom at Television Centre early in my career - initially as a secretary, then as Production Assistant, before eventually securing myself a place on an internal BBC journalism course.

The people have always made Calendar a special place. I feel I have been very fortunate in the twenty or so years I have been with the company to have enjoyed such a varied and interesting career. Every day brings different stories, challenges and situations.

I have very fond memories of filming a series of half hours about The Deep in Hull. I was lucky enough to be involved from the very start – and to follow and film with the curator, Dr David Gibson, in his quest to stock the world’s only Submarium with humanly caught marine life from around the world.

Diving off the shores of Fiji has to certainly be one of my career highlights. A few years later I worked with The Deep again, this time filming with some rather large - Great White Sharks off the coast of South Africa!!

Tina Gelder

I have worked for Calendar for 19 years.

I got into journalism through a work experience week at my local radio station in Hull when I was in the 6th form. I was 17.

Thanks to a great News Editor called Colin Palmer, my first job was at the aforementioned station in Hull, Viking Radio - or Viking FM, as it is called now. I was a newsroom assistant -tasks included recycling tape, (it was in the pre-digital era, 1987) compiling traffic and travel reports, answering phones, taking down copy from reporters, getting everyone tea and coffee, getting their lunch orders etc. I absolutely loved it! I listened and I learned and I was fortunate to be around people who had the patience to pass on their experience to a teenager.

What do I like about Calendar? The buzz, the adrenaline, the fun. I love meeting people and am always grateful that they are willing to share their stories with us and the viewers. Reacting to breaking news is challenging, but so exciting. I love to write. And I am lucky to work with a fantastic team - you could not meet a nicer and more fun-loving bunch of people.

It is impossible to choose what my favourites stories to work on have been. Following the story of young Ben Smithson, the boy who went to America for an operation to help him walk, was wonderful to cover. The access he and his family gave us was amazing, but there are so many other stories too. I have been lucky enough to travel to Florida, St Louis, the Caribbean and Europe. I have trained and flown with the RAF, sailed on a Royal Navy warship and I have even dressed up as a goose and had a conversation with Sooty and Sweep! So much variety!!

As for the funniest thing that has happened to me whilst working for Calendar…again it is difficult to say. I do not have a natural affinity with animals - and I think they can sense this. I once had a dog pee in my bag in front of a whole bunch of press as we waited for lottery winners and a hamster once caused much amusement as I tried to hold it - but the least said about that, the better!

I feel privileged to do the job I do.

Jon Mitchell

I started working in Calendar in 1989 initially as a stunt double for Bob Rust and then on a regular basis from 1996 which is 5....10....erm.....many years ago.

I am a qualified meteorologist who has worked for The Met Office for many years including postings at Heathrow Airport, Manchester Airport and RAF Finningley before it became a civil Airport. Being a qualified meteorologist means I can walk around with my finger in the air and my head in the clouds.

My meteorological career was launched at primary school where I was class weather monitor (by default really, because nobody else wanted to do it!)

The best part about working for Calendar is getting to meet and talk to people that one otherwise wouldn't and also being paid to walk in our region's beautiful countryside on our 'Breath of Fresh Air' walking jaunts.

The highlight of my career was being in bed in the studio with Christine Talbot as part of 'Take a Nap at Work Day'! It was hot under those covers - it must have been the studio lights!

The person I would most like to meet and interview would be Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon.

Must go now, I think it is raining and it is not supposed to be!

Kerrie Gosney

I've been with ITV over 12 years. I joined the Weather Department in October 2002. Someone offered me the chance to work alongside Jon Mitchell and I just couldn't resist!

My first 'proper' job was here in Leeds - working as a Continuity Announcer for the ITV Northern Regions. I started as a trainee (reasonably) fresh from University in 2000.

Everyone here at Calendar is friendly and approachable and you get a real sense that the programme is a team effort - which it is! Oh, and we get free coffee - the rush hour commute is worth it when there's real caffeine waiting at the other end.

As for my career highlights - I once had to report from the inside of a hot air balloon with the hot air going in! And I came down a fireman's pole Bridget Jone's Style for a report once - but thankfully kept my knickers out of shot....for that one.

Every day at Calendar I laugh out loud at least once. Smile and the word smiles with you!