Hi all After a couple of recent discussions that have touched on portable theatres, I've started to compile a list of names that my Dad was associated with that are to do with the portable theatre. There will be two lists: this is the "A" list, and there's potentially a "B" list as well (which I haven't got around to doing yet), consisting of names my Dad mentions in his memoirs. The "A" list is drawn from my Dad's stay in West Cornforth in the summer of 1903. West Cornforth is a little mining village in County Durham. During this season, my grandfather had his own portable theatre (which he very patriotically called "The Empire Theatre"), and I'm fortunate enough to have posters from almost the entire season -- 1 poster for each week (though there are a few missing). So the A list is the complete list of names from the posters I have of that season. I can't guarantee that it's a complete list of the company, of course, but there's quite a few names here. You'll notice there are quite a few family groups. Families were always popular in portables, because a husband and wife would accept a lower salary to stay together than two single people, and of course you had the benefit of being able to use the children at a shilling a performance! There are some names here that I hope will be of interest to people on the list: Will Latimer, in particular, is a name that has come up several times, and I was surprised and excited to find his name on the posters. Also, the article on Welsh portable theatres at http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/Theatres.html (don't know who's responsible for this excellent article, or whether they are on this list) mentions Welsh portables run by the Allen and Noakes families -- I wonder whether the Misses Allen and Noakes mentioned here are any relation? The performances ran from June - October 1903. They did a different play every night (yes, every night), six nights of the week, with perhaps only one or two repeats the whole season. Beat that, BBC ;-) I'm also compiling a list of the plays and dates, so I'll post this to the list as well if anyone's interested. Anyway, here is the complete list. If anyone is interested in any more details, I'll be happy to provide them. I may be able to do some scans as well, though I can't promise this as the posters are over-sized and extremely delicate. I'm happy to try though. Miss Polly Allen Mr A Ashton Mr Will Bennett Mr Burmingham Mr Will Bradley Mr Bob Davis Mrs B Davis Master Bert Davis Miss Davis Master Bert Dench Miss Dora Dench Sydney Dench (both my grandfather and uncle were Sydney: hard to tell which is which from the bills!) Mrs Dench Mr George Dorney - pianist Mr Drummond - scenic artist Mr W Dunlop Master B Dunlop Mr Chas S Faulding Mr Will Latimer Mr Ernest Lodge (sometimes listed as stage manager, as well as an actor) Miss Jenny Lodge Miss A Noakes Mr Raynor Mrs Raynor Master Raynor ( this family also billed as "the celebrated Raynors" on one poster) Mr Reynold Miss Kate Stodden - pianist Mr Watty Mrs Watty Master Watty All the best -- Neal