Hi Ann Your comments about education ring bells. My Dad's education was, to say the least, ermm, sparse. One of the things he always said he was most proud of was that when he joined the army in 1915, he decided he wanted to train as an officer. So he went to whatever interviews were necessary and filled in whatever forms were needed, and when it came to education he put down "Barnard Castle School", knowing full well that this would be taken to be _the_ school at Barnard Castle. The truth of the matter was that he had gone to _a_ school at Barnard Castle, and that only for a few weeks. And beyond that, he didn't get very much formal education at all. Anyway, while doing officer training at Gidea Park, he made a couple of friends with whom he could share his secret, and they basically helped him cram for the exams, and he passed. Anyway, you're going to send me back to his notes again, because I know he mentions a lot of names from his "portable" days, people he knew and played with as a child and what have you. The only Mona that I know of off-hand whose parents were in portables was Mona Magnet. I know little about her except that she was in Robinson Crusoe with Dad at the Grand Theatre, Nottingham, during the 1913 Xmas season. I have a fantastic poster that he kept of it hanging on my wall! However, I've often thought that Mona Magnet sounded like a stage name. Nah, couldn't be the same person. Anyway, I'll take a look through his stuff and look for names. Might take a while though. Cheers -- Neal ----- Original Message ----- From: "annthoralcott" <annthoralcott@sagainternet.co.uk> To: <THEATRE-UK-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2003 5:08 PM Subject: [THEATRE-UK] East Lynne > Dear Neal, > Guess what! Alan's mother also played Little Willie in East Lynne. As a > child she travelled with the Denvilles and was roughly the same age as their > own three children. They were 'educated' together (although this probably > meant that they attended school just for the odd week or so here and there, > although there was a report of them having a governess at one time). Other > plays mentioned were Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Face at the Window, The Bohemian > Girl. > Would be most grateful if you could look for the names as the family > continued acting on and off until the beginning of the First World War as > Charlie couldn't keep away from the boards. > Also forgot to mention a Mr and Mrs Holmes that they were friendly with - Mr > Holmes (possibly Charles) hanged himself from the four-poster bed when work > dried up about that time. I've never managed to find out who they were. > There was a daughter also, possibly Mona Holmes. > Many thanks > Ann Hartley >