There were so many great moments but three rise to the top:

1. The entire crew of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (1974) reciting large chunks of the play to each other backstage and in The Grapevine - I think any one of us could have stepped in to any of the roles at a moment's notice. The perfect play, the perfect production, the perfect cast and crew. Especially, I remember two great cast members who are no longer with us - David Gower and Neville Cruttenden.

2. Drinking smuggled potcheen and playing jigs and reels into the wee hours of the morning with the Dublin company during IATW - and still being up and at it at 7 every morning.

3. In my Student Group's final production, Ibsen's Lady from the Sea, Act III opened with three of us on the stage awaiting father (David Emmet) who had the first line. We waited. And then we waited. Mother knitted. We rhubarbed quietly and pointed to the imaginary fish in the lake. And we waited. The audience rustled and coughed. After a seeming eternity, Dave finally appeared and things continued. He had put his foot through his trousers during the change and had to be sewed back together before he could come on stage!

I was accepted as an acting member of Questors in 1966 and had the enormous pleasure and privilige of being in several plays (A Scent of Flowers, Death in Leicester, The Picture, The Way of the World, Onkel Onkel, School for Scandal, Dracula(with my own teeth), are a few I recall until 1974 when my life took a different direction and I could no longer give the commitment to the demanding rehearsal schedules that are necessary to maintain the high standard of all the productions that Questors are rightly famed for. For me these were Golden Moments in my life when I discovered something about myself including the thrilling exhileration of being able to amuse and entertain other people by stepping into another character; the pleasure of being part of a disciplined group where the main focus was the play. There is nothing in life quite so addictive.

Carry on the good work all present members, I am sure Questors will be around for at least another 75 years. Happy Anniversary.

It was 1969, the 40th Anniversary Year, and the production was Peer Gynt to be attended by Jenny Lee the first Minister of the Arts.

Driving to the theatre I saw a limosine which had broken down with the boot up by Ealing Common Station. I happened to glance inside and it was Jenny Lee !.

I said to her , "I know where you are going".

"Yes," she said, "The Questors. I am going to be terribly late"!

I told her to "hop into my car as I was on the way to the theatre myself".

I had the pleasure and satisfaction of enabling Miss Lee to arrive on time at The Questors and she graciously thanked me. After that memorable production I also recall how she so enthusiastically cut the 40th Questors Birthday Cake in the Stanislavsky Room.

It all started for me, partly thanks to The Questors and Alfred Emmet, who organised an international theatre workshop with Alan Ayckbourn on Theatre in the Round, in 1987. It opened my eyes: Was that "amateur" theatre as well ? It was all very inspiring to witness what hard work, skill and lots of enthusiasm could lead to.

I stayed at the home of Jim and Grace Craddock, who was stage manager for Norman Conquests, which I admired at The Questors at that time. That weekend made me meet some IATA people, whom I followed to different foreign events, taking a show to festivals in Japan, Korea, China, Aruba and Canada. Actually, being elected in 2001 as Treasurer of IATA, I often take a look at your website, just to find out that the good work is continuing, remembering the great times I spent in Ealing in 1987.

Ad multos annos.

In 1977 Tony Hill directed a highly original musical play, MoonshiPt — an entertaining and risqué parody of the American and Soviet space race. (more)

• The last night in the "old" theatre (more)
• The Queen Mother and Alfed (more)
• Anne Neville in Mother Courage (more)

In 1965 we hosted a meeting of the Little Theatre Guild. Alfred had bullied me into undertaking the catering although I was working in Switzerland. As this was the first time any of the delegates would have seen the new theatre, we had prepared the most sumptuous after-show supper (John West salmon and asparagus spears out of a tin — just to illustrate what ‘sumptuous’ meant in those days). (more)

• Being a first year acting student in 1980. (more)
• Nearly killing John Dobson in a car crash (more)
• Working on children's shows . (more)

• I was asked to do Box Office one morning in place of Ken (then Box Office Manager). I was surprised to see him there when I arrived. He looked puzzled and asked me what I was doing. (more)
• In the old props room, where the workshop is now, there used to be a mysterious box labelled Victorian Woolly Bits. Having led a sheltered life, I never dared open it!
  
• It was the last night of Happy End (1969, directed by Geoff Webb). I loved the visuals of the the final scene so much I rushed up to the lighting box to watch them. (more)

• On a very sunny Good Friday in 1980, equipped with scrubbing brushes and a packet of Flash, I cleaned every square inch of the Upper Foyer kitchen to the strains of the St Matthew Passion on the radio. This was so that Judy Worsley (the then Membership Secretary) and I could start our experiment of running a snack bar for members coming straight from work, whether to act, stage manage, or simply to watch a performance. (more)