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were bouncing around the perimeter of the field outside , and like a b aseball home run finally end back where they started.
     
    It was brilliant.
     
    Having secured the technical angle there was just one last act to perform. About the middle of the performance a pompous lady councillor bursts into the tent having been drenched from head to foot in a surprise thunderstorm.
     
    I had a large pail of water ready at the side of the stage and as instructed by the resident stage manager plenty of towels and paper to mop up any spillages. All I had to do when the councillor was about to make her entrance was to throw the bucket of water over her.
     
    To be fair Marianne Stephens was not too keen on this. Who would? Anyway she stood there with eyes closed and I tipped the water over her. The problem was that she was wearing a suitable floral type dress but made of a waterproof fabric. N o matter how much liquid I threw over her it just shook it off like a dog jumping out of a stream. However her head, hair and hat were soaked and that had to be good enough.
     
    Unfortunately our production was not quite good enough to win the first prize. We came seventh out of twenty. It was credible but no one had any misgivings about our performance. It was a good introduction for me anyway to back stage work.
     
Chapter 4 – Oh! What a Lovely War
     

     
    ( The Golden Lane Theatre , Barbican, London )
     
    The following spring the Club returned to the Westminster Theatre with Half a Sixpence but without me.
     
    I had no idea of the reasoning behind the decision whether it was because of another staging disaster or rising costs. Whatever the reason the Club decided that the next production in November1981 would be at the Golden Lane Theatre . We had always been welcome there during the Festival of One Act Plays and it became our ‘home’ until 1985 .
     
    The Golden Lane Theatre was situated in the Barbican area of the City of London . The Barbican Theatre is close by. You can see one of the high rise apartment blocks with an equally high payable rent in the top left of the photograph above.
     
    This photo was taken from the website of Mathew Lloyd. I had exchanged correspondence with him in the early 1990’s. His site is a tribute to his grandfather Arthur Lloyd who was a star of Victorian Music Hall . There is no better site I know for information on this subject. It ranges over artist s, theatres and memorabilia.
     
    Ma thew asked for permission to republish an article I had written on the Old Bedford Music Hall in Camden High Street. Like so many music hall theatres the Bedford is now no more. I know from my own web stats that many people still visit my site from Matthew’s and I have a link back to his for anyone who wa nts to explore the fabulous history of this very British phenomenon. The web address is www.arthurlloyd.co.uk .
     
    The building began life as the Cripplegate Theatre and was the owned by the Arts Educational Schools who issued our licence to perform there. Basically it was a School for the Performing Arts. Think of Fame!
     
    It was a school for performing artists of all disciplines be it acting, ballet, modern danc e or music to learn their trade whilst also keeping up with academic studies. A t the rear of building was a stage with all the technical equipment required to stage the most professional of productions and an auditorium that could seat up to about 500 customers.
     
    It hasn’t changed externally at all and retains something of a gothic atmosphere . It was then a tremendously warm place in which to be. It had a huge stone staircase in the entrance h all. All around the building there were more wooden staircases that took you to one of several levels and on each level there were both large and small rehearsal rooms and yet more classrooms.
     
    Along the right hand side of the building in the photograph above was the stage door. The cast used the front door but the sets, props and all other