In 1988 my mother, Fern Bevan, presented the results of her then casual research on our family history in an exhibition entitled 'The History of Two Theatrical Families, covering two hundred years'. At that time the memories were fresher; the protagonists of the latter part of the history of the phenomenen were still alive to tell their tales. There are fewer of the old pros around now, but my mother and her sisters are soldiering on in their 90's. She had the forsight to preserve some of the memories, first by undertaking as a mature student an MPhil in the hisrory of the Fit-up, and then writing a book published by the Peter Andrew Publishing Company. She went round the country conducting interviews, drew maps, and researched the other companies that were part of the way of life for so many theatrical families.

Even the book feels a long time ago now, and it seems that it is a timely moment for me to re-assemble some of the photographs that I've recently repaired and retouched, and give pominence to some of the material that she wrote, concentrating on our more immediate family. The actors seem to have worn their names lightly - there being the issue of stage names, birth names, married names, and other names - which can be confusing as times, but some keep recurring.

The hub around which much of the story turns is my grandparent's and The Earl Armstrog Repertory Company, which had come from my great grandmother and the Ada Lauderdale Repertory Company which in turn had come from Ada's mother, Lizzie Linnington. Both my mother and my aunts performed in the company as children, and, as the WWII pushed the other children into war effort, Pearl continued to be an actress for many years. The company had effectivly moved on from Fit-up after the end of the hostilities, but was still a small scale touring Rep, finally run by my aunt Pearl and her husband Donal Hodson, until it was disbanded and the scenery sold in the mid-sixties. Partly this was due to my grandmother becoming developing glaucoma, but more, the pressure of TV was bearing down on the viability of weekly rep as a business model. One of my earliest memories, however, is visiting the company in rehearsal at Minehead in around 1965. The baton of the theatrical has been passed down through generations with myself as a long serving Stage Manager, my brother as a muscian at the Globe, and my sister as a drama therapist and her son a performer - notably in the cast of Oliver. My cousin Nina Falaise had a successful ballet career, and her children are an actress, and a juggler/circus performer. We'll see how yet another generation works out.

Jason Bevan