I started at the old Theatre in the 1957 Season. We had to tread quietly along the Foyer once the performances had started – most of the floorboards squeaked! It was very enjoyable working in the shop and during the performances I helped the waitresses at the Coffee Bar carry up all the dishes through the Tea Gardens to the Sun Lounge to be washed. Even though it was raining this procedure was done nightly.

My uncle inspired me to keep working each season. He was Oliver (Ollie) Hillman, the caretaker and car park attendant. My dad also helped Ollie out in the car park at times along with my mum who did some occasional waitressing.

I married in 1960 and I left the Theatre for a few seasons, when my sister took over the duties at the shop. After the family grew up I was back again and I have been there ever since.

I have made many friends over the years. One couple – who came from the beginning – came with their young family. Now their family have their own little ones. Margaret and Stewart are still faithful visitors and come to all the shows every season.

I have great memories of the Queen Mother coming to the Theatre, and all the local Councillors meeting her. Also Princess Margaret coming to the new Theatre – it was lovely seeing her in reality. And Prince Charles when he came to open the new Theatre - he was very friendly and spoke to all the staff on duty.

All in all I’ve enjoyed my years at the Theatre and hope to continue for a few years yet. I feel very privileged to have worked there for so long.
Muriel Battison, Pitlochry

In 1942 I was a young naval rating and I received a posting to a wartime Royal Naval Air Station at Fearn in Ross and Cromarty. It was a very long way from my home in Cornwall and because I travelled up mostly overnight in blacked-out carriages, I saw nothing of the Highland scenery. It wasn’t until my first journey home on leave, catching the 12.30 train from Inverness to Perth, that I was completely overwhelmed by the views from the train as it made its way south through the Central Highlands; so very different to what I was used to in Cornwall. I made a vow that when the war was over, I would try and come back sometime on holiday, and so, imagine my joy when much later in the sixties I was able to fulfil that promise. A friend suggested a visit to Pitlochry so that she could meet her great friend Barbara Martin, who worked in the Box Office of a Theatre – apparently in a tent! – and after looking at an atlas and finding where Pitlochry was, I jumped at the chance. So, with three friends and all our luggage, I drove up in my Mini-Cooper, was amazed and delighted by ‘The Theatre in the Hills’, and found the scenery even better than I had remembered. I have returned to the Theatre almost every year since and never fail to feel that thrill, when car or train passes through Dunkeld and I know I am almost there; or perhaps, even more so, when once again, walking across the suspension bridge, I catch sight of the new Festival Theatre.
Cliff Snell, Wadebridge, Cornwall

In 1961 my wife and I were at the Grand Theatre in Wolverhampton when we saw an advertisement on the back of the programme for ‘The Pitlochry Festival Theatre- The Theatre in the Hills’. We had never been north of the border so we remedied this with a trip to Pitlochry as soon as possible. Not an easy journey in those days with the M6 only going as far as Preston. We left on Friday evening, slept in the car on Shap Fell and continued on to the Highlands next day. We immediately fell in love with the area, the people and above all the Theatre. It was the old Theatre then of course, still on the site of the original tented theatre, with the cars packed onto the car park like sardines. It was almost forty years later that we discovered that the tent was made only a few miles from where we live in Walsall.

We have visited Pitlochry almost every year since we first made that journey north in our old Morris Cowley. We can both say with hand on heart that in all those years we have never seen a performance at Pitlochry that was anything but superb, not only the acting, direction and sets, but the entire presentation of each performance.

Unless medical science makes a remarkable discovery it is a sure fact that we shall not be returning for another forty years, but hopefully we shall be making quite a few more trips to our beloved Scotland and to what is undoubtedly the finest Theatre in the British Isles; the Pitlochry Festival Theatre.
Joan & Barrie, Farnell, Walsall, West Midlands

For 40 years visits to Pitlochry Festival Theatre have ranked high in our calendar of important occasions. We have been enthralled and entertained by many fine productions and performances. A few that spring to mind are : Roger Humes’s portrayal of Winston Churchill, Walter Carr as John Brown in ‘The Queen’s Highland Servant, (both at the old Theatre), John Cairney’s Ivor Novello, Jimmy Logan and Edith Macarthur in ‘On Golden Pond’, Jimmy Logan in ‘A Month of Sundays’ and the so versatile Martyn James in all his roles. We theatregoers owe a great debt of gratitude to the players, staff and indeed all who have worked so hard to make John Stewart’s dream an ongoing reality.
Jean & Bob Seith, Broughty Ferry

As a local teenager back in 1951 (can it really be 50 years ago?), I still remember very clearly the opening of the Theatre. It was to be such a thrill to have our very own theatre in Pitlochry and I eagerly awaited the opening to see how on earth things would work being inside a tent!

I was lucky enough to see most of the plays in the early years, together with my mother, who also loved the Theatre. My own particular favourite was ‘The Master of Ballantrae’ which was produced in 1954 and I saw the play many times over. I still have autographs of some of the cast. Douglas Storm and John Unicomb played the brothers; John Dunbar was a superb ‘Square-toes’ MacKellar and Laidlaw Dalling was Secundra Dass.

I also recall the excitement locally when Joss Ackland and Rosemary Kirkcaldy married in Pitlochry whilst appearing in the opening season of 1951.
Margaret Morrison, Rhu