Pat and Emma agree that a hosepipe through Martyn Gibson’s letterbox isn’t an effective way to protest, but that further action is definitely needed. Neil points out the water company is aware of the problem in Ambridge and may need to prioritise. Emma’s aghast that her dad might not be on their side, but Neil is rescued by the arrival of Joy, keen to talk VE Day event plans. Emma and Pat continue their positive action talk. Pat tells Emma about someone effectively building a moat around their property. Tom overhears and advocates caution; interfering with a watercourse could be illegal. Mick brings the news that a well known water campaigner is at Grey Gables right now. Emma cant’ believe it’s Feargal Sharkey. She rushes away to catch the celebrity before he moves on.
Neil reports the history of the commemorative lighting of village beacons to Joy and Mick. Establishing their best location will be Brookfield’s Lakey Hill, they resolve to seek out David.
Feargal has some words of encouragement for Emma’s cause. He counsels persuasion rather than law breaking. Perhaps Emma can find someone on the inside who’s open to a bit of flattery and guilt tripping? This gives Emma food for thought. She thanks Feargal for his help, and as he leaves to do a spot of fishing, he confirms he’s happy for his name to be used as long as any plans Emma makes are legit. Emma is inspired.
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13:09
13/04/2025
Freddie comes across Rochelle seemingly disorientated at work. He offers to escort her to the canteen, which she’s struggled to find. Over lunch Freddie shares the story of how he came to be working at the abattoir. Rochelle wonders if perhaps she might train in boning. Freddie acknowledges her enthusiasm, and she admits she wants to get decent money coming in so she can move out of her mum’s. Freddie advises giving further training a month or so – she’s still very new. Later Rochelle impresses with her improvement at cricket nets. It’s clear to Freddie she’s keen to do well, both at cricket and her work. She won’t be in packing for long.
Jazzer announces he's on Sunday dinner duty. He intends to serve nachos. Jolene reckons Bert won’t be impressed with that. Jolene delivers the bad news that the Edgeley Morris side have cancelled a big booking at the Bull. They all have a bug. A half empty pub on Easter Sunday isn’t a good look; Kenton and Jolene acknowledge they’ll need to drum up some trade. They explore and dismiss a range of options before Kenton has a brainwave. He disappears and returns with ankle bells and sticks – they can offer a Morris dancing experience. Jolene’s sceptical. If it goes wrong, they’ll get a mauling on social media. Kenton hints that she has the expertise to be in charge of the event, which she hotly denies. She’ll be too busy anyway. They’ll need to get someone who knows what they’re talking about.
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13:06
11/04/2025
Elizabeth’s delighted to see Joy back serving in the Shop. Joy admits she needed time away because of everything going on with Rochelle. Elizabeth sympathises, then suggests a distraction. Later, Joy thanks Elizabeth for inviting her to the planning meeting at the Village Hall for the VE Day celebrations. Elizabeth’s happy because Joy came up with most of the ideas, including a beacon on Lakey Hill.
At The Bull, Freddie talks positively to David and Ben about his Academy Trust initiative. He’s hoping to get them to contract Casey Meats and local suppliers to provide school dinners, although he’s still waiting for their response. David then launches into a tirade about how tough things are for farmers, especially the proposed Inheritance Tax changes. A lively debate ensues, with Brian taking David’s side and Freddie tacitly agreeing. Ben and Jolene take the opposite point of view, arguing against farmers being treated differently on taxation. David’s upset Ben doesn’t agree with him, with Freddie suggesting Ben’s arguing against his own self-interest, but Jolene’s counter-argument is equally robust. Later, Brian suggests Ben might change his tune one day, before Ben calls David and they agree to disagree – there are no easy answers.
Back at Lower Loxley awkward Freddie tells Elizabeth he thinks Vince might have a thing for Rochelle. Elizabeth laughs this off, before confiding a little of what Joy’s told her about Rochelle’s troubled upbringing. Vince wants to give Rochelle a chance and Freddie concedes she might just be desperate to prove herself. In which case he agrees that Rochelle deserves a chance.
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13:10
10/04/2025
Mick is shocked when Joy turns up without warning at her Beechwood house. She pours out the story of her marriage: how she met Peter when she was very young, only realising later that his abusive behaviour wasn’t normal. Things improved for a while when Rochelle came along, before Peter turned abusive again, had numerous affairs and finally left. That’s when Joy broke down, barely acting as a parent to Rochelle at all. So, what Rochelle said about Joy neglecting her is all true. It was only after a neighbour intervened that Joy started therapy, but Rochelle had long since left home by the time Joy recovered. Joy admits she didn’t really understand the damage she’d done until Rochelle spoke out a couple of weeks ago. She’ll understand if Mick wants to bail out of their relationship, but he tells her he’s not going anywhere.At the Shop Ed and Eddie are looking for cowboy hats for the safety video they’re making for George. Rochelle’s surprised when they tell her they’ve seen Joy. Later, at Grange Farm, Ed and Eddie show Clarrie the finished video, but it’s terrible. What are they going to tell George?Rochelle is cool with Joy when she returns from her shift. Despite Joy’s ‘mea culpa’ Rochelle can’t forgive her. Trying to think positively Mick mentions Rochelle’s new job at Casey Meats. But Joy is stunned – Rochelle’s a vegan. Rochelle retorts angrily that she’s got a job, isn’t that enough? When Mick asks how they’re getting on Joy tells him they’ve made a start and that’s the main thing.
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13:16
09/04/2025
Clarrie can’t settle and tells Ed she’s going to the veg garden to plant some carrots and potatoes. Later, Ed finds Clarrie clearing junk Eddie’s left in one of the pig-sties. Ed persuades her to take a break, then finds her doing some knitting. But distracted Clarrie keeps dropping stitches and tells Ed that Helen was right to get rid of her, she’s good for nothing. After calming down Clarrie apologises to Ed for being out of sorts, but she feels lost with all this time on her hands. She needs to work and the Dairy was perfect for her, but now that’s all gone.At Bridge Farm Helen’s still adjusting to Clarrie not being around. She tells Pat she hopes there were no hard feelings on Clarrie’s part. Brian approaches Pat, presuming she knows something about the hose-pipe attack on Martyn’s house. Helen takes umbrage at this, while Pat can’t believe anyone connected with the protest would do such a thing. Brian won’t let it go however and Helen accuses him of threatening Pat, before saying she can understand why somebody might take such action. Brian storms off, but when he goes to the Tearoom later he apologises to Pat, who doesn’t want to fall out with him. Pat explains how upset they all are after what happened with the sewage spill, but does feel sorry for Martyn. While Brian accepts Pat’s word that none of the protesters attacked Martyn’s house someone clearly did - and Martyn’s determined to catch whoever it was, although Pat doesn’t fancy his chances.
New Zealand