Thread #105: Curtains for Emma, Hilda - Joe? Red carpet for June Spencer on her 100th birthday, we hope! Discuss the rich tapestry of Ambridge life here.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Thank you, @PseudoBadger, for kicking off this long, long series of Archers threads and @DadDadDad for being our resident statistician and keeping the ball rolling when Pseudo stepped back a bit.

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For newer listeners, lurkers or those who just have no idea what we're talking about, DadDadDad has created this useful thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/3557323-For-Archers-fans-a-guide-to-acronyms-on-the-long-running-discussion-threads-and-any-other-meta-thread-questions-you-may-have BOOP point for him! (See thread for explanation.)

Thanks to LillianGish and BuckingFrolics for ideas for this thread title. I went with the less Rabelaisian of LG's ideas!

On 14th June it will be the 100th birthday of June Spencer, who has played Peggy Woolley since 1951. I hope the BBC has a lot of special tributes lined up to celebrate this remarkable achievement.

We've got 10 at best

Again this is not the fault of Pat and Tony.

even though pat and tony farm organically, they still farm with conventional methods, using machinery that uses shit tons of fuel. and contribute to soils erosion

Really? I've heard them talk endlessly about techniques to help soil structure, minimise impact on the environment over the years generally based on the knowledge available at the time. Certainly consistent with SA recommendations. Not to mention introducing protected areas which they don't use for profit at all and when they had some money they spent it on conservation activities and development of wetland type areas.

Her idea is divisive and has herself in the centre as some kind of righteous guru when she's simply someone who has married into wealth and hung into it

I love June Spencer but certainly Peggy is by no means a lovable old lady - she has many times been pretty nasty to individuals she doesn't like, been judgemental and a bit sanctamonious and played favourites amongst her children.

The character has mellowed a lot with age and I like the fact that she is a 3D character but Peggy is certainly being devisive and grandiose in the way she handles this.

adams aquaponics seem promising, alice' robots, pips herbals...

Aquaponics - rely on a subset of the principles of permaculture which P&T were using before it became fashionable. Whilst it has a lot of potential the jury is out on whether food grown without soil contains all the micronutrients and microbiome of soil grown crops. In particular large scale aquaponics relying on artificial fertilizers seems at odds with the conservation label.

Pip's herbal leys - again taking an idea that P&T have practiced for decades already so hardly new and radical. Just repackaging an older idea.

Alice's robots are mainly about replacing human labour with machines. Robotics in agriculture have been around for a long time now and can integrate with detailed weather and satellite information with predictive analytics to manage large areas of land effectively. This is big business around the world already so again, not new.

But I come back to my question upthread. How can a registered charity offer prizes/awards only open to a tiny set of family members?

Posted too soon - if she really wants to see radical change in agriculture give the money to Kate to promote veganism and reduce the land/effort going into meat production. Or at least substantially reduce the demand for meat. It will have a bigger impact than any herbal ley.

It's King Lear all over again isn't it. Peggio setting up hoops for her family to jump over to show her who loves her the most.

I've always hated Peggy, nasty, controlling, judgemental (unless it suits her otherwise). I remember her announcing she'd rewritten her will to leave it to Tom, what with him being a super ambitious business man and Tony and Pat being losers. Then expecting Tony to chauffeur her around. Plus the sacking of poor downtrodden Emma with no notice because her lodger can do the cleaning.

As above, I thought she'd lost loads of money a few years back, now she has 500k to hand out, plus funding Auntie Cardboard at the laurels.

Caffeine - I didn't catch them saying she had registered a charity - I thought it was just a trust, so presumably a trust can be set up with more or less any rules you wish.

It's a dramatic, eye-catching story as the strong responses above demonstrate, but I agree it raises some practical questions how Peggy thinks this is actually going to work.

I thought it was just a trust, so presumably a trust can be set up with more or less any rules you wish

Oh possibly I misheard - I thought charity. If its a trust restricted to three farms then it rather gives lie to the notion that Peggy's first priority is the environment and Ambridge. It makes it entirely a vehicle for family feuding rather than an environmental project, Tony is spot on.

I thought they said charitable trust.

Ah, yes, I may have missed that. Is a charitable trust subject to the same restrictions as registered charity? I can see that the charity regulators would not let you register a charity that only existed to benefit your own family, so is it legal to create a charitable trust that does just that?

Where's a lawyer when you need one? there's normally a few on this thread.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charitable_trusts_in_English_law

My reading of this would suggest a charitable trust set up for the benefit of a few family members (even if indirectly) would not meet the criteria.

However IANAL so shall wait impatiently for them to rock up!

Gimme

Yes good points - Peggy has certainly mellowed in recent years but I agree with you on past behaviour. I always liked her there as a character but never liked her when I think back.

As above, I thought she'd lost loads of money a few years back, now she has 500k to hand out, plus funding Auntie Cardboard at the laurels

I think Peggy's fortune is like the mythical bedroom at Brookfield. Absent or present depending on the needs of the storyline.

I wasn't listening properly but will listen again.

If she really wants to see radical change in agriculture give the money to Kate to promote veganism and reduce the land/effort going into meat production.

This in spades. They will all have to move away from beef, dairy & even the pigs, organic or otherwise.

Bet the plot doesn't go down this avenue though ...

The 🔮 has made a pithy prediction:

Rewilding.

CH8 and like the flat above the shop with the magical box room that took Ian six months to paint the skirting board then expanded to house a full nursery.

Bet the plot doesn't go down this avenue though ...

I'm sure it won't although I'll be very disappointed if its not even mooted. I suspect it will come up via Kate and be mocked as typicaly Kate stuff which would annoy me more than ignoring it!

Agree C8!!

They need to stop portraying vegans as eccentric or hypocritical.

But the trouble us that kate is actually a highly unpleasant character so I think people are mocking her rather than mocking being vegan. It's also easier to be vegan if you delegate the majority of cooking and shopping to your mother, although I can't imagine Peggy putting up with that now Kate is living with her.
I have never liked Peggy either

I think people are mocking her rather than mocking being vegan

I think its the other way around - Kate as a character is made vegan to make her more mockable.

You only have to look at this thread here - a thousand posts mostly bashing a vegetarian who had the temerity to want to eat vegetarian, including some staggeringly hard of thinking types:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3609700-Who-was-being-unreasonable-vegetarian-or-host

This is very typical of attitudes to vegetarian/vegan diets even in 2019

Hmm, Bore, is that the same 🔮 that said Ian treading on something sharp was going to be significant, despite some of us being sceptical? I might be losing my faith...

i would've thought that Berrow Farm needs it's carbon output minimised, silly SW's making Peggy refuse to ask Lilian to the meeting. Oh and since when were robotics good for the environment? The production process must use a hell of a lot of CD. Give local humans the jobs.

As above, I thought she'd lost loads of money a few years back, now she has 500k to hand out, plus funding Auntie Cardboard at the laurels.

Christine's been funding herself since she moved in permanently, isn't she?

Yes she is Isatis with her son's help.

That must have happened when I wasn't listening, as I am sure Peggy was telling Cardboard not to worry about the costs as she would pay them.

Was it Peggy's cat she tripped over that put her in hospital, or have imagined that?