Archers thread #145: The glue that held the Aldridges together is gone. Will they fall apart? Discuss The Archers here.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Thank you, @PseudoBadger, for kicking off this long, long series of Archers threads.

All views on The Archers welcome here! New blood welcomed, and of course we are always delighted to welcome back former or occasional listeners/posters. We don't all agree on all points, although we do mostly try to be civil about it.

Spoilers: not on this thread, please! We don't wait for the omnibus to discuss the weeknight episodes, but we do try our best to avoid cross-contamination from www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/4636789-the-archers-spoilers-thread-7-cant-wait-for-702pm-join-us-here, where spoilers are positively welcomed!

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.)

Lillian and I both made the glue observation, so I thought that would be as good a way as any to kick off this new thread. We raced through the last one, for obvious reasons. This one may last until the funeral. Will Tamsin Greig find time to attend? I do hope so.

The poem Jennifer quoted in her journal is here: www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43775/rabbi-ben-ezra It's doubtful whether the last of Jennifer's life was the best, but she had plenty to contend with all the way through.

Over to you!

Sadly, so many volunteers don’t put a value on their time, so neither do the receiving organisation, hence ending up being treated in this fashion. (I say this as a volunteer for various charity organisations over the years).

Yes, there's something in that. I had a very torrid time when I was a school governor and it put me off volunteering for many years afterwards, although I also didn't have time when I was working full-time. I'm dipping a toe in the water now I'm not working any more, but have been very careful about who to get involved with. I would have no hesitation now in walking away if I felt I wasn't being treated with consideration. I most certainly wouldn't be donating my labour to a wealthy woman who is too mean to pay a living wage to get an essential job done that generates cash for her and her family!

I knew he was using an agency but that name is beyond grim. I think it's the word babies that does for me even though I know it doesn't mean actual babies.

I agree Alice actor is really talented.

I think Freddie inherits when he's 25.

People volunteer because they enjoy it.
A day once a week chatting to people, walking around a lovely house/park. Gets them out and about, socialising.
It is as valid a hobby as any other.

Why would you donate your free time?

I’m the opposite of the volunteering type but I can completely understand why people like Bert (RIP), a confirmed, lifelong feudalist, would enjoy working at LL as a hobby. Hobnobbing with the owners at a stately home, being able to present yourself as an authority on its history in front of an admiring crowd, spending your days in that beautiful environment … Why not, if you don’t mind being treated like a serf?

I was actually a bit sad when the SWs tossed aside the volunteering link between LL and Ambridge. It brought a different demographic to the place, as opposed to the youth dossing around the Orangery.

Interesting, so December next year. Between his realising he needs proper management training, not just Lizzie dropping him in deep water and telling him to swim, and Chelsea's pep talks maybe in twenty two and a half months we really will see an actual Best Christmas Ever.

Freddie and Chelsea in charge, Lily on her best behavior and Elizabeth outraged to find all the locks have been changed.

I do quite a bit of voluntary community stuff, but never anything that closes off an actual paid job (ie, loads of on-offs, but nothing that involves turning up every Tuesday for six hours). Even the village shop thing baffles me - our village shop (Ireland, franchised, petrol pumps out front) is a good employer - at least a dozen people work there as it's open 12 hours and 7 days and not everyone is full time.

When I was looking into volunteering for the National Trust they wanted volunteers to actually run the cafes including baking the cakes. I thought this was taking an proper job away from people and wouldn't have done it although I might have volunteered as a Guide. In the end I did something else.

That's outrageous of the NT, @CaptainMyCaptain .

I think it's a case of if they can get volunteers to do things, they will. It was interesting to hear the trickiness of "managing" people who don't have to be there, handled in a piss poor manner of course by both mother and son.

Chuckling at the idea of Lizzy being out on her arse after all those years! Wouldn't want it to actually happen but I think it could help to remind her of the possibility after she's patronised her son to death for years. If you will reproduce with a fun, foppish, eccentric heir to an estate don't be so dumbfounded when you produce a fun, foppish, eccentric heir to an estate. I think he's obviously grown up a lot since the time a few years ago when the board of trustees (probably not that) threatened to disinherit him??? Bit foggy on all that, paging @AskingQuestionsAllTheTime

Lizzie was in Casualty on Saturday.

I remember an apoplectic Elizabeth
("Our Lady of Perpetual Indignation", brilliantly, over on Ambridge Reporter)
informing a then teenage Freddie that he'd "hideously disfigured" himself with a tiny eyebrow piercing.

It made me snigger more than was seemly.

There are probably also perks including free entry and maybe things like free meals.

When Freddie was banging on about wanting more management experience, I thought Lizzie should sit him down with the accounts.

It is somewhat surprising that Freddie hasn't been on a 3 year planned out structured programme to learn the business from the bottom up. It seems a bit ad hoc.

Indeed, @TeenDivided - given that Elizabeth saw first hand how unprepared Nigel was to run LL, one would have thought she’d be determined to arrange things better for Freddie. Particularly as he wasn’t going to university.

And really, if I were Freddie, I’d be side-eying my ‘not going to inherit the stately pile’ sister’s formalised university training on running a stately home business. I’m quite sure that he’d be willing to share management with Lily if that’s what she wants - but if she’s better educated in that exact area he’s always going to be on the back foot. And she’s always going to be talking down to him when he initiates anything.

Another area where the SWs have been sleep walking.

Though to be fair, Freddie did go off the rails a bit just at the moment that something might have been put in place if h had seemed interested enough. And then Lizzie was struck with depression.

You're absolutley right, and it's something the Trustees should have insisted on, particularly after his slightly wild teenage years. Proper training from someone who knows what they're doing with feedback to the Board. And very much NOT from his mother who has a very strong status and financial interest in not having him inherit, and should not have a say in the process, except via her feedback to whatever assessor(s) they appoint.

It should have been 1 year rotating through the bottom level minimum wage / volunteer roles like an apprentice.
Then 6 months in business and marketing
Then a year through the leadership teams of the different areas including events
Then 6 months at top level

Or something

Talking of Lizzie's depression, does anyone else think she made the quickest recovery in medical history? I think she went on meds. But even so, depression tends to cast a long shadow. i hope Ben's recovery from mental illness is as speedy.

Freddie spent enough time in prison - and afterwards, when he was temporarily banned from LoLo - to take some useful courses, even if they involved nothing more than Level 1 Bookkeeping for Complete Twits.

I am sure we have never been told when he inherits, and it has even been suggested (by Elizabeth) that The Trustees have the power to disinherit him altogether and give the estate to someone else of their choosing.

I have no idea how that would work, since it would clearly go against what was in Nigel's will, but that was what she said.

DD's depression was improved considerably once on the right meds and then when well enough to access therapy. As in noticeable difference in capability within 3 months.
We are now around 2 years on the meds, she's not completely better, but is broadly functioning.

I don't remember how quickly Lizzie recovered, though I expect it was on the faster end.

i hope Ben's recovery from mental illness is as speedy.

Ha! Ben’s entire family had the undivided attention of the entire Midlands’ Mental Health Specialist Team, on call 24 hours a day via Zoom or immediate appointment.

He’ll be as right as Ryan Cawood’s tea.

Elizabeth's first appointment with a therapist was on 13th February, 2019, and she decided the therapist was not needed any more on 18th October, 2019.

She went on anti-depressants on 12th February and had come off them completely by 18th October, 2019, after cutting down on the dosage on her own authority over the previous two months.