Archers thread #166: Choppy waters in Ambridge! Look out for the red flags and discuss The Archers here.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

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

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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.)

Another thread started in great haste, mid-packing! Over to you.

Not to mention the thriving black market. And I seem to remember a couple of strikes happened too.

Chips Channon’s WWII diaries are an eye-opener. Yes, we all know that rationing was but a minor inconvenience to the very well off, but to read day after day of his dinner menus really brings it home.

Oliver was the joint MFH of the South Borsetshire Hunt when he arrived in the village at the beginning of the century, and he invited Shula to become joint master with him when the previous one (Perry) retired in 2016. Who does it now, who can say.

Where did he arrive from? Why did he turn up in Ambridge?

He'd been farming in North Borsetshire but had to sell his farm to pay for a divorce.

He came to Ambridge because he liked the place and needed to live somewhere; he had been looking for a house with some land (but not too much, because he planned to be a hobby-farmer), and Grange Farm was that. He lived in Penny Hassett while the extensive repairs and renovations to Grange Farm were done, and got invited while he was living there to take on the rôle with the hunt.

My daughter's school ski trip cost £950 a few years ago, Jason's twins would be double the cost and no discount - that's a lot of steaks.

We just got a letter for a school ski trip: over £2k per pupil, for less than a week. I didn't sign dd up for it!

That sounds very similar to my father and FIL. My father was in the army, mostly in the East and Africa, and virtually never talked about the war, in fact he never bothered to apply for his military medals after it. He had a minor injury to his hand, and was very deaf in later life which he was told was a direct result of having served in an artillery regiment. His brother died in the Battle of Britain and is another name on the memorial at Runnymede.

My FIL was younger and never had to enlist. He did join the Home Guard in the later stages of the war, but he was in the north and it was at a point when the likelihood of invasion had all but vanished. He used to bang on and on about the war to the extent that we joked about how the generals and the government could possibly have managed without the benefit of his advice. I think he felt quite inferior to his brother and sister, both of whom saw active service.

Can I start a Chelsea Horrobin appreciation society? I think she's my favourite character!

My grandparents were the polar opposites. One set would have loved the idea of celebrating DDay. My Nana drove trucks for the army, she was only 22 when the war ended. She used to tell a great story of walking through the night from Chester to Crewe to get a train to London for VE Day celebrations. That's about 18 miles! My grandad was in the navy until the 50's and as a result my mum was born in Malta. He was so proud of his service. He taught me to swim in the sea and would blow his sailor's whistle to announce dinner.

The other set never really talked about it at all. My grandmother was an Irish nurse and was in Germany after the war. She only ever said it was very cold... she must have seen the horror of war first hand though. My grandfather was in the navy and I only found out after he died that his ship delivered his two brothers to sword beach. I can't imagine how dreadful that must have been... fortunately they survived but what an awful thing to have been through.

Can I start a Chelsea Horrobin appreciation society? I think she's my favourite character!

She’s being written to be our favourite character! (Or at least one of them.)

Chelsea Archer?

Chelsea Pargetter?

Chelsea Horrobin Who Grows Up To Rule The World, Or At Least The Village?

It helps that she is well acted

I think he felt quite inferior to his brother and sister, both of whom saw active service. It must have been hard. FIL was a cabinet maker. He kept wanting to fight, for which he had no special skills, instead they kept returning him to make (wooden) motor torpedo boats. And I imagine we’ve all heard of the abuse that the radar boffins came in for from time to time, especially as they weren’t allowed to tell anyone what they were really doing.

She's well acted if the intention is to make the character deeply irritating. And deeply, deeply irritating when it's a scene with her obnoxious mother or idiot brother.

Last night's episode was piffle.

Whatever you think of her she sounds like a real person rather than someone reading a script (pip for eg)

so is the Casey meat operation that they buy the animals from the farmers then slaughter and butcher for sale? I thought abattoirs tended to just slaughter on behalf of the farmer but I guess this business model makes sense

Can I start a Chelsea Horrobin appreciation society? I think she's my favourite character!

I wish the actress hadn't adopted that nasally voice for Chelsea and hope we're not stuck with it. But, yes, to her becoming Ben's wife - Brookfield will become interesting again. Is Pip the sole heir to the farm?

I find Vince's voice unattractive too. Elizabeth must be desperate.

Whatever you think of her she sounds like a real person rather than someone reading a script (pip for eg)

She’s supposedly rising twenty; much of her dialogue is written as though she were fourteen. In combination with the adenoidal delivery and high rising terminals the actor employs, she is extraordinarily tiresome. All the appeal of a rotting bloater.

My late FIL was on a tank landing craft at Normandy (he was in the Navy) and they were blown up. He was the only survivor, injured but rescued - by the Americans, I think. Never would go to any of the reunions, not even the 50th. My own parents were both in the RAF in the war - DM was a WAAF and served at Bomber Command as a Morse Code operator. I do so wish I’d asked her more about her experiences, but for her it was a transformative, freeing time to be away from home and a job she hated.

She doesn't sound like a real character. She sounds like an overactive pre teen who has eaten too many Haribos

I think there are a lot of 19yo who are like that though - ime a lot of todays late teens seem to have similar maturity levels to young teens 30 years ago!!

I find her irritating but I don’t think it’s the acting - it’s the way the sw have chosen to write her. I also imagine the sw don’t know many people her age!

I still think the actor is good though

Is Pip the sole heir to the farm?

Well there are three Brookfield offspring. Pip works the farm, Josh mostly uses the land and facilities for his own enterprises, Ben - has realised the farm won’t support all three of them, so apart from training a sheepdog, he’s essentially preparing for a life outside farming.

But really none of that matters because the SWs will have Ruth and David do whatever causes the most drama. Thankfully it shouldn’t all kick off for a while yet …

Isn’t it owned in shares by David and his siblings so would be further diluted when passes to the next generation?

Asking will have chapter and verse, but long ago we did have a very enjoyable inheritance row at Brookfield. Phil and Jill were retiring and looking at succession. I think they were going to leave the whole shebang to David and Ruth but Elizabeth threw her toys out of the pram and told Phil, whom she could wrap around her little finger, that it made her feel unloved. Kenton was just fuming because he thought he was entitled to a share even though he'd never worked in the business and had been helped financially several times when he'd got into difficulty, gone bust etc etc. Shula made sure that everyone knew she was greatly saddened by the whole thing but of course it was a glorious opportunity for her to be sanctimonious and holier than thou. David and Ruth were furious at the idea of not inheriting, with some reason, given that they were the only farmers in their generation.

Anyway, after David spent New Year's night in a ditch underneath a cow (something like that), Phil had a moment of epiphany and got his accountant to draw up an agreement. David and Ruth got A shares in Brookfield Ltd, or whatever it's called, which entitle them to all the profits. The other siblings got B shares, which would entitle them to a share of the proceeds if the farm is ever sold, but they get no say in the day to day running of the farm and no share of the profits. This would have kicked in if David and Ruth had moved to Northumberland as they thought of doing briefly (and inexplicably) a few years ago, changing their minds only when the Great Flood hit Ambridge. That was an odd story all round. Kenton was apoplectic (again) because he and Jolene had already spent his share of the sale proceeds several times over. More fool them.

Honestly @Bruisername I cannot imagine the SWs eventually dealing with the mess that was left when Phil and Jill retired from the farm. It’s another car crash waiting to happen. I’d be happy if Shula, Kenton and Elizabeth just took £50k* each now and left Brookfield to get on with the future.

*Random figure; no clear idea of what would be fair and final.

Abbatoirs buy the animals to sell the meat on direct - whether wholesale to butchers or to restaurants.

Most farms don't run farm shops to sell products direct to the final consumer. Farmers are unlikely on the whole to use the abbatoirs to package meat for retail sale, although some will as farms with farm shops won't have abbatoir facilities.

I guess that set up kind of makes sense. I suppose David and Ruth will have to leave a shares to pip no doubt but create some b shares for the boys

too much to hope pip will get stuck under a cow in a ditch for a week