Archers thread #187: Send not to know For whom the bell tolls, It tolls for Peggy. 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. Most of us are posting tongue in cheek a lot of the time, so don't worry about revealing that you'd like Harrison to hasten home, or other unusual views.

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 https://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.)

Thanks to John Donne for the title inspiration. The funeral of the century beckons. How much of it do we think we will hear? Kate confirmed tonight that Shula, Debbie, Noli and Sipho are all coming. If we hear one peep from any of them I'll be amazed. Bets on Hazel turning up?

Over to you!

Absolute drivel, loved it 😂.

Thanks for the new thread @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g

Perhaps she needed more personal care and didn't want to have relatives do it?

And I would have thought that the solicitors drawing up the will would have wanted to insist on some medical proof of capacity and proof there had been no undue influence.

If it comes up as an issue, no doubt we will discover they checked on capacity. They can't insist on proof of no undue influence, as you can't prove a negative.

I thought last night’s episode was hilarious- laughed out loud twice on the train this morning. Really cheered me up. Phoebe sounded very sulky though!

I thought Phoebe was Alice at first

why hasn’t anyone seen the will?

I felt sorry for Pheeble walking straight back in to Kate having a crisis that was all about her. It would have boomeranged her straight back to her childhood and probably made her grateful that she had moved so far away from her self-centred mother. She didn’t sound sulky to me- just jaded. Why couldn’t her mother have just been pleased to see her instead of manufacturing a drama when there wasn’t one? Again…

Poor Pheeble is going to miss the sanity of Roy.

She could have employed private carers to do personal care at home.

but her… friend? Relative? Chris anyway, she was in the Laurels too and I think Peggy basically treated it like moving into a hotel. One of my relatives also from reasonably humble origins was extremely smug that she had the money to pay to be looked after in her old age, and I think Peggy might have had the same attitude. Forgive my ignorance but where in the village would she have thought of as “home”? Apart from the Bull.

I have done a lot of first aid in my life, the Army insists and then wherever i've worked afterwards has asked for volunteers so i have done a 2 day refresher every other year for ages. I do worry if i collapse that i'm the only person within 100 miles who knows how to check for a pulse, do CPR or knows where the defib things are.

Love love love Jakub. He totally has the Crispin's number - "performative athleticism" is brilliant. Kate is stupid and condescending. I loathe her but it's great when she's on.

Justin - oh no no no. He sounded as though he was building Adam up as this great rewilding expert so that when he does what he says he's going to do, Adam will be the boss of it all and Kirsty edged out. Grr. Did like Kirsty sticking up for arable farming though. Probably not politic to be so vocal about it.

As for the will: i would have been asking to see it and wanting to know when and with whom it was changed. Lilian should be asking more - she was there just about daily, and never met the man with dementia or Crispin? Beyond shady and it would be natural to ask when, where, why and how.

They’ve all been speculating where the money has gone but none has bothered to just ask about the will!

I know a few older people who have moved into assisted living because they didn’t want to be a burden on their family, it gave them the ability to socialise and have support at different levels.

being stuck at home with private carers is no fun. I knew a chap who had that and he was desperate to get into a home because he was so lonely as he didn’t have family and spent huge chunks of the day alone. Unfortunately he died before the council even looked at his case

As I recall Graham Seed claimed he was sacked from TA because he said it was patently absurd that a character like Nigel would send his children to the local state school.

Yes @Bruisername when DM died and we were deciding what was best for DF (dementia) the thought of him alone in their house, roaming the rooms looking for her, was just heartbreaking. He has had a much better quality of life by being in a care home local to me than he would have had if he'd stayed in his own home, 3 hours away from me (as nearest child - rest are scattered all over the place).

I had a friend who came from quite a well-off family. When her aunt became too elderly and infirm to care for herself, my friend found her a live-in carer/companion. She advertised in The Lady magazine and got a few applicants that she interviewed.

@MissMarplesNiece Country Cousins are excellent, provide live in care and while it’s expensive, it’s cheaper than a care home. Surprised Peggy didn’t go for something like that.

Different people want different things though

One lady I know isn’t that frail and doesn’t need care yet but she went into assisted living (she has a small flat) because she wanted the social side and to meet new people and have activities and meals provided if she wanted.

I don’t think it’s to do with money. And having a live in carer/companion is fine if you get on but it can be weird relationship and not everyone wants the intensity of one person

if Peggy didn’t have a lot of money left over then she may have had to sell the house anyway and going to the laurels made most sense

and maybe Peggy was just trying to get away from Kate!!!!

I do worry if i collapse that i'm the only person within 100 miles who knows how to check for a pulse, do CPR or knows where the defib things are.

Whereas if I collapse, I would be most grateful if any defib kit or CPR enthusiast were at least 100 miles away. But it does make no sense for Kate to be quite so clueless (I know, but even so…). On the other hand ‘I’ve killed a vicar!’ made up for a lot.

IIRC, at the time it was reported - possibly by Lilian - that Peggy didn’t want to have to rely on her family for care once she needed it, so was being proactive.

I could understand her moving to the Laurels if she would otherwise have been lonely - but she lived surrounded by family and friends so in the meantime an arrangement like Country Cousins / Universal Aunts would have been perfectly fine. (I’ve known people with very similar lives to Peggy’s IRL and that was the option they chose once widowed. They also continued to employ cooks and cleaners, etc.)

It honestly does seem as if the SWs just wanted to divest themselves of another ‘problematic’ residence, rather than doing the right thing by their listeners.

But it also sounds like there was a money issue. And she probably worried that Kate was going to inadvertently kill her!

also, Peggy was always the one her family turned to and perhaps she thought in a home they wouldn’t bother her so much!!!

Agree that it’s still odd they got rid of the house though

Putting Peggy in The Laurels was an "easy option" for the SW's. They could continue to mention her/have people visit whilst the actress was still alive whilst allowing Kate to be out and about/moving in with Jakob. I would have preferred them to have not forgotten about Peggy's 100th birthday with zero celebrations - that was just sloppy - and, apart from scam week, we've not really heard from Kate in months.

Rather than continuing to shoehorn more and more of the cast into Beechwood (which is a cross between Ramsay Street and Brookside Close in my mind), I'd prefer the focus to be on the village.

I'm looking forward to the funeral, but I have the song "Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead" stuck on my mind.

Wasn’t it so Kate would move in with Brian and then there were Alice/miranda things going on? I guess it was a neat way to get things happening in what was otherwise a single occupancy Aldridge residence

@RegimentalSturgeon "I've killed a vicar" was one of the points I laughed out loud this morning

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g
I know we have some way to go but "I've killed the vicar" must be a candidate for the next thread title.

I was rather surprised by Kate - obviously she wouldn't expect someone fit to collapse on the massage table, and it might just have sent her into a panic, but I've just requalified as a first aider at work, and wouldn't she have first aiders around? I mean, on a farm, which she is, even as a separate business, there's a greater chance of needing first aid skills, than in an office-based business.

But perhaps this storyline is to encourage people ti get more clued up on first aid.

Yes please!