It’s a big night for Helen, while Ian attempts to be subtle.
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12:58
27/05/2025
Joy reckons the Village Shop customer survey drawn up by Susan and Emma is too comprehensive and offers to cut it down. Susan won’t give way though, before explaining the survey’s purpose to Jazzer. Both him and Joy wax lyrical about a superior shopping experience at Underwoods Local, pushing Susan into agreeing to take a look for herself. Later on, after bumping into Jazzer again, Susan is gobsmacked to discover Clarrie is working there. Clarrie tells Susan most of the village have been in already - and they’re all dead impressed. Susan fears it could be the end of the Village Shop.Chris is at The Stables trimming some of the horses' hooves. He catches up with Alice and they discuss taking Martha to Peggy’s funeral, agreeing that she should go. They arrange to meet up later over a curry to discuss preparing Martha for the day itself. At lunchtime Alice is joined by Joy at the Playground and they talk about how Alice’s family are coping with Peggy’s death, before comparing notes on the hard times both have been through recently. Joy then prompts Alice, she and Chris have cracked co-parenting, so she doesn’t have to cope with everything on her own, does she? But then Chris phones and tells Alice that Imaani, the nursery manager, has called them in for an unscheduled meeting on Friday to talk about making sure Martha’s school-ready. Chris doesn’t think it signifies much, but Alice is unsettled by it. Later she calls Chris and cancels their catch-up later; there’s things she needs to do at The Stables.
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13:16
26/05/2025
At Chris’s Forge captain Hannah gets very frustrated by Chris and Adam’s lack of competitive edge for this afternoon’s T20 cricket match against Jolene’s team. Alice joins them and promises Chris that she and Martha will be there, cheering on both sides.Over lunch at the Dower House Justin catches Lilian scrolling through a world cruises website. Justin’s appalled as Lilian outlines her plans for their retirement, going on exotic holidays. Just the thought of the family holiday Peggy stipulated in her will is enough to make Justin quail. In any case, he enjoys working far too much to give it up, but reluctantly agrees to talk about Lilian’s proposal later.During the cricket innings break Hannah chastises her ‘Elite’ team-mates for batting so poorly and can’t understand why Chris and Adam aren’t taking it more seriously. Jolene however is loving how well her ‘Underdog’ team performed in the field. Alice joins Justin and Lilian on the boundary edge, apologising for not being more receptive yesterday to Lilian’s idea of leaving Ambridge. She now thinks Lilian should go ahead and do whatever is best for her and Justin. Once Alice has gone though, Justin makes it clear to Lilian he’s still not keen.The cricket ends in defeat for Hannah’s team, with everybody repairing to The Bull for drinks and a T20 photograph. Chris and Alice tentatively agree to spend more family time together with Martha, and Alice says she’ll accompany Adam to keep an eye on Helen when she goes for her date at Grey Gables on Wednesday.
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13:05
25/05/2025
Fallon chats to Susan and Joy in the Shop about the EV Charging Station opening today. Fallon wants to go over there and Joy says she’ll go too. They’re both very impressed by how modern and smart the station looks, before heading inside the posh Underwoods Local store. Clarrie greets them, also having a nosey, while Fallon contemplates getting balloons for Harrison’s fortieth birthday next week. Back in Ambridge they discuss tomorrow’s T20 Cricket match between teams led by Hannah and Jolene, before Susan joins them. Despite hearing how impressive the Charging Station looks, Susan’s confident the Shop can cope with the competition. She does though accept Joy’s suggestion of a customer survey, to see what they can improve on.At the Stables Lilian saddles up Amir for a ride, confessing to Alice she’ll avoid going near The Laurels. Her normal coping mechanism would be to busy herself with the funeral arrangements, but Peggy has already done all that. Alice rides with her, on Aziz, reminiscing about Peggy as they go, whilst also speculating about her will and not choosing Alan to conduct the funeral service. Lilian then indulges herself with thoughts of Canada, where her first husband, “Nick”, came from. She shocks Alice with the idea that she might leave Ambridge to go and live there, before admitting she hasn’t mentioned the idea to Justin. Alice implores Lilian not to go – they’d never manage without her. All Lilian will promise though is that she won’t make any decisions until after Peggy’s funeral.
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13:04
23/05/2025
With things still frosty between Ed and Emma, they’re horrified when they get stuck in the Grey Gables lift. They manage to alert Zainab, but it’s her first day and she’s still feeling her way. Emma suggests she calls an engineer, and Zainab assures them she’s on it. Akram arrives and sees Zainab’s predicament. He also points out she’s done everything right so far and doesn’t need to stress. Meanwhile the atmosphere in the lift thaws and Emma and Ed apologise to one another. They admit it can be hard working together but it’s mostly brilliant. They pledge to move their anniversary celebration to tonight, staying in at Little Grange. When they’re finally free, relieved Zainab tells them Dane’s offered another night at Grey Gables by way of compensation. Ed reckons they’ll stay home tonight and save the offer for another time.Naomi brings some flowers as a thankyou for Lilian, who’s tearful and caught unawares. She shares that she’s having a difficult time, and the two chat. Naomi’s kicking herself about her date, but Lilian assures her it’s not her fault. They laugh about the objectionable Darren. Naomi hopes things get brighter for Lilian. Later worried Kenton calls in on Lilian. Lilian comments it was nice to chat with Naomi, but nothing’s making her feel better. She guesses you just have to go with grief, but it’s exhausting. Her heart is broken at the loss, and she has nothing to tether her any more. Ambridge doesn’t feel like home without Peggy. Perhaps it’s time to leave.
South Africa