1976

January
Blanche Hunt leaves with Dave Smith to manage his new country club, and hands the Corner Shop keys to Betty. Hilda returns to tell Stan about his new granddaughter Jayne, and notices that he is looking well-fed. She suspects the reason lies at 19 Inkerman Street, but Minnie Caldwell has been cooking for him.

Tricia Hopkins starts a rumour that Mission Fund treasurer Ernest Bishop has embezzled £5. Ernest, who has merely mislaid a postal order, rebukes everyone for their lack of charity. The fire-raising hooligans get three months detention.

February
A month of misunderstanding. An anonymous letter to the Town Hall alleges that Alf Robert's expensive new watch is a planning bribe from Dave Smith. Len and Rita trick Donna Parker into parting with £500 by pretending to sell the Kabin as a hairdressing salon, to repay the money she conned from Alf. An angry Alf reveals that Donna not only repaid the cash, but gave him the watch.
Annie is caught by the TV detector van. Hilda panics and buys a licence, unknown to Stan who tries to hide the set and drops it. Believing that the rental company replace sets damaged by fire, he sets it alight. The firm sends them a £75 bill for damages. Albert sits as a model at the Centre's new art classes.

March
Stan and Hilda win a chance to fill a supermarket trolley with as much as they can in one minute. Stan's back gives way, and Deirdre has to deputize. Ken becomes attracted to married graduate Wendy Nightingale, who conducts a survey on reading habits at the Centre. They spend the night together when her husband is away.

Mavis returns from a weekend in Kendal with Derek Wilton. She refuses to elaborate, but a mood-stone ring he has given her turns green, signifying contentment. Stan is missing: Hilda draws a blank at 19 Inkerman Street, and finds he has been accidentally locked in the Rovers cellar with Albert Tatlock. Annie, whose stocks are depleted after the incident, takes on a resident bar-cellarman, Fred Gee.

April
Wendy's suspicious husband bursts into Nº11 and assaults Ken. The brewery runs a Super-Brain Contest, and Stan wins the heat to represent the Rovers. Confidence is low, so he is plied with beer and sent to the wrong venue. Bet, as substitute, goes through to the finals.

Elsie returns to the Street and becomes manageress at Sylvia's Separates. Ernest Bishop lets his standards slip and goes on a strippers-and-booze night out with Alf and Ray, forgetting it is his wedding anniversary. The club is raided, and the story splashed across the Weatlerfield Gazette. Emily locks Ernest out.

May
Bet loses the Super-Brain final, but goes out with the question master. Wendy Nightingale moves in briefly with Ken, but decides to go back to her husband when the Committee threatens his livelihood. Fred Gee falls for Rita, and gives her a single red rose. Ken organizes a Spring Bank Holiday party with roundabouts, Punch and Judy and refreshments. Stan does an escapology act, but is too fat to free himself.Renee Bradshaw makes Gordon an offer for the Corner Shop, and takes over for three weeks

June
Ken moves in with Albert, and Elsie goes back to her old house Nº11. Gail Potter, sacked from the shop by Renee Bradshaw, joins her. Eddie Yeats returns, looking for digs, and joker Ray directs him to Nº11. Elsie finds Eddie and his pal, Monkey Gibbon, sleeping in her bed, and attacks Ray with her handbag in the Rovers.

Renee is reported for Sunday trading. She accuses Emily, but discovers it was Tricia Hopkins. Ray plans a wedding anniversary party at the Rovers and gives Annie £25 deposit. Deirdre, who wants to buy a house, insists that he cancels it.

July
The Ogdens invite Eddie to lodge with them. He offers to decorate, but runs out of paper. To fill in the gaps he buys a scenic vista of the Alps, delighting Hilda who wants to outdo Annie Walker with her 'muriel'. Ray announces that Deirdre is pregnant. Ernest is broke and Emily sells her engagement ring to pay the bllls.

Albert wins £100 at bingo. Fred Gee obtains Annie's permission to entertain a lady friend at the Rovers. She is horrifled when he arrives with Vera Duckworth.

August
Ernest has to turn down a hospital porter's job - the sight of blood makes him squeamish. Annie decides to learn to drive when she hears that Nellie Harvey has passed her test after eighty-six lessons. Ernest gets a pianist's job on stag nights at the Gatsby. Emily is upset when a stripper calls round to practise.

Len's tools are stolen from a building site by rough labourer Jack Barker. He doctors some scaffolding so that Len will fall. It collapses under Ray and Len brawls with Barker. Mavis Riley has tea with Derek's disapproving mum, who says they must stop seeing each other.

September
Gail Potter, cited in a divorce, is sacked from Sylvia's Separates. Elsie wins back her job for her. Fred Gee buys a greyhound and keeps it secretly in Annie's cellar. There are accusations all round when Annie, out for a driving lesson, swerves to avoid the dog and crashes into Stan Ogden's handcart.

Ken discovers that Eddie Yeats has a natural ability with children, and offers him a job as playleader. He is forced to quit when parents do not take kindly to an ex-jailbird supervising their offspring.

October
Annie loses a coutt battle against Renee Bradshaw's application for an off-licence. Minnie's house, Nº5, goes up for sale. Mike Baldwin opens a new warehouse and goes into the shirt and jeans business, taking Ernest Bishop on as pay clerk.

Hilda, already furious that the old mac she left in the Rovers has been used on a guy, discovers that Stan has taken £6 from her Christmas savings. She throws him out. Rita knocks Len from a barstool in the Gatsby in a row over a singing engagement, and he cracks his head. The doctor says he is fine, but he feigns illness, forcing Rita and Elsie to dance attendance. Rita finds out the truth and pours a pint of beer over him.

November
Stan, reported missing by a worried Hilda, turns up at his brother-in-law Norman's chip shop, where Norman's 'fancy woman' takes a liking to him. A livid Hilda drags him home.

Mike Baldwin buys Nº5, and Bet Lynch moves in as his 'housekeeper'. Mavis has literary leanings and writes a novel based on the Street. Song of a Scarlet Summer - a semi bodice-ripper - uses characters with the same initials as locals: Stan Ogden, for instance, becomes Santos Olivia.

December
Sylvia's Separates goes up for sale. Mike Baldwin buys it as a retail outlet, but tells Elsie she is too old to sell trendy clothes. She moves to the factory as supervisor. Wage clerk Ernest Bishop refuses to change pay day to Thursdays. The girls de-bag him at the Christmas party, and hand his trousers to a frosty Emily.

Annie passes her driving test, and buys a second hand Rover 2000 from Eddie Yeats' crooked pal Lanky Potts. Annie is breathalysed after a Licensed Victuallers' luncheon. The reading is positive, but a blood sample clears her. Mike Baldwin, suffused with Christmas spirit, gives Bet the keys to Nº5. Hilda gets a new mac from Stan.


Written by Graham Nown
© Graham Nown, 1985. Reproduced with permission. Do not reproduce this without permission.

 

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