7 February 1995


Well, Audrey has really gone and done it this time! Alf still refuses to take her to the Lord Lieutenant's luncheon where the Royal person will attend. So Audrey decides to bring to Alf's attention the fact that she can get her own way and embarrasses him into the bargain. Alf and Betty are due to open a new sports centre, Audrey enlists the help of butcher Fred Eliott and they change the time of Alf's visit to 1/2 hour earlier than planned, Audrey rings the sports centre to tell them the Mayor can't make it but the Mayoress will attend in his place. So Audrey and Fred make it to the sports centre and get all of the attention that should have gone to Alf, Audrey even steals Alf's speech and reads it out. Unfortunately for Audrey, Alf and Betty arrive just as Audrey is finishing her speech and Alf is furious. When they get home, they argue and Alf tells her she is not officially the Mayoress any longer and has embarrassed him no end. Audrey simply states that if he doesn't reinstate her as the official Mayoress, she will continue to embarrass him in public and to bring his good name down. Fred Eliot, the butcher, is acting as chauffer to Audrey and thinks he's on to a good thing with her but Audrey is just simply using him as her transport.

Vicky comes back to the Rovers, and tells Bet she has left school. Bet is furious that she won't be going back for her exams and Vicky's attitude is that she doesn't need to pass her exams as she has the money now, and wants to invest it in a business, with horses and stables. Bet marches Vicky to see her headmistresses at school who agrees with Vicky, there isn't much point in her taking her exams as she wouldn't do very well in them anyway. Bet is gob-smacked as she expected Vicky to carry on to University and has been told that Vicky isn't actually clever enough to do this.

Steve MacDonald doesn't gamble any longer in the betting shop that Liz works in, he's taking to gambling elsewhere although Liz thinks he's given up for good. Des and Shaun are concerned over not seeing Steve in the bookies as he has a huge debt to clear up.

Mavis and Derek are still fighting over a compensation claim from Norris - who obviously thinks they've got a good case but is doing his best to dissaude them from taking it to court.

Trish Armstrong starts work in the Rovers as a cleaner, she isn't making many new friends in the Street so far. Racquel finds out that she used to go out with Curly and isn't too pleased about it. Curly is keeping Trish at arms length when she called around to see him, he pretended he was just on his way out.


February 14 1995


Well, Alf is torn between taking Audrey or Betty to the Lord Lieutenant's lunch where the 'Royal' person (you never find out who it is) will be attending. Both Audrey and Betty are giving Alf a hard time, they both want to be the only person he takes with him as the official Mayoress. So, Alf decides to send them both... and he stays at home with his feet up. Audrey ends up bragging to everyone about how she met the Royal and chatted to her, while Betty tells everyone they were both stuck behind a crowd of people and could see the Royal from a distance only. Alf tells Audrey he is opening a sewage plant next week, and of course Audrey tells Alf he can take Betty along to that one!

In the betting shop, Shaun the manager asks Liz to stay behind for a drink after work and she agrees, Shuan ends up telling her how much he fancies her and tries to kiss her, Liz walks out on him shouting, and then he tells Des the next day that things aren't working out with Liz, he's not happy with her work and wants Des to sack her.

Trish has made a friend in Vera, as Vera can see a lot of herself in Trish when she was younger. They both go to the bingo together and go shopping too.

Mavis and Derek are still intent on claiming against Norris for Mavis's so called injuries. However, it looks like they have a case until Mavis confesses to Derek she was wearing court shoes with heels when she tried the machine... will she be able to go through the claim with the guilt playing on her mind?

Vicky goes to see her grandad to tell him that she has left school and Bet is overjoyed to have her back in the Rovers, and they are getting on well together although Vicky hasn't made any concrete plans for her future as yet.

Don's new friend Josie is still around, they went to the park with Gail and Martin's younger son (can't remember the name) and then Don takes her into the cafe to introduce her to Gail who seems pleased that Don has a new lady in his life, although Vera isn't so pleased that her best friend's husband is seeing another woman.

In the hairdressing salon, John needs a model for a hair show he is entering and asks Racquel. Although she'd decided never to model again after the modelling school told her she didn't have what it takes, she decides to do the show for John.

Curly wonders how he can get to meet some of the girls that work in the supermarket where he now works with Reg, Reg tells him not to bother with them as he has already told the female workforce that Curly is gay so they don't bother with him. Curly is incensed by this so to get his own back he tells the women that he and Reg are lovers!!!!

Ken, Denise and Mike haven't been in the show for a while so we haven't seen the new baby much at all. Also, it is obvious that the actress who plays Sally Webster is pregnant in real life although they are trying they best to disguise this by only showing shots of her from shoulders up!


February 21, 1995


Shaun decides not to sack Liz after all, after talking to Des who tells him there is no need to sack her as he work is fine (although Des doesn't know the real reason why he wants to get rid of her), so Shaun and Liz make up and become friends again.

Mavis and Derek decide to drop the claim against Morris for Mavis' injuries on the Mile Muncher machine. Mavis finds out however that it was actually Angela's idea to drop the claim against Norris, and that Derek had taken Angela's advice, so is quite furious about this.

Vicky has a letter from her grandad inviting her on a 3 week cruise leaving this Friday, but Vicky has no one to take with her and asks Bet to go, Bet doesn't fancy going on holiday with Alec but does fancy the holiday itself. Later, Alec rings Vicky to say he can't go on the cruise after all but still lets Vicky have the option of taking someone, so both her and Bet are all set to go on the cruise together for 3 weeks. Bet now needs to contact the brewery to send in a relief manager while she is away.

Steve MacDonald is having severe money problems, Shaun is after his debt owing to him for Steve's gambling in the bookmakers (about £2,000) and his credit cards have been stopped also. Fiona tries to help him out of it but he doesn't seem able to help himself. With Fiona giving him so much attention lately he realises that he really loves her and asks her to marry him, and sends her 24 red roses to the hairdressing salon. Fiona thinks about this a lot and tells him the answer is no, mainly due to his cash situation and tells him when he digs himself out of the hole he's in she might think differently about his proposal. Mike Baldwin is also giving Steve a bad time over the business, as they have just lost a big order and the business isn't doing too good either.

John enters the hairdressing competition with Racquel as his model (who laps up the attention). John persuades Fiona to enter the competition too and she uses Steve as her model. John is placed second winner, and Fiona receives a special mention for a first time competitor who has won the most points.

Josie and Don are getting more used to each other, she goes around to Don's house and he cooks dinner for her, she is disgusted with the dirty tea towels he's using in the kitchen and he tells her it's because his washing machine is broken, so Josie offers to do Don's laundry. She does know about Ivy in the retreat, and Vera is most unhappy with Don seeing another woman.

Reg Holdsworth hears on the grapevine that Firmans Freezers may be taken over by an American company who are notorious for sacking all of the present staff and recruiting their own to take their places, he's worried now about losing his job, although he hasn't told Curly yet all of what is happening.

Still no sign of Ken, Denise and the baby, although you do get to hear the baby's screams filtering down from Denise's flat into the hairdressing salon!


February 28, 1995


Steve MacDonald and his girlfriend Fiona decide they need to cut back on Steve's spending to ease his money problems and the best way to do this is for Steve to give up his flat in the docklands and to move somewhere cheaper. Fiona asks Alma if the flat above the cafe is still for rent, and now they are planning on moving in there. Shaun tells Liz he is worried about Steve's overdraft and warns her that he will go after the money.

Mavis and Derek accept an invitation to Angela's house for dinner along with Norris. Angela and Mavis don't get on at all well and Angela makes a pass at Norris and keeps on feeling his leg under the table!

It's Rita's birthday and Alf takes in a bunch of flowers for her, they end up having a heart to heart talk about life in general and shop keeping and so on, and Alf tells Rita it's all worth while when he gets a smile from her, she is so touched that they give each other a hug just as Martin walks in the shop and he teases Alf about this. Later, Alf and Audrey go to Gail and Martin's house for tea and Alf tells Martin that he got the wrong idea about himself and Rita, and brings up the fact that he saw Martin kissing a young nurse when he visited the hospital on Christmas Day.

Vera tries some matchmaking with Curly and Trisha and invites them both to tea on the same night. She goes on about there not being enough happiness in the world and how you have to grab it while you can and they both realise they've been set up with Vera playing cupid. Still, it works, and the next night Curly offers to take Trisha out. Before they go out, Trisha's son comes to see Curly and warns him to be careful(!) when he takes his mum out.

The relief manager steps in to the Rovers to take over while Bet is away. Bet did ask Racquel to take over while she went on her cruise but Racquel couldn't decide if she was strong enough for the responsibility, and by the time she'd decided she would like to step in as relief manager, Bet had already called the brewery. His name is Rodney and he was in the police force with Betty's husband Cyril. He is about the same age as Betty and they get on well. Jack tries to pull a fast one and tells Rodney that it's a tradition for the Rovers to stay open past closing time for the regulars to stay behind for a drink, however his plan backfires when there's just himseld and Rodney who ends up playing his trombone in the Rovers. (Racquel calls it a flute!)

Josie waits at Don's house for his new washing machine to be delivered, unfortunately it doesn't arrive so Josie busies herself with cleaning the kitchen while Don is out. I think Don is starting to feel a bit overwhelmed with Josie, and that she could be taking over his life a little bit too much although he seems to enjoy her company.


Written by Glenda Young


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