27 February 1998

Characters: Eddie, Hayley, Jennifer, Pat, Ruth, Tommy, Tony

• The various local farms are covering Bridge Farm, David and some of Brian’s men are at Bridge Farm, Eddie’s helping Ruth out at Brookfield while William and Edward, on half-term, are taking up the slack at Grange Farm. Even Jennifer, glad to get out the house and be busy, is running farming errands.
• Helen’s home and the four of them are coming to terms with their loss. He’ll be buried near Dan and Doris next Thursday. Hayley arrives back and is worried that she shouldn’t be at Bridge Farm, but Pat wouldn’t want her anywhere else. She’s distraught and obviously still feels very close to him. She talks things over with Tommy and feels especially bad that, on Wednesday night, she was having fun while John was dead – there was no way she could have known, but it’s not any easier.
• Tony’s really beating himself up about the accident. It seems that John was on his way to the fence when he crashed, so he was out there, on his own, for a long time. Tony’s sure that it was the lack of maintenance on the Fergie that caused it and his bawling out of him that morning. Pat tries to convince him that it wasn’t his fault, that there were many factors in the incident and that the whole thing was just a pointless accident and blaming himself is not going to help anyone.

Summarised by: Chris Harrison