By Chris Brindley JANUARY 5, 1894.The severe illness of F. Anne 'Annie' Walker (n. A proud member of the Beaumont family of Clitheroe, Lancashire, Annie moved to Weatherfield to find work and married Jack Walker in. A proud member of the Beaumont family of Clitheroe, Lancashire, Annie moved to Weatherfield to find work and married Jack Walker in 1. They immediately took over the tenancy of the Rovers and raised their children Billy and Joan there. When Jack died in 1. Annie took over as licensee. Resigned to a life at the Rovers, she concentrated on making a success of it while improving her social standing, although her pretensions more often than not led to despair at the behaviour and general demeanour of the less refined members of her clientele. A SHERLOCK HOLMES OMNIBUS by SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE, 1859-1930 Project Gutenberg of Australia eBook No. 0200441; see Appendix F for info. A STUDY IN SCARLET (1887) Part I. Parkway FFA Students Move on to State for Soil Judging [email protected]. On September 29th Parkway FFA students went to district soil judging in Ottowa. The rural kids judged soil properties, overall degree of. Every Friday Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader where you can share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of. What's in a Dream: A Scientific and Practical Interpretation of Dreams, or, Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted: B, Baby-Buzzard.It nearly always fell to Jack to offer an olive branch to both staff and customers who had been offended by Annie. She remained in charge thanks mostly to having friends within senior management of the brewery, but in 1. Joan in Derby. The Clitheroe Beaumonts - who originally came over to England with William the Conqueror - were a family of great wealth and influence. She was, after all, a woman of a more sophisticated breed, interested in art and culture. She aspired to make something of herself in the theatre scene, and was a member of the Clitheroe Amateur Operatic Society. However, Anne's cozy life was to end in 1. Anne had to go out to work, but even her mother's tutorege couldn't prepare her for the working enviroment in the weaving shed where she gained employment as a loom operator. While she coped well enough with the work, Anne had to learn to tolerate the other women and their mannerisms. The last of the Clitheroe Beaumonts then traded their hometown for Weatherfield to run the factory and shop. This was a factory Anne was happy to work in, and more importantly, her family's improved circumstances allowed her to rekindle her operatic ambitions by taking singing and public speaking lessons with St Agnes Amateur Operatic Society at the Weatherfield Lyceum. The producer of her opera group was Edgar Nuttall, who became her mentor and gave her her first lead in Mayfair Melody in 1. After some soul searching - and breaking some hearts - Anne began courting her cousin Edwin Beaumont. It was Edwin who first called her . Seeing Annie leaning over the bridge, Jack thought she was about to take the route of so many victims of the Depression, and ran over to pull her back. Annie's initial shock turned to laughter when she realised the misunderstanding, while her would- be rescuer was unusually lost for words. Accrington- born Jack Walker had neither the status nor the brass of her previous suitors, but at last Annie had found her man. Within weeks of the wedding, the Walkers were granted the tenancy of the Rovers Return in Coronation Street, replacing George and Mary Diggins as landlords of the backstreet pub. Jack came from a family of publicans and learned the trade at his brother Arthur's pub, The Nag's Head, and took to the Rovers immediately. Annie had no bar experience but decided that the Rovers would be a suitable stepping stone to a country inn up Cheshire way in about a year's time. With the outbreak of war in 1. Jack wasted no time in signing up. He'd been there for the birth of their son Billy, but by the time Joan was born in 1. Annie was on her own. Although she disliked the Rovers, Annie soldiered on behind the bar while fulfilling her responsibilities as a mother, with Ned Narkin helping out as potman. Annie distrusted Ned, but when a burglar at the Rovers held a knife to her throat, Ned was stabbed protecting her. She soon settled into the Street and made friends among the residents, including Esther Hayes and Albert Tatlock. By 1. 94. 4 she had begun an infatuation with John Barnstable, headmaster at Bessie Street School, who made her feel cultured and flattered. They progressed to clandestine dates and kissing, at one point even being unable to open the pub because she and John had been stranded on a date due to heavy snow. Although Annie tried to end the relationship, John was persistent, and she seriously considered a life with him. Finally, a disgusted Ena Sharples wrote to Jack, and Jack returned home on Christmas. Santa. Annie, assuming John was in the outfit, called him, . Jack warned John off and threatened Annie to not make such a mistake again. A humiliated Annie tried to get her own back by lying to Ena's superiors that she had allowed alcohol at the Glad Tidings Mission Hall, but Ena blackmailed her into retracting her statement, saying she would tell everyone about Annie's relationship with Barnstable. Joan took to Weatherfield Girls' Grammar School like a duck to water, and became a teacher, but Billy - who had spent his formative years without a father in his life and subsequently never been close to Jack - was expelled from Mrs Dudley Henderson Private Academy for fighting, and left school to become a mechanic. Annie was nevertheless proud of both of her children. She and Jack viewed some pubs in Wilmslow, Cheshire, but while the surroundings were very much to Annie's liking, her illusion of being among her own kind was shattered and they found her just as common as they found Jack. Annie hadn't waited all that time to live somewhere where people looked down on her, and so she resigned herself to a life in Coronation Street. Billy visited occasionally; in 1. Billy returned to introduce his parents to his fianc. Annie disapproved of the union as Philippa was a beauty queen, but she changed her mind after getting to know her. In any case, Philippa broke off the engagement to return to beauty contests. Joan looked down on her parents and she and Gordon tolerated them on their occasional visits to Derby. Though Annie considered herself a cut above most of her customers, Jack acted as a counterbalance, who could knock Annie off her lofty perch with one look. Nicholls, and wrongly assumed she was a lover. The reality was that Jack was paying Billy's rent as Billy had lost his job, but Annie left Jack instead of confronting him, and only came to regret her hastiness when coping without Jack at Egremont Hotel proved too much for her. Though innocent, Jack remained concerned that Annie would not return, though she eventually did and was deeply apologetic. Concepta had been a live- in barmaid at the Rovers before marrying Harry, and the Hewitts had subsequently been close to the Walkers. When Lucille refused to go with her parents, Annie volunteered to put her up while she finished her O- levels. Annie refused to modernise her parenting approach, and found Lucille flighty and irresponsible, while Lucille found Annie cold and difficult to talk to, and became closer to Jack. She quickly got caught up in electioneering duties, putting them even above her duties as landlady. She was up against neighbour Len Fairclough, who during a debate accused Annie of being a mouthpiece for snotty women. They received the same amount of votes on election day, and on a coin toss Len was elected Councillor. Annie, unsure of where Jack was staying, got the mistaken impression that he was sleeping over at Elsie Tanner's house, and convinced herself they were having an affair. Jack couldn't believe Annie could think something so far- fetched but reassured her that he loved her and they reconciled. Annie objected to Gordon, fearing that his father's alcoholism was hereditary, and because she suspected Maggie thought Gordon was too good for Lucille. The lovelorn couple ran away to get married but missed the train to Gretna Green and returned home, to their parents' relief. Annie's attitude towards Gordon changed when he became a qualified accountant - a man of education. It was the chance she had been waiting for for years, and for her sake Jack was also willing to go, however they were turned down at the last minute when Cresswell's boss decided they were too old to run the Majorca bar. Annie was distraught but despite her grief was able to carry on with her job, taking over as licensee of the Rovers Return, with Billy moving to Weatherfield to keep an eye in her and help out at the pub when needed. The brewery was satisfied that with Billy around Annie could continue to function as landlady, though they did offer to make Billy licensee behind Annie's back, believing he would be the more ideal landlord, an offer he turned down. After gaining good qualifications, Lucille grew into a lazy young woman who worked when it suited her, and when she did have a job, it tended to be somewhere Annie disapproved of, such as the Aquarius disco club, which to add insult to injury, was a Newton & Ridley house like the Rovers. She once offered to buy the Corner Shop for Lucille, but Lucille wasn't interested. Lucille eventually left for good in 1. Concepta in Ireland. Annie was expecting the invitation - some would say she'd been rehearsing for it all her life - and she accepted it graciously. However, no sooner had Annie and Alf been sworn in that Annie found out that Billy had been gambling using the pub's takings. Furious, Annie made barmaid Betty Turpin manager and cut off Billy's access to the Rovers' accounts, and the pair had a blazing row. Billy decided to leave Weatherfield to rebuild his life in Jersey, while Annie told the brewery she was retiring as there was now nothing left for her at the Rovers. She changed her mind when the regulars showed her a petition they'd written, signed by 4. Annie threw herself into wedding preparations, although secretly she didn't think much of Deirdre and disapproved of Billy paying for the wedding instead of Blanche Hunt. With three weeks to go, Billy called off the wedding, deciding he no longer wanted to marry Deirdre, and returned to Jersey. Later in the year, two thugs, Les Grimes and Neil Foxall, broke into the Rovers in the night in search of valuables and money. Despite being unable to defend herself, Annie refused to be intimidated and defiantly told them her money was in the bank (in fact, there was money on the premises which she kept in a safe place).
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