31/12/2023

Whilst getting The Lodge ready for sale, Lillian, Brian and Tony are reminiscing about going there for tea. Tony mentions that it would have been John’s 48th birthday. When Lillian asks Brian what he’s doing for the New Year, he tells her he’ll be spending a quiet one at home, but she manages to convince him to form a team for the darts competition at The Bull. The unlikely pair manage to win. It’s a bittersweet evening for them both and later they talk about the symbolism of the new year… a moment of hope looking to the future yet somehow so melancholy.

Kenton and Tracy are getting The Bull ready for the evening’s festivities. They discuss how George is bringing a group of his friends to spend New Year’s Eve there. Tracy is pleased that they’re choosing The Bull instead of a fancy bar in Borchester. They go on to talk about the longest drinker competition and the lengths Bert and Neville are willing to go to in order to prove how long they’ve been drinking at the pub. Jolene is backing The Horrobins, but Kenton is Team Neville all the way. He then goes on to tell Tracy he is conducting an experiment by giving them both Gulcher’s Moxey, the first alcohol free IPA from Shires Brewery. When Bert finds out he’s angry, claiming he’s been tricked. Just before the clock strikes twelve, Tracy reminisces on the proposal and how if there’s something to celebrate it’s that, against all odds, she has finally made an honest man of Jazzer McCreary.