Ernie Wagstaff

When Jack Duckworth inherited an allotment shed following the death of his old pigeon-racing friend Jimmy Kelly in July 2001, he looked on it as a great opportunity to get away from Vera for several hours at a time. Relaxing within one month later, he received a visit from Stan Wagstaff, the owner of the neighbouring allotment who complained about the upkeep of Jack's ground as the seeds from weeds were blowing onto his patch. He offered Jack a deal to maintain his ground in return for produce and offered him some poteen distilled from potatoes that Jimmy used to grow. A small sample of the paint-stripping liquid was enough to convince Jack that they had a deal. Jack set up his bar from 9 Coronation Street in the shed and he, Stan and his brother Ernie Wagstaff enjoyed the conviviality of their own drinking club. They were joined in their activities by Tyrone Dobbs who had been sent there by Vera to check up on her errant husband but unable to consume as much of the combustible fluid as the older men, he didn't get as drunk or join in the impromptu dancing to Mud's Tiger Feet. Jack drank himself almost unconscious and suffered the hangover from hell the next day.

In the November the two brothers were guests at Jack's sixty-fifth birthday party when Stan was re-introduced to Betty Williams who he remembered as a "cracking" barmaid from his drinking days some years before in the Rovers. Stan and Ernie offered to escort Betty and Rita Sullivan home but they hung on tightly to a startled Norris Cole and said that they were already spoken for, leaving the two men to wonder what Norris had that they hadn't.

A few week's later, Jack had an unwelcome visitor in the shape of son Terry who had escaped from police custody while appearing in court on a charge of attempted murder. Reluctantly helping him, Jack was unable to hide him in No. 9 and instead installed him in the allotment shed. Terry's occupancy lasted several days longer than expected, during which he was hungry for most of the time and he took one opportunity to steal Stan and Ernie's sandwiches which the two puzzled men had left on the bench outside the door.

Almost a week later, Vera, already frantic with worry about Terry, began to harbour suspicions that Jack did indeed have a lady friend hidden inside the shed and went to investigate. Knowing Jack was inside there but still not knowing about Terry, Stan and Ernie tried to put her off entering but were unsuccessful. When she saw her beloved son and husband together, Jack managed to instantly quieten down any shout of joy she was about to make, making the two brothers outside awestruck about Jack's smooth-talking abilities in getting himself out of trouble.

A couple of years later, Jack had neglected his allotment to the point where the society wrote a letter of complaint to him. Fiz Brown (in a strictly supervisory capacity only), Tyrone Dobbs and Kirk Sutherland took over the maintenance of the patch where the boys were very taken with Maz O'Loughlin on a neighbouring strip of land. Ernie was still toiling on his area and span the lads a yarn that Maz was part Cherokee and rode horses bareback, all of which added to her allure in Kirk's eyes.

List of appearances

 * Episode 5098 (24th August 2001)
 * Episode 5148 (7th November 2001)
 * Episode 5159 (22nd November 2001)
 * Episode 5162 (26th November 2001)
 * Episode 5520 (6th June 2003)
 * Episode 5521 (8th June 2003)