Ernest Baxter

Ernest Baxter was the Mission committee chairman for a period in 1962.

In February of that year, Glad Tidings's resident caretaker Albert Tatlock wrote a letter of resignation to Mr. Baxter where he suggested that his predecessor Ena Sharples replace him. Ena had walked out of the job two months previously when then-chairman Leonard Swindley reprimanded her for drinking alcohol at the Rovers Return and had been living with Minnie Caldwell at 15 Jubilee Terrace ever since. Ena then received a letter from Mr. Baxter inviting her to return to the Mission, which she accepted.

Credit for saving the old woman's job was mistakenly given to Dennis Tanner, as he'd written to Mr. Baxter at Minnie's behest, at the same time as Albert. It was only afterwards that Dennis realised he'd forgotten to post it, which might have been for the best as Dennis described Ena to the chairman - a strict teetotal - as a kind old lady who'd "never been drunk in your place except on Christmas and Saturday nights which is common round 'ere." With Ena settled back into the Mission, the residents threw her a "welcome home" party with Dennis arranging for Mr. Baxter to appear as a special guest. This was another blunder on Dennis's part as the chairman arrived in time to catch Ena drinking alcohol on Mission premises, but fortunately she was not punished.

The following week, the Over 60's Club held a charity concert at the Mission with entertainment arranged by Dennis. Ena, opposed to the concert, discovered that one of the billed acts, The Blue Streak Rockets, were ex-strippers banned in Cardiff, Barnsley and on Blackpool's Golden Mile and got Mr. Baxter to do the same in Weatherfield, leaving the organisers with no choice but to scrap the concert.

In April, Mr. Baxter laid on a taxi to bring Ena home to the vestry following her stay in St Mark's Hospital.

By June of that year, Baxter's role had been filled by a returning Leonard Swindley.


 * Baxter's involvement in storylines occurred during the Equity actors' strike, and thus the character was never seen on-screen. However, he does make an appearance of sorts in Episode 127 (28th February 1962), in which Baxter's arrival at the Glad Tidings Mission Hall - catching Ena Sharples drinking alcohol - serves as the end-of-episode-cliffhanger. This is conveyed to the audience through careful camera angles and dialogue from other characters.


 * Baxter's role of Mission chairman was normally held by Leonard Swindley. It is unclear why a new character was created for these storylines as Swindley was not said to have left the area after Arthur Lowe's contract expired in December 1961.


 * Mr. Baxter's first name was given as Ernest in Episode 127 (28th February 1962) and Jim in Episode 129 (7th March 1962).