They're Crossroads' happiest family ... the Harvey's - Stan, Jill and Sarah Jane. Of course, like all happy families,
they have their ups and downs, their worries and suspicions, their petty jealousies and differences. But after all this
time, Jill and Stan are still as close to each other as the day they both said "I do".
Looking back on their marriage, it is now more than obvious that Jill and Stan were a perfect romantic match from the
very beginning. But at that time not many residents of King's Oak gave the union much chance of surviving. And
the subsequent pressures on the young couple almost ended the Harveys' hopes of happiness.
Ted Clayton, the man behind Stan Harvey, recounted his early days as a newly-wed:
"Stan first appeared at the Motel working for a firm of electrical contractors. Jill - Meg's daughter - was having
trouble with her fuses so she phoned up and along came Stan. He married her after she'd got over her marriage with the
bigamist. When they got married - five years ago - Stan came from a completely different environment to Jill's and that
caused the problems."
Jill came from a world of tennis clubs, social functions and well-to-do families; Stan was a young electrician working
for someone else. How could it possibly work? many wondered. And it wasn't just social differences that hindered
Stan and Jill either. Stan's uncle helped Stan set up his own electrical business. Things seemed to be looking
up, but then a mistake by one of Stan's apprentices caused £5000 worth of damage ... and bankrupted Stan's business future!
Another strain was the couple's living arrangement. Ted takes up the story: "When we first got married we
went to live with my Dad who had a house on the side of the canal. So there was me, Dad, my sister and Jill in
the house, which was a two-up, two-down affair! So the aggro was coming from the environment and not from the marriage.
Then we moved into a flat and ran into trouble conceiving a child."
Throughout all these troubles, miraculously the marriage held together. It seemed that the more adversity came
their way, the more the young Harveys tightened their grip on each other. Gradually, things changed for the better.
Although he complained about taking work from his mother-in-law, Stan eventually agreed to move to the Crossroads Motel and
look after the garages and any mechanical repair work.
