Val Squires
Val Squires (2004)
Denise Roberts
Episodes: 3726-3750
Spouse: Unnamed husband (deceased)
Occupation: Cleaner
Val was first seen working as a cleaner at the hospital. Scott noticed her while he and Dani were talking to Flynn about Seb and looked at her as though he recognised her. Val later went to see Seb and asked if it was Scott that had visited him. She and Scott met again a few days later and she confirmed that she’d seen him and thought she recognised him but wasn’t sure that it was him.
Scott later confessed to Dani how he knew Val: she had been his father Jack’s mistress for fifteen years. Jack used to take Scott to ballet lessons and then go and see Val. One day, lessons finished early and he went looking for his father only to find him with Val. However, to his astonishment Jack had carried on seeing Val as if nothing had happened, right up until he died. Scott later mentioned Val to Alf, who remembered that she and her husband had owned a farm near the Hunters’ but he had died in a tractor accident and was shocked to learn of the affair.
Val later came to Summer Bay and met Alf and Colleen, who also remembered her, at the Diner. She then went to the caravan park to rent a van and met Robbie and Matilda, who were confused that she seemed to know a lot about them. Scott was angry when he heard of the visit and confronted Val, who told him she didn’t know his family ran the caravan park and reminded him she’d kept the affair secret for a long time. Nevertheless, Scott went to tell Beth only to find out that she already knew about Jack and Val, although she hadn’t known that Scott knew as well: She considered leaving Jack when she found out but had Scott and Kit to look after and nowhere else to go. Robbie overheard the conversation, resulting in the rest of the family and most of the Bay finding out.
Scott confronted Val again but Alf, who seemed fond of Val, stepped in and told him to back off. Val later went to see Beth and told her that whatever the rights and wrong of what they did she always felt she and Jack had a connection and that she was tired of hiding and wanted to come home. Although tense, the conversation seemed to help them both come to terms with the past.
When false rumours circulated that Scott had been killed, Val learned the truth from Alf and told him that because Jack always talked about his family she felt like she knew them. She and Scott later ran into each other again at the hospital and made their peace to an extent. She then went to a cupboard and took out a suitcase: she had been sleeping thereafter Scott found out, Alf offered her a caravan to stay in.
A couple of weeks later, Alf asked Val to have dinner with him and Duncan; Duncan was going badly off the rails and Alf felt he needed a female influence. However, the dinner was a disaster: Duncan was rude to Val and he and Alf nearly came to blows as a result. A few days afterwards, Val decided to leave town, telling Alf she couldn’t be who he wanted her to be.