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Guest Character Profiles > Valerie Grundy Patti Newton

Valerie Grundy 2018
Lived: 34 Ramsay Street
Sibilngs: Vera

The long-time resident of 34 Ramsay Street, Valerie Grundy was well-known to all of her neighbours nearby - they would always stop to have a brief chat, though none of them took much time to get to know her. One morning in 2018, a few days before Christmas, Valerie was walking home from the Lassiters complex, greeting David, Aaron, Yashvi, Piper and Toadie on her route back to her home on Ramsay Street. Later that day, Piper had decided to ask Valerie for an interview for her podcast, but when nobody answered the door, and with Val’s dog Regina ‘Reggie’ Grundy barking constantly inside, she became worried. After finding Toadie, they went to the front of the house and, finding the door open, they discovered Val dead in her armchair, having suffered a heart attack.

After she was taken away, some of the neighbours started to look through her belongings, trying to find the details of her next of kin. Toadie was surprised to find an album full of invitations to various weddings and parties from over the years, none of which she had attended. They also found various items that she’d rescued from the rubbish collection, including one of Sheila Canning’s garden gnome, a Donna Freedman shrugalero, and the topper from Scott and Charlene’s wedding cake. Realising that none of them had ever bothered to get to know Val properly, and that things could have been much worse if they hadn’t found her that day, Toadie decided to arrange a Christmas Concert, inviting everyone and trying to make sure that nobody fell through the cracks like Val.

A few weeks later, Val’s sister Vera arrived from Bendigo, where she’d been tracked down. She took possession of Reggie the dog, and, after initially considering selling it, decided to move into 34 Ramsay Street, where she became a bigger presence in the neighbourhood than her sister had been.

Trivia Notes
• It was not made clear how long Valerie had lived on Ramsay Street, but her album included an invitation to Paul and Terry's Wedding, so she must have lived there since at least 1985
• Valerie's appearance marked the 8000th episode and was the first time that the interior of 34 Ramsay Street had been shown on-screen
• Valerie was played by Patti Newton, whose husband, the late Bert Newton, made a cameo appearance in Neighbours in 1995

Episodes Featured
8000