Simon Goddard

Simon Goddard was married to childhood sweetheart Ruth Goddard, they had one child together and he owned the factory that some of the community worked in, Goddard's Paper Products. His sister was Peggy Snow who was married to Vic Snow. He was also uncle to Stephen and Lucy Snow. Simon later had a child to Anna Kirkwall called Jess.

Simon and Ruth had been together since school and it seemed like true love, they were childhood sweethearts and Simon's only proper girlfriend. Ruth worked at the medical centre with Simon's sister Peggy and also Patricia Illingworth. Ruth was very good at her job, she was firm but fair and there was no doubt who wore the trousers in the Goddard household! They appeared to have a good marriage but as time went on, the factory started to get in the way of their marriage and did put a strain on it at times. But they were happy enough with baby Alfie, but tragedy struck in 1999 when Ruth suffered a miscarriage. At this time they also had Ruth's gran Nell living with them and although they at first found her a hindrance, they grew to appreciate having her around and she later moved into her own house.

By 1999, Ruth had become frustrated with her life and believed that she hadn't realised her full potential in life, she also wanted to reunite with her estranged mother in Australia, who had recently got back in touch after Nell had managed to track her down. Ruth told Simon that she wanted to leave Skelthwaite, however he told her he couldn't because he had to run the factory and if he left, people's jobs were at risk. Ruth left for Australia in 1999 and she never returned, taking Alfie with her, they later divorced in 2001.

In the year 2000, Anna Kirkwall arrived in Skelthwaite to replace Ruth at the medical centre and Simon tried to romance her. He initially failed as she had recently lost her husband, however, after a time she gave in and ended up sleeping with Simon. She then fell pregnant but refused to let Simon have anything to do with the baby as she was embarrassed at getting pregnant to him. However, after a short while she decided to let him help with the baby. They eventually got together and Simon later proposed to her. Amy Kirkwall was then born in the Skelthwaite Arms.

The date of the wedding was set for 2002 but Simon's head was all over the place, he had tried to kiss Beth Enright and then slept with an old friend of Anna's, Evelyn. Karen found out and she told Anna, who tried to carry on as normal but she realised that Simon had to leave. She wanted him to sort his head out but also wanted him to leave because they couldn't get married. Anna told Simon to get into his car and drive, Luke was the most upset and attempted to chase after the car but Anna told him to let go. Simon drove off and left Skelthwaite.

When Simon left, he left the factory to young Amy as a leaving present, this left Anna trying to pick up the pieces of the failing factory but David and Tom helped her sort the problems out.

Simon later returned to Skelthwaite in 2005.