THE newly-refurbished Fortalice support centre to help women and children fleeing domestic abuse received the “royal” seal of approval when it was officially opened.

Maxine Peake took time off from playing the title role as the Prince of Denmark in Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre’s production of “Hamlet” to perform the opening ceremony.

And she declared herself “completely blown away” by the centre, its support services and its staff.

The Westhoughton-born actress admitted that she hadn’t really known about the centre but was “very impressed” with its services, in particular its Freedom programme teaching females of all ages about abusive and controlling behaviour and its Healthy Relationships’ programme in schools.

“The key to all this is educating youngsters,” she commented, “and the schools’ programme really is amazing. Children need to understand about healthy relationships, and about what they are not.”

She added that abusive actions were “very much learned behaviour” and this needed to change. “I’d love to see this programme in every school,” she stated.

“It’s very difficult today for youngsters when they see videos of pop stars like Rihanna. They get confused about their own identity and how they should behave towards each other, but this is an excellent way forward.”

The support centre, on the outskirts of Bolton town centre, has been part of Fortalice since 1977 and was for many years its refuge. A 22-apartment, purpose-built refuge, Lewis House, today provides a temporary home for the hundreds of local women and children each year forced to escape domestic violence.

Meanwhile, the support centre has continued to provide a place where all females can seek advice and where educational courses help them move on with their lives. In the last 12 months, more than 1,000 of them accessed 2,076 services there including information and advice, counselling, personal development and group work with professionals and volunteers Unfortunately, as Fortalice chairman Diane Hawkins explained “last year we realised that the building was crumbling around us and needed a great deal of work simply to be fit for our purpose.” So the board “made the brave decision” to fund its redevelopment.

Now, the centre provides a modern working space for staff and volunteers with five counselling rooms, a child’s counselling room, a training room and bigger crèche among the much-improved facilities.

The Mayor of Bolton, Cllr Martin Donaghy, Mayoress Gaye Wharton, University of Bolton vice-chancellor George Holmes and Dave Bagley from Urban Outreach Bolton were among the many guests at the ceremony which involved cutting a special cake.

Mr Holmes said that Fortalice “now had a support centre befitting its first-class staff and services” and stated that “every thinking business in Bolton should support Fortalice with its cheque-book.”