WHEN a desperate Bolton woman called the Samaritans several decades ago because she was being regularly beaten by her husband and had nowhere to turn for help, it started a train of events in motion.

Today, that story continues as Fortalice – the organisation that runs the town’s refuge and services for women and children escaping domestic abuse – celebrates its 40th anniversary with a special event at the University of Bolton.

It also marks an important milestone in an organisation that has helped thousands of women and children to a safer, more independent and hopeful life.

One of that original group of founding women was Gaye Gerrard who told her friend Pat Lewis about the woman’s plight. The two resolved to “set something up” and the result was the first refuge, a rundown council house. It was called Fortalice from the French word meaning a small fort – a place of safety.

Within days, the refuge was full of women and children. The very first woman was Audrey. At the time, she was 47 and had six children. She had accepted her violent marriage in spite of the black eyes and constant threats because “there was just nowhere to go.”

When she heard about the new refuge, she quickly filled three binbags with items for her and her two youngest children and left her home for good. “As soon as I stepped inside the refuge door, I just felt relief,” she later recalled. “I knew I was finally safe.”

In 2017, that relief, that escape, is still repeated for the hundreds of women and children who annually make their temporary home with Fortalice. In fact, in those 40 years there have been 3,199 women and 3,494 children resident at the refuge.

The first refuge is long-gone. The current, purpose-built refuge, called Lewis House after Pat Lewis, is a smart 22-bed building with small, well-equipped apartments, in a secret location and with 24-hour security. There is also an additional busy outreach Support Centre on the fringe of the town centre.

Those first dedicated volunteers have given way to 43 paid full-time and part-time professional staff at the two centres, plus 53 volunteers who go through structured training to offer valuable ongoing support. There is also a management board headed by chair Diane Hawkins.

Chief Executive Gill Smallwood believes that today abused women are more prepared to come forward, to try to change their lives. “We work more with the family now, focusing on early intervention, and the children have a bigger voice,” explained Gill. “We also do a lot of preventative work with the Healthy Relationships’ programme that runs through primary and secondary schools.

“We find now that there are a large number of teens being seen at the support centre who are in what they start to realise are very unhealthy, very controlling relationships. We try to re-educate them and the signs are very positive.”

Even the abuse is more sophisticated. Tracking technology on phones, for example, makes efforts to “control” individuals easier.

What has certainly changed is the range of services on offer. Now, they are far more comprehensive. The women are helped practically to better education to start independent lives and to get jobs. Crucially, they are helped to understand the abusive relationships that brought them there and how not to repeat them.

There are sometimes other problems for residents and the refuge has a drug and alcohol recovery worker and a mental health co-ordinator. There are also major demands on Fortalice’s counselling services for children.

Unsurprisingly these days, financing all the much-needed work is an ongoing problem. While part of their work is paid for by Bolton Council, Fortalice still needs to bid for funding and is looking at sponsorship.

What hasn’t changed is that domestic abuse is still quietly taking its insidious toll on individuals, women and children behind closed doors. One woman recently in the refuge had no clothes of her own as her husband had destroyed hers. She used an old dressing gown as a coat.

“In this day and age, to be so controlled by someone else is a terrible thing,” Gill stated. “We are still here for women and children. We are still just helping them.”

* For more information go to www.fortalice.org.uk or ring the 24-hour contact line on 01204 701846.