ACTRESS Maxine Peake returned to her home town to help a refuge celebrate a special day.

The Silk and Dinner Ladies star was in Bolton to mark the 40th anniversary of Fortalice, of which she is a patron.

The facility has helped thousands of women and children and been the difference between life and death for some.

While the work involved at Fortalice was celebrated, the need for a refuge where women and children could escape domestic abuse in 2017, was not.

But for the dozens of people who came together at the University of Bolton to highlight those who helped the refuge grow and thrive – and to help launch the charity’s campaign to raise £40,000 – it was a day to remember.

There were local councillors who had aided the refuge, officials and VIPs, past and present residents who knew exactly what Fortalice means along with Gaye Gerrard who helped start Fortalice and long-time supporter Hilary Eastham.

She recalled how Bolton Women’s Liberation Group had been strong supporters.

There were modern supporters, patrons, staff from the 22-bed refuge and from the remarkable support centre which helps hundreds of women and girls every year learn how to get on with their lives safely.

Maxine told the packed room how Fortalice and its “amazing staff” provided an “essential” service that allowed so many women to be treated in a caring and respectful environment.

She said that initially how “shocked” she had been because she had assumed that abused individuals would be vulnerable women. Instead, she also spoke to “intelligent, educated” females who were victims.

She praised Fortalice’s schools’ education programme and the importance of telling young people about healthy relationships. “It’s particularly important to get young men to understand this,” she said.

Maxine explained later: “I’ve been in relationships and afterwards I’ve thought ‘that behaviour wasn’t right’ so I can see how easy it is to be involved in an abusive situation.”

Fortalice chair Diane Hawkins said: “Who would have thought the decision 40 years ago of a lonely, frightened and abused woman to leave her husband, take her youngest children away from the only home they knew, would lead to the national beacon of excellence that Fortalice is today?”

That woman’s eldest daughter, Nancy Coope, was there to hear those words. “My mother would have been so proud of Fortalice”, she said. “She was so happy in the refuge because she knew she and her children were safe. It’s been a wonderful, emotional day.”