Our History

Bolton Methodist Mission has connections to the site dating back almost 250 years after the opening of the Ridgway Gates Chapel in 1776, later starting a Sunday School in 1785.

In 1897, the Mission envisioned the construction of the largest Central Hall in England and commissioned Bradshaw Grass to construct the Victoria Hall, later opening in 1900.

In an effort to reach those most in need and raise the spirits of the town, Victoria Hall was designed for concerts, comedians, theatrical performances, silent movies, and Worship.

During both world wars, Victoria Hall continued to be a core source of support for the local community, providing a vital role as one of the Fire Wardens Posts, and was also used as a HUB for evacuees from the Channel Islands, before being placed with families.

In modern times, in addition to the Bolton Methodist Mission, a wide variety of charitable organisations use the Bolton Community HUB in the Victoria Hall to continue the buildings heritage of supporting those most in need, and those most vulnerable to harm.

Due to the volume of parishioners seeking pastoral care from the Victoria Hall Minister, it was decided to open a service dedicated to not only offering counselling to those belonging to the Mission, but to all the people of Bolton much in need of talking therapies.

Simeon Centre Counselling Service was created with two charitable aims:

1.  To promote positive mental health by providing a free confidential counselling service

2.  To offer educational opportunities for those training in counselling

Led by Pam Davis, the Simeon Centre quickly grew from seeing clients for half a day each week, to having a team of counsellors seeing clients every day within less than one year.

As those early volunteers gained experience and qualifications, and remained with Simeon Centre Counselling Service, the services ability to support the public with more complex mental health issues grew. Their workforce also continued to grow as more students came through for educational support, guidance, and mentorship programme.

In 2008, it was announced that Simeon Centre Counselling Service would become its own independent charity due to its financial independence from Bolton Methodist Mission and secular provision of talking therapies based on studied counselling practice.

There were a number of counselling charities in Bolton which worked loosely together as the Bolton Counselling Alliance, in an effort to share best practices and to offer support.

With the vision of a closer cooperation, with a shared waiting list and improved funding opportunities, Simeon Centre came together with Beacon Counselling, Fortalice, MhIST, and Relate in 2012 with the conception of a jointly managed Community Benefit Society.

1-Point (North West) was established in 2014, and under this umbrella, Simeon Centre and its partner services worked with NHS England in the provision of High-Intensity Counselling to the people in the Bolton boroughs. The security from the NHS England contract allowed Simeon Centre to grow as a charity and vastly increase the numbers of clients it was able to support, and the provision of placements for trainees across Bolton.

As changes within NHS England transitioning away from voluntary services came into effect at the end of 2024, Simeon Centre Counselling Service withdrew its shareholding from 1-Point Limited in an effort to forge exciting new partnerships and routes of support.

In its first year taking on direct clients after its decade relationship with NHS England, Simeon Centre has been proud to have provided counselling to over 500 people, with a mixture of clients coming from family/friend recommendations and its new partnerships.

Led by its current CEO (Kevin Illingworth) and Service Coordinator (Lisa Howarth) and with a current team of 45 volunteer therapists offering six separate forms of counselling theory across face-to-face, online, and telephone sessions, Simeon Centre is proud to continue its offer of High-Intensity Counselling to the community, free at the point of use.