All Souls Bolton project

All Souls is a vast Victorian church set to become a modern, multi-functional space for the local community and people of Bolton. The transformation of the church will see the installation of an innovative pod design – ‘a building within a building’ - which will help leave the historic fabric largely untouched.

The video below will give you a taste of some of the challenges faced in developing the project and how these have been overcome.

Latest news about the project

26 August 2010: The North West Development Agency, due to budget cuts, has reduced its grant towards the All Souls Bolton regeneration project by £600,000. 

In response to this, Peter Aiers, Major Projects Manager, The Churches Conservation Trust, says:

“All Souls is a truly innovative national flagship project that will turn a disused historic church into a community centre for all local people of all faiths or none.  We remain committed to the project and the value it will bring to Bolton. 

We have contingency plans in place and a fundraising strategy will now begin to help reduce the shortfall.  However, work scheduled to start at the end of the year will be delayed.  There are no plans at the moment to scale back the vision for the building.”

Inayat Omarji, Secretary, All Souls Crompton Community Centre Committee says:

“The committee and local people will overcome this set back.  The All Souls project is hugely important to Crompton and Bolton, creating a much needed resource for the local area and community as well as finding a new use for this beautiful building.

Together, as a community, we can step up our fundraising drive to fill the shortfall and realise our vision for the building.  Anyone interested in helping should get in touch with the committee via our website www.allsoulsbolton.org.uk”

Other news

17 July 2010: All Souls Bolton project showcased in The Times newspaper

24 September 2009: Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) confirm grant of £3.3million for the project

About the project

The Trust is working with the local community, through the All Souls Community Centre Committee, to create a centre of community activity for the neighbourhood and wider town which will operate as a service centre and training, learning and performance space. All Souls will also host a cutting - edge multi-media exhibition telling the stories of Boltonians both today and throughout the town’s history.

• Watch a video about a community day to promote the project.

The images below show how the interior of All Souls will look once the project is completed.

Visit the All Souls Bolton project website to find out more.

More information: www.allsoulsbolton.org.uk
Funding: Heritage Lottery Fund and others to be confirmed. 
Project partners: All Souls Community Centre Committee, Bolton Council, North West Development Agency, Heritage Skills Training Group
CCT contact: Peter Aiers, email: paiers@tcct.org.uk, tel: 0207 213 0685