A group that knows it’s good to talk has celebrated half a century of service to the Alton community.

This year is a golden one for the Alton Counselling Service as the organisation recently celebrated its 50th anniversary.

The service was founded by mental health pioneers David Porter and Bob Weighton in 1974 as they believed the benefits of therapy should be available outside London.

The service has been an ever-present in The Counselling Rooms at The Quaker house since and has always enjoyed the support and encouragement of their hosts.

The ACS is a member of the National Counselling Network and has held accreditation from the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy since 2005.

The service – which also held accreditation with the British Psychoanalytic Council since 2013 – takes pride in the training and mentoring of new counsellors.

Town mayor, Cllr Annette Eyre, attended a special ceremony along with ACS members, past and present counsellors and figures from many Alton organisations.

Anne Bothwell, chair of trustees, read out a message from Dorothy Harte, Head of Counselling, saying it was a “brilliant achievement” to have provided such a valuable service to the town for 50 years.

She added: “The need is as great as ever and we should all be proud that the service is still able to go forward and meet those needs.

“As a small local counselling service we have been able to adapt as the counselling world has developed and to some extent what we are asked for has changed.”

Anne added that Alton was amazing place to live and work with the service having aspirations to further strengthen its bonds with groups and the community as it looks forward to its 60th anniversary.

For more details about ACS call 01420 89207 or visit www.altoncounselling.org.uk