THE Rev Phil Mason’s view on religion and life is not always what you might expect from a Methodist minister.

“Religion gives me the opportunity to walk beside people, to help them be the best person they can be in life,” he explained.

In fact, the Bolton Wanderers club chaplain has taken this ethos through all his work and expanded it wherever he has gone to touch thousands of lives positively.

That is all a far cry from his upbringing in Preston where he wanted to be a motor engineer like his father and where much time was spent tinkering with neighbours’ cars. He attended Tulketh High School where these dreams continued but were dramatically changed on the death of his 83 year-old grandmother, who lived with the family.

“The night before she died, she was singing hymns in this very young-sounding voice,” he recalled. “When I went in the next morning to see her and to tell her I was off to school, she said ‘I’m going home so you have to look after your Mum and Dad for me.’ By the time I came back from school, she had died.

“I think the strength of her religion and that moment changed me and set me on a different pathway.”

While the interest in cars remained through rallying, Phil altered the direction of his own life by reading Theology at Westminster College, Oxford. He became a pastoral assistant in Southport, working with a variety of communal organisations through two churches.

He decided to study Social and Pastoral Theology at Manchester University while training for the Methodist Ministry. Part of this practical degree was working in Moss Side and Hulme on various projects that took him to the sharp end of life. “I always wanted to be working at something that was at the centre of local life, that was relevant to people,” stated Phil.

His first ministry was in Westhoughton where he looked after three local churches, including an ecumenical church on The Hoskers estate. In 1992, he moved to become superintendent minister at Bolton Methodists Mission at the Victoria Hall in Bolton town centre.

During his 13 years there, Phil became actively involved with many local organisations, including Bolton CVS (Community & Voluntary Services), and helped develop groups helping people with disabilities and mental health issues and working with refugees and asylum seekers. “I wanted to try to get the voice of the church heard in different ways in the town,” he said.

In 2006, his life moved significantly in another direction when he was appointed chaplain to Bolton Wanderers FC.

`“I wasn’t sure I wanted the job,” he stated. “I didn’t know anything about football but Sam Allardyce asked me what I was interested in and I said ‘people’ and he said that was just what they wanted so they offered me the job.

“The club was very ahead of its time in many ways and this was one of them,” added Phil. “They wanted a chaplain who people could talk to, who was independent and prepared to listen. And it was right for me.”

The chaplaincy not only grew phenomenally at the club but also put Phil heading up the Wanderers’ charity arm – the Bolton Wanderers Community Trust.

This works with old and young in the community – from the Sporting Memories’ project to help local people with dementia to giving ex-offenders a chance in life and to helping looked after children gain confidence and make their way in the world.

Today, Phil heads a Trust which has 33 different programmes delivered by 22 full-time staff, 20 part-time staff and between 40 and 50 volunteers. He is “very proud” of what the Trust has achieved, especially when those who have been helped often become volunteers themselves.

He is married to Alyson, has four daughters and two grandchildren and has become an avid supporter of the Wanderers.

Phil has been involved – and still is – with all kinds of organisations including Bolton Christian Community Cohesion, Bolton Vision partnership and Sports Chaplaincy UK.

His warm and lively personality makes him a natural choice for presenting events locally. He happily admits “I love my job” and his natural energy will probably always keep him interested and enthusiastic. As he insisted: “So many people have such potential in their lives but they haven’t got the key to unlock it. I help them find the key in their own hands.”