The church hopes the local community will be able to reunite going forwardThe Rev Noel Sharp (left), and Cate Warbrick (Church & Community Worker), at St Luke’s Methodist Church, Hoylake(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
A community church said people had to eat meals in corridors following protests outside a Wirral hotel. Protests and counter-demonstrations took place outside a former Holiday Inn hotel in Hoylake earlier this month following reports the Home Office is planning to use it in the future as accommodation for male asylum seekers.
The hotel was initially used to house male asylum seekers before families were then placed there in recent years. Wirral Council has asked people to make sure they do not share false or inaccurate information and said it objects to the plans.
Council leader Cllr Paula Basnett has also written to the government outlining the local authority’s concerns and the council is seeking legal advice following a recent High Court decision. Two Wirral MPs, including Home Office minister Dame Angela Eagle, have also issued statements on the matter.
St Luke’s Methodist Church, which has been supporting asylum seekers in Hoylake for the last five years, hopes the community will be able to reunite going forward. Speaking to the ECHO on August 6, Reverend Noel Sharp, superintendent from the church on Market Street, said they had a steady group of people contact them over the years because they were welcoming and open, including Christians who fled Iran because of religious persecution.
The church has held baptisms for people, provided a temporary school for children, given space for women to cook, and offered help for people to get online. Asylum seekers in the hotel have even catered for events and suppers.
Rev Noel Sharp said some of the asylum seekers in the past were Christians fleeing religious persecution(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
In lockdown, when the hotel was used to house male asylum seekers, the church said it provided “a place of welcome and a place of safety” for them.
Rev Sharp said: “From the people we have met and had quite long conversations with and heard their stories of why members of their families have been killed in some cases, I have been convinced they have been genuine.”
He felt there hadn’t been significant issues when the hotel had housed male asylum seekers and believes people have a right to seek asylum, telling the ECHO: “Every human being from a church perspective, is created in the image of God and loved by God.
“We remember the story that when Jesus was born, his life was in danger from being killed by Herod so he and his family fled to Egypt. Jesus was a refugee at his birth so that should be a significant story that shapes certainly the Christian church.”
He added: “People who follow the teachings of Jesus I think should be open to receiving people who are asylum seekers, partly because Jesus was and because it’s very deeply engrained in the Christian tradition.”
Cate Warbrick, who has been involved with the church since 2018, said the hotel had previously housed documented asylum seekers and she had not seen any evidence to suggest the future occupants of the hotel would be undocumented immigrants.
She felt there was a lot more heat in the current debate around immigration and instead wants to see an open dialogue about ways the hotel’s future inhabitants could get involved in the community.
Cate Warbrick(Church & Community Worker) left, said the protests had had an impact on those in the hotel(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
For example, she said one person concerned about the Home Office plans suggested a neighbourhood watch scheme. While she disagreed with the reasons behind the suggestion, she believes a scheme like this could have wider community benefits to tackle issues like antisocial behaviour and bringing people together.
Due to the protests, she said some families were scared to leave the hotel – though this was less of an issue as tensions had eased somewhat. She also told the ECHO families had already been moved out and those in contact with them had told them the hotel was quiet with few people in there.
She said: “There is no doubt their lives were changed by the protests because they had to go back to the hotel before they got locked down whereas they have always been free at any time.
“They had to close the dining room because that faces the street so they were forced to take their meals in a corridor or in their rooms.”
Referring to a recent sermon held at the church, she said: “I’d like the community to see each other as human beings. I want to get past that hate and recognise people have got ideas about how we can make this work if the single men come.
“So they can come together as a community which Hoylake is renowned for, for helping each other. What has been sad is we have temporarily lost that community spirit. There are a lot of people in Hoylake and Meols who will work for that.”