Wrightbus: Protest at Green Pastures Church over donations
Hundreds of people gathered outside Green Pastures Church, which received £15m from the collapsed firm. …
Hundreds of people have taken part in a protest outside a Ballymena church which received millions of pounds in donations from Wrightbus.
One of the pastors at Green Pastures Church is Jeff Wright, who also controlled the Wright group.
It received more than £15m from the firm in recent years, most of which was donated while the group was profitable.
About 1,200 people lost their jobs when Wrightbus was placed into administration.
The protesters began arriving outside the church at 09:00 BST, and an estimated 500 people had gathered within two hours, many carrying placards.
Wrightbus founder, Sir William Wright, stopped to speak to some of the protesters on his way into the church and was applauded by many of them.
Stephen McMaster said he had clapped because “nobody in the whole of Ballymena or this workforce runs down William Wright for this chaos”.
Another protester said he was there because the workers had “nowhere to go, nobody to see” and they wanted answers.
Tearful
Later, inside the church, Jeff Wright received a standing ovation during his sermon.
Mr Wright was tearful as he defended his recent public silence.
“I’m not going to jeopardise the future just so that I can look good,” he said.
During the service, anyone affected by the collapse was asked to stand while the rest of the congregation prayed for them.
Mr Wright said he was working hard to ensure there was future employment for the workers.
The Green Pastures charity received £15m in donations from Wrightbus over six years, and some workers have expressed concern the donations weakened the business.
The Wright family, who founded Wrightbus in 1946, say the collapse of the business was due to a big fall in demand for buses in the UK market.
The group, which had been suffering from financial problems and was up for sale, went into administration on Wednesday.
The Wrightbus factory is owned by another firm Whirlwind Property Two, separate from the manufacturing company.
Whirlwind Property Two is controlled by Jeff Wright, the main shareholder in Wrightbus.
The family have denied they acted unreasonably during attempts to sell the business.
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