A CONTROVERSIAL church debate on immigration went ahead as planned, despite a wave of anti-immigration emails before the event.

A large audience attended Lansdowne Crescent Methodist Church, in Great Malvern, for the 60 minute debate on Saturday, October 22.

The church received a barrage of emails when the event was announced, which led the church to contact the police.

Cynthia Merriman, senior steward at the church, said: “The atmosphere at the debate was receptive and positive.

“There was nobody apparently representing the anti-Muslim or anti-immigration views emailed to the organisers before the event.”

Reverend Alison Richards and Robert Jones, Archdeacon of Worcester, introduced a panel of migration experts taking part in the debate.

The panellists raised a number of points such as the history of migration in the UK from Roman times onwards.

The guest speakers were Don Flynn, director of the National Migrants Network, Shari Brown, project coordinator of Restore, Sarah Soyei, director of EqualiTeach and Philile Mbatha.

Mr Flynn said the UK had historically benefitted from well-educated and trained people moving to the country.

This sentiment was supported by Ms Brown who urged UK towns to embrace refugees, which form less than one percent of the population.

Media distortion also came under fire at the event, with Ms Soyei claiming misleading figures led to prejudice.

Ms Mbatha, a South African dentist living in Worcestershire, said she personally knew about the support which migrants require.

Members of the public asked the panel questions such how to have a dialogues with those fearful of migration and countering intolerance in the media.