At Oakwood Way, Carnforth Business Park in Lancashire — adjacent to the M6 motorway — sits a modern, fenced and gated business park. Through the gate, visitors can see the premises of Castle Industrial Supplies, Havwoods and Strongdor. Also visible: a Plymouth Brethren gospel hall, known within the church as a meeting room.
This is the twenty-first century model of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church in operation. Members live in close-knit communities, build businesses alongside each other, and share a place of worship within the same physical perimeter. They trade together and pray together.
Twenty-one companies are registered at Oakwood Way. One has a direct Covid contract. Every major company on the park connects — through shareholders, directors, family or employment — to PBCC businesses that won contracts worth over £2 billion.
The 21 Companies at Oakwood Way
Havwoods Global Holdings
2SAN Global
Strongdor
Castle Industrial Supplies
Castle Industrial Supplies Holdings
Havwoods
Havwoods Australia
Havwoods Global
2SAN Global Holdings
Strongdor Holdings
Abacus Creative Resources
Creative Blue Acorn
Creative Blue Holdings
The Hardwood Floor Store
HFSCO
SJG Partnership
Strong Developments
Vetro Global
Graftmaster (dissolved)
OEW Property LLP (dissolved)
Silverdale Projects (dissolved)
Castle Industrial Supplies is the only company at the park with a direct Covid contract — supplying PPE to Warrington Council. But the indirect connections to Covid contracts run through almost every company on the site.
The Covid Contract Connections
£1bn+ Covid Contracts
Dean Hales — Havwoods Global Holdings shareholder
Son of PBCC leader Bruce Hales · Sydney, Australia
£1.7bn+
Dean Hales, based in Sydney, holds a stake in
Havwoods Global Holdings via the Australian entity Duroline Products Pty Ltd (owned by his company Shavano Consulting Pty Ltd). His empire includes
Medco Solutions in Australia and the US — which won over
£1 billion in UK DHSC contracts — and 2San Global, also registered at this park, which won contracts to supply lateral flow tests in Australia and was included in a UK framework agreement. Dean is the brother of Charles and Gareth Hales, whose company
Unispace/Sante Global won £950 million in DHSC contracts. In 2022, 2San appointed four senior leaders from the UK government's Test & Trace team.
£4m Covid Contract — Toffeln
Peter Bricknell — Havwoods Finance Director
Uncle of Rolf Turner
Havwoods Finance Director
Peter Bricknell is the uncle of
Rolf Turner. Rolf's brother is
Ben Turner — whose company Toffeln was awarded a
£4 million DHSC contract early in the pandemic. Ben Turner is the father-in-law of
Michelle Donelan MP, who declared the Turner family as related parties in the DfE annual report. The connection runs from a Carnforth flooring company's finance director to a Conservative cabinet minister's household.
Multiple Contract Connections
Simon Whiley — Multiple Carnforth Director
Former director, Plymouth Brethren Christian Church Ltd
Simon Whiley is a director of multiple companies at the Carnforth park and a former director of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church Ltd. His family and network connections reach across the UK PBCC Covid contract map:
Total Protection (UK)/Tecto — owned by Simon's cousins the Calders in Northampton; Covid contract with Guy's & St Thomas' Hospital Trust.
Baca Safety — also owned by his cousins; £100,000 PPE contract with North Lincolnshire Council.
Orcagel — director Garth Woodcock (also Unispace co-founder); Leeds Council contract.
Oska Care — director Garth Woodcock; NHS Scotland contract. (Orcagel + Oska Care combined: over £1.1 million.)
Bryson Products (Reiner family, Surrey) — DHSC contract worth £3.9 million; Whiley is a former director of the Bible & Gospel Trust alongside Bernard Reiner.
Agile Medical — £18 million contract with Guy's & St Thomas'; director Chris Glass is the son-in-law of William Hathorn, who was a director of the Bible & Gospel Trust.
Multiple Contract Connections
Oliver Whiley — Simon's Father, Carnforth Director
Director, multiple Carnforth companies · Kent Dev LLP
Oliver Whiley is a director of several Carnforth-registered companies and of Kent Dev LLP — a company whose directors include a number of senior PBCC members. His connections extend to three further Covid contract winners:
Blueleaf (Jonathan Andrews, Horsham) — Jonathan is the brother-in-law of Oliver Whiley; Blueleaf received
over £31 million from DHSC spend data against £4 million on the contracts register.
Techniclean — Timothy Barter is a director of both Techniclean and Kent Dev LLP alongside Oliver Whiley; Techniclean won a
£20 million PPE contract from Northern Ireland Business Services.
Arrow County Supplies — Bristol Council contract; also a director of Kent Dev LLP alongside Oliver Whiley.
£610k Covid Contract
Timothy Devenish — Strongdor Director
Nephew of Julian Bushnell
Timothy Devenish, a director of Strongdor, is the nephew of Julian Bushnell of Selkent Medical. Selkent — a fastening company — was awarded a £610,000 PPE contract by Hampshire Council. Selkent also shares its business premises with Ox Tools, another company connected to Dean Hales.
£17m Covid Contracts — Northern Ireland
Rory Glass — 2San Employee
Nephew of Kenny McMullan
Rory Glass, a 2San employee at the Carnforth park, is the nephew of Kenny McMullan of Creative Activity Group. Creative Activity Group won £17 million in PPE contracts in Northern Ireland.
Grant Shapps, Rishi Sunak and the Carnforth Connection
The Carnforth park has attracted its share of political visitors. In 2014 Grant Shapps visited Havwoods alongside local Conservative MP David Morris.
The more striking political connection runs via Strongdor's Sales Director, Terry James. He is the brother-in-law of Simon Whiley and the son-in-law of Oliver Whiley — placing him at the centre of the Carnforth director family. James was formerly a director of his father's business, Sterling GP in Stokesley, near Middlesbrough.
The Carnforth → Sunak Connection
Terry James — Strongdor Sales Director, Carnforth
↓ Brother-in-law of Simon Whiley · Son-in-law of Oliver Whiley
↓ Former director of his father's business Sterling GP, Stokesley, North Yorkshire
↓ Stokesley is in the constituency of Rishi Sunak MP (now former Prime Minister)
Rishi Sunak visited Sterling GP in 2021 — photographed at the premises
The same connection was noted in the PBCC Rich List investigation, where Antony James (Terry's father) appears alongside Sunak in the same photograph, and where Tim Drake of Uphall Cambridge is revealed as a further family connection completing a triangle between the top three companies on the Rich List.
The Carnforth business park is a single example of a pattern that repeats across approximately 95 PBCC communities in the UK. In each, around 16,000 Brethren members build businesses alongside each other, share meeting rooms, fund the same schools and charities, and maintain connections to a national and international network of over 8,000 PBCC-linked entities. The Carnforth directors are simply more visible because their companies happen to connect to the largest Covid contract flows.
Disclaimer: This investigation is based on Companies House company registrations at Oakwood Way, Carnforth, published UK Government Contract Finder records, DHSC spend data, LinkedIn profiles and published photographs. It does not allege wrongdoing by any named individuals or companies. All connections described are based on documentary evidence. Originally published by Brethren Exposed, 2022.