Liverpool named most generous city in UK after Southport response

Liverpool has been named by GoFundMe as the UK’s most generous city in 2024 after its response to the Southport stabbings and subsequent disorder.

Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were all fatally stabbed at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club in the Merseyside seaside town in July.

When violent disorder broke out in the wake of the incident, around £1.3 million was raised via GoFundMe to support those affected by the initial attack, as well as the riots that followed.

Now, Liverpool has been named the most generous city in the UK, according to GoFundMe donations per capita.

Spellow Community Hub and Library in Walton, Liverpool, was set alight during the chaos, and only re-opened in December.

Alex McCormick, 27, from Netherton, Merseyside, saw the images of the library and decided to set up a fundraiser – which eventually reached £250,000.

She told the PA news agency that “as a Scouser” she was “not surprised” to see Liverpool top GoFundMe’s list of the UK’s most generous cities in 2024.

“I know we get a bad rep sometimes in the press, but I think if you live here or you have lived here, the people in this city generally will do anything for anyone,” she said.

“It’s nice that it’s acknowledged but I really wouldn’t expect anything less from the city.

“I think it takes us back to the basics of just being human and seeing something wrong and wanting to do something to make it right.”

Ms McCormick said her initial target for her GoFundMe was £500 “to replace the books that had been burned”, but it quickly became apparent that she would far exceed her target.

“The GoFundMe was from me a bit of a knee-jerk reaction to seeing the pictures of the library,” she said.

“We can’t be burning books. As a society we’ve got to be better than that.”

Ms McCormick, who got married just one week after setting up the fundraiser, attended the library ahead of its re-opening earlier in December.

The Queen said the library’s return demonstrated the power of “kindness in the face of adversity”.

Ms McCormick said the council had funded the re-opening, adding that the money donated to her fundraiser would be used to make “improvements” such as additional activities for children.

She said: “The decision was made that that should go into the library to make it better and to make it as beneficial as possible to that community.

“So in the new year, we will see so much more come out of Spellow as that money starts to get spent and the plans are laid out for what’s going to be done with it, and I will get to be a part of that all the way through, which is really lovely for me to kind of see that come to life.”

According to GoFundMe’s 2024 Year in Help report, more than 65 million donations were made worldwide on its platform.

The UK’s 10 most generous cities for the year by measure of GoFundMe donations per capita are: