Liverpool named most generous city in UK after Southport response
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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.
