What started out as a £500 effort raised hundreds of thousands
A landmark figure raised to help rebuild and restore a community library in north Liverpool targeted in summer riots has been officially received by the city council.
Following the tragic killing of Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, at a Taylor Swift-themed dance club in Southport in July, violence flared across Merseyside and throughout the country, with hundreds of people taking to the streets, including on County Road where the Liverpool Council-run Spellow Hub was damaged significantly.
The library, which had only reopened in March last year, was targeted as bins were set alight and shops were looted. It left a vital community asset in one of the country’s most deprived communities out of action with no date for reopening in sight yet.
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Watching on from her home, Alex McCormick felt the need to do something. What was initially a gesture to raise £500 to give the L4 site a boost, spiralled into a movement even bigger. 500 times bigger in fact, generating £250,000 in a matter of days, being backed by celebrities, politicians and royalty.
New documents released by Liverpool Council have now confirmed the funds have been received to allow them to be put to use on the site. Nicki Butterworth, corporate director of neighbourhoods and housing, signed off on the cash being put into city coffers on October 8.
Cllr Liam Robinson, leader of Liverpool Council, told the ECHO in the aftermath of the violence that there is a commitment to get the site open as soon as possible. Last month, young people were able to return to the city council location to coincide with a visit from Dame Rachel de Souza, children’s commissioner, and Frank Cottrell-Boyce, children’s laureate.
Speaking to the ECHO after being honoured by Liverpool Council for her work, Ms McCormick said she wanted to remain part of the project to get Spellow back to former glory. She said: “I think at this point Spellow has become a home from home, I’ve been there that many times and I’d like to see it through to the end now as well, I couldn’t just abandon it, it would be like abandoning my child.
“I’d love to see it right through to the reopening and beyond, it’s nice when you get a connection with a place and with the people who work there and lives revolve around the place, I think I’ve become one of those people at this point, my whole life is this library and I love it. From a personal point of view, I was always the nerdy one in school who would read in school assemblies and I feel like that’s finally paid off in the past month.
“I think it’s just a nice thing to be involved in, I don’t think I would ever say I regret the involvement in it at all.It’s nice to know that I’ve been involved in a small part of Spellow’s history and it’s a library with such an amazing history anyway, so to be part of that is an honour.”
