Manicurist who raised £250,000 for library torched in riots is formally thanked
Alex McCormick, 27, raised the money, which included donations from children’s laureate Frank Cottrell Boyce and TV chef Nigella Lawson.
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Your support makes all the difference.A manicurist who appealed for £500 to help restore a library that was set alight during riots and managed to raise 500 times that has been formally thanked for her efforts.
Alex McCormick, 27, launched a GoFundMe page to repair and restock Spellow Library after it was set on fire during riots on County Road in Liverpool on August 3.
On Thursday, she was hosted at Liverpool Town Hall by the city’s Lord Mayor, Cllr Richard Kemp, who formally thanked her for her work.
Secretly I was optimistic that we might hit £1,000 which, again, seems ridiculous now, in comparison to where it ended up
The mother-of-one, from Netherton, Merseyside, decided to set a target of £500 after feeling “upset”, “angry” and “a little bit helpless” when she heard of the damage to the library and community hub.
Ms McCormick said: “Secretly I was optimistic that we might hit £1,000 which, again, seems ridiculous now, in comparison to where it ended up.”
Within a day of appealing for funds, the mother-of-one had raised £20,000, which included donations from children’s laureate Frank Cottrell Boyce and TV chef Nigella Lawson.
The appeal reached a total of £250,148 before it was closed so the money could be transferred to the council.
Ms McCormick, who combined a month of fundraising with getting married and going on honeymoon, said: “I think it just goes to show the good will always outweigh the bad. People will always rally to support a good cause.”
The library, on the corner of Spellow Lane, has also received donations of books, including a box from the Queen.
“The fact that it’s on the radar of the Royal Family is unbelievable,” Ms McCormick said.
“That a small library in County Road is being focussed on by the Royals is just absolutely bizarre.
“But I would never say that one person’s donation means more than another. We’ve had people reaching out and saying they’ve got books of family members who’ve passed away and they’d like to pass them on to us and that means the absolute world that that’s what they’ve chosen to do with something that was loved by their loved one.”
She hopes that the money raised can go towards community outreach programmes and campaigns to get more children reading.
What defines that area, which might be poor in financial terms but is very rich in community terms, is that the community will rise again
Cllr Kemp said: “Perhaps Spellow Lane isn’t the end of something, it’s the start of something.”
The Lord Mayor said Ms McCormick had been invited to the town hall in recognition of the efforts of all of those who had come together in the wake of the riots, which followed a knife attack at a Taylor-Swift-themed dance class in Southport one month ago.
He said: “Not only did we recognise Alex today, but all those people who are determined that that the incidents on Spellow Lane, the part destruction of that library, aren’t going to be what defines that area.
“What defines that area, which might be poor in financial terms but is very rich in community terms, is that the community will rise again.”
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