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Spellow Lane Library crowdfunder raises £250k as council reveals plans for 'ambitious' future
Spellow Lane Hub has now raised around £250,000 towards its recovery and 300 writers have donated books, enabling a more “ambitious” future for the riot-damaged library, Liverpool County Council has told The Bookseller.
The popular state-of-the-art library was set on fire by rioters on 3rd August, little over a year since its extensive refurbishment in March 2023, following several years of closure and refurbishment.
Nail technician Alex McCormick was inspired to help through a GoFundMe campaign which has now reached around a quarter of a million pounds through 11,000 donations from across the globe in response to the riot damage.
Author Matt Haig donated £5,000, along with pledges from Nigella Lawson, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Gail Rebuck and independent stores such as Much Ado Books.
Additionally, crime author Marnie Riches, who started the Reading Not Rioting campaign on Twitter, revealed that industry donations have doubled since last week.
She told The Bookseller: “I had well over 300 authors pledging books, and a couple of agents and several publishers joining in too towards the end. Among the biggest names of those pledging support were Philip Pullman, Tracy Chevalier and Val McDermid. Together with the huge amount raised by the separate Crowdfunder, the publishing community has sent a clear message to rioters that we will always turn out to defend libraries and a love of reading.”
Councillor Harry Doyle told The Bookseller how the library team was affected by the situation. “Spellow Lane is a hub and a well-used space. We reopened it after major investment – it’s not just a library but has become a real hub for the community – for business support and parents, youth groups and toddler groups, a one-stop shop for anything council-related.
“It’s our blueprint and flagship, a community hub that we delivered in the last year so to see what happened to it… it was heartbreaking… I think a lot of them took it personally – why was the hub attacked? You do take it personally. It was really upsetting – for Debbie, the centre manager, in particular, who was very emotional."
Cllr Doyle also detailed how the building - which attracted 5,000 visitors each month, was affected by the riots. "The majority of the damage was to the entrance – broken windows and the fire damage was the biggest area of concern. We had brand new seating areas and iPads for children and lots of adult fiction… it was the main foyer so we couldn’t even section it off, we couldn’t open. It’s had an impact on electrics. Everything will have to be painted because of smoke damage, it’s the structural stuff that is most important.
“It’s really sad, but the way the community has come back together and the ambitions we now have for Spellow Lane – it’s not just renewed the vision we had a year ago but made our ambitions much better.”
Looking forward, Doyle said: “We should have a plan in place by end of this week. We’ve had surveyors come in and building control and we’ll get a quote. We’ve been clear that we’ll be reopening whatever it takes and do it as soon as possible. We haven’t put a timescale yet, but my ambition personally is for by Christmas if not well before.
“We didn’t expect the fundraisers at all… then to reach a quarter of a million from people all over the country, even people from across the world and the US. We’re looking at what we can do additionally now in terms of reopening. We didn’t imagine this.”
Following the initial dismay over the violence, staff are feeling buoyed by the response.
Doyle added: “The over-arching mood from the team is that the love that has been shared has outweighed the dismay.”
