Taylor Swift fans who helped raise more than £200,000 for victims of the Southport knife attack hope the money will offer families “an ounce of comfort”.
Merseyside Police have confirmed three children aged six, seven and nine have died after a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club in Southport which left five others in a critical condition.
The attack took place at a children’s event themed on US singer Taylor Swift, whose fans had raised more than £200,000 as of 6.45pm on Tuesday through their Swifties for Southport online fundraiser.
Cristina Jones, from Trowbridge in Wiltshire and Holly Goldring from Tunbridge Wells in Kent, started the JustGiving page to ease the “financial burden” on the families involved.
“What compelled us was we were thinking about the fact that these families are going through just unimaginable hell right now,” Ms Jones told the PA news agency.
“It feels really nice we’ve done something really positive.
“I firmly believe there’s nothing we can do to make the families feel better because of what they’re going through right now, but if we’ve taken some sort of burden from them, financial or whatever, it’s nice to know that we’ve done what we can do.”
Ms Jones added she is “thinking of them and we’re praying for them” and confirmed all proceeds will go directly to Alder Hey Children’s Charity, in honour of the hospital where the victims are being treated.
“We just couldn’t sit back and allow more stress onto … families that are going through the worst possible thing you could go through,” she explained.
“We have no intentions of reaching out to the families ourselves – it will be Alder Hey who will help in terms of the family getting money, we will keep a respectable distance.”
Ms Jones said it was “really lovely” to see Swift share a statement on Instagram paying tribute to the victims, with the US singer stating she is “completely in shock” following the attack.
“She’s bringing it to attention and letting the families know she’s well aware and is thinking of them,” Ms Jones said.
Meanwhile, Ms Goldring, 27, said it is “within Swifties’ nature to care and love and support each other”.
The sales manager hopes the fundraiser can offer the family “an ounce of comfort” through the “utter turmoil” of losing their children to Monday’s knife attack.
“The last thing a family should be worrying about is the how they’re going to pay for the funeral of their little girl,” Ms Goldring said.
“It’s giving the families that relief in a time of complete and utter turmoil. It’s their living nightmare and just knowing they have an entire community standing behind them.
“We are just sending all of our love, and we are so incredibly sorry for what has happened.
“Nothing can change what happened (on Monday), but we just hope that this provides even an ounce of comfort.”
Danielle Stewart set up a Facebook group called UK Swifties roughly a year-and-a-half ago and when news of the Southport incident broke on Monday, she said many members wanted to do something to help, so she set up a GoFundMe page which surpassed its target within the space of a day.
“I knew when I set it up the community would all come together, but I didn’t expect it to go over the target so quickly at all,” the 31-year-old, who is based in East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, told PA.
“It’s amazing that they’ve all come together in wanting to do something for these families.
“To think they went for a bit of fun and to make happy memories and then this happened is just awful.”
Children’s entertainer Richard Townes, from Southport, has set up a GoFundMe for families affected by Monday’s knife attack.
A father to a young child, he said parents in the area are now “terrified” of sending their children to summer groups.
“This is the worst tragedy to happen in Southport’s history, as far as I’m aware,” Mr Townes, 39, who was born in Southport said.
“Everyone has been affected in some way, shape or form – everyone knows someone impacted.
“This is supposed to be the start of the summer holidays and parents in WhatsApp groups are now terrified of sending their children to summer clubs.
“I have a five-year-old daughter who could have just as easily been at the class – I feel helpless and like I can’t do anything.
“This fundraiser is the only thing I can do to help, I want to raise some money to help reduce the financial implications for the families involved.”
Trevor Ford, 54, who is a presenter and a managing director at Mighty Radio, a community radio station in Southport, set up a JustGiving page to support the victims of the stabbing.
He said he went to pay his respects to the victims of the incident and there is a general feeling of “shock and sadness and anger at the moment”.
“This incident has affected everybody – somebody will know someone who attended the centre. This will stay within our community for years and years,” he said.
The Taylor Swift fundraiser can be found at: justgiving.com/page/swifties-for-southport
Ms Stewart’s fundraiser can be found here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/for-our-little-southport-swifties-families
Mr Townes’ local fundraiser can be found at: gofundme.com/f/the-children-and-adults-whose-lives-were-affected
Mr Ford’s fundraiser can be found here: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/trevor-ford-2
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