Liverpool supporters helped Merseyside pull off miracle as Anfield greats show true colours

It was on October 7 when staff at Zoe's Place children's hospice learned that their organisation had just four weeks to raise the £5m needed to continue providing end-of-life care for infants of the Merseyside region. The devastated 41 employees of the Yew Tree Lane facility, in West Derby, were left in shock when they were informed of the company's financial plight.

It looked as though the huge shortfall would lead to the closure of the critically-important hospice a year before it was able to mark its 30th anniversary as a staple of the region.

"It is with great sadness that Zoe’s Place trustees have to announce that their Liverpool hospice will close at the end of 2024," said a statement at the time. "With only nine months before the charity’s lease for Yew Tree Lane ends, there is insufficient time and money to relocate to a new home elsewhere."

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Executive trustee Joan Stainsby said: "This has been an incredibly difficult decision and one that we have worked tirelessly to avoid. Unfortunately, there are simply no other options available to us."

A Merseyside institution that had proven to be such a beacon of support to an innumerable number of families in their darkest hours sadly appeared beyond saving. But the people of Liverpool raged against Zoe's Place's apparent fate.

Liverpool West Derby MP Ian Byrne took charge of the campaign and after a meeting with the charity’s trustees, he issued a rallying cry to the city, urging Scousers to unite and save the venue from heart-breaking closure. From there, sprawling, city-wide efforts to help out started up with sponsored walks, fun-runs and comedy nights organised as the donations started to pour in.

UFC stars Paddy 'the Baddy' Pimblett and Molly McCann gave their support, while Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler was one of the first to go public with his backing, telling the ECHO: "This city is renowned for standing together and we should all do what we can to support this campaign and ensure Zoe’s Place is able to continue its incredible work.”

Steven Gerrard urged help from his base in the Middle East, where he coaches Al-Ettifaq, and Jamie Carragher provided a number of appearances, including at the Football For Change gala at the Titanic Hotel earlier this month.

And the association of former Liverpool Football Club players even pledged £150,000 to the cause, with legendary striker John Aldridge saying: “When we heard the news about Zoe’s Place, we wanted to do our bit and support with vital funds. I visited the hospice last year as part of our previous donation to the charity and seeing first-hand the work they do was incredible and very emotional."

But it wasn't just legendary names of Anfield whose support and help proved to be invaluable. At fan-level, a number of initiatives and events were quickly established to go towards the figure needed to ensure Zoe's Place remained in operation.

"When we heard the news, we wanted to do something to help, so we decided to host a 12-hour live stream on our YouTube channel," says Ste Hoare, head of operations at RedmenTV. "Obviously, given how quickly Zoe’s Place needed the funds, we only had a quick turnaround but pretty much everyone we reached out to wanted to help in some regard, which just goes to show how desperate people connected to the city were to keep the hospice going."

Guests ranged from Carragher to Sammy Lee and Neil Mellor, while donations came in from Fowler and iconic former goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar. Premier League-winning captain Jordan Henderson also handed over a pair of match-worn boots alongside a video message of his own.

Liverpool's former head of goalkeeping John Actherberg, now of Al-Ettifaq, was involved via a link from Saudi Arabia, but it was the surprise appearance of someone alongside him that proved to be one of the feathers in the cap for Redmen.

"We actually didn’t advertise Steven Gerrard as coming on the stream in the build-up as we genuinely didn’t know if he was going to be available or not, given how busy his schedule is," says Redmen's Ste. "If you’d have told 16-year-old me in 2004 that 20 years later, I’d be interviewing Steven Gerrard, I’d have called you crazy!"

Gerrard spent his time on the call talking up Curtis Jones, his hope of a new Mohamed Salah contract and why Arne Slot has impressed so much as head coach. But if the legendary former Reds captain's emergence via Zoom was a hugely welcome surprise for those tuning in on the day, there was less shock to see Sir Kenny Dalglish come out to give his own backing to Zoe's Place with a rare public appearance.

Sir Kenny, the man who perhaps sits atop of the lengthy list of Liverpool legends, showed his support in-person with a relaxed chat that was largely spent doling out some good-natured ribbing with his typical and trademark dry humour.

Ste adds: "We have a good relationship with Paul Dalglish, Kenny’s son, and we asked him to join us and perhaps see if his Dad could help in some way too. We thought that might be a raffle prize, video message or at best a Zoom call or something but, and this just shows the man Kenny is, his reply that he wanted to do it in person as it was such a worthwhile cause

"Not that he’d ever agree given how humble he is, but there’s an argument to be made that Kenny Dalglish is the most important individual in the history of Liverpool FC, so to have the chance to chat with him over a drink before he went live on the stream was a genuine ‘pinch me’ kind of moment."

Redmen's initial aim was to raise around £10,000, but aided by their high-profile guests and groundswell of support from fans and subscribers online during their marathon shift on October 23, more than £40,000 was eventually brought in.

Ste says: "The fact that Zoe’s Place will continue to operate and help children and their families in the city for years to come is just fantastic and we’re proud to have played a small part in helping them reach their fundraising target."

Over at The Anfield Wrap, around £35,000 was fetched at Blackstock Market after an event held in partnership with comedian Adam Rowe and Carragher on October 26.

"It was brilliant of Jamie to come down and help out and he was amazing on the day," says John Gibbons. "He was so open and donated loads alongside his dad, Philly. I got his number of games for Liverpool wrong backstage, too, so he obviously pulled me up on that when we got on stage because he loves winding you up!"

One such donation from Carragher senior's personal collection was an image taken at the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul back on May 25, 2005 when Liverpool became champions of Europe for the fifth time in extraordinary circumstances against AC Milan. The image of Carragher alongside Gerrard, signed by both legendary figures, was sold for around £4,000 on the day, while a second Istanbul-themed piece, by local artist and Reds fan Abigail Rudkin, also earned £4,000.

Liverpool tickets, donated by Beyond Hospitality, added £2,000 to the coffers and Barclays pledged to double whatever was earned from the raffle on the day, which took the overall total to £8,000 on top of the £12,000 earned from the auction.

"On top of all that, the ticket sales went through Blackstock," John adds. "That was close to £15,000 alone, so all in, close to £35,000 was raised, which was an amazing effort. But it was about more than that. We also had staff members get up to speak about Zoe's Place and to have care providers explain why the place is so important was really powerful. Shoutout to Adam Rowe too, who was hilarious and talking about all sorts. He's a legend.

"We're in position to do these sorts of things where we can pull favours from people who have played a lot of games for Liverpool, who can drum up interest and we can put on raffles to get a good number of people down. Hopefully everyone enjoyed it and got a lot from it and came away talking about Zoe's Place and what they do for the community."

With no government funding, Zoe's Place will continue to rely on the fundraising efforts of local people, and while the eye-watering £5m target was eventually reached on an emotional day across the entire region earlier this month, the day-to-day efforts to keep the hospice in operation go on. Football supporters, as proven in recent weeks, will always be on hand to help wherever they can.