Big Help Figures Under Scrutiny in Ongoing Fraud Probe

The Serious Fraud Office is now investigating Knowsley Foodbank after concerns were raised earlier this year about how the charity’s money had been used. That investigation sits alongside an existing statutory inquiry by the Charity Commission. Against that backdrop, The Liverpool Post published a detailed report at the end of November, setting out a series of transactions made between late 2024 and early 2025 and reproducing internal emails, bank statements and correspondence that have brought the governance of the foodbank into sharp focus.

According to The Post’s investigation, more than £195,000 of foodbank money was transferred over a short period into a series of companies linked to Big Help. Some of the payments raised concern within the foodbank itself. Internal emails quoted in the article show senior staff questioning why such transfers were being made, and in one instance asking for a payment to be returned. The documents reproduced include payments to Big Help Group Ltd, Social Value Housing, a company described as LCS, and a bank account named Yoga Nation. The article presents this material without reaching conclusions of its own, and it does not mention Southport FC at any stage. Its focus is the foodbank, its governance, and the individuals who held positions of authority during the period in question.

Once the names are read, however, it is clear why the article has drawn interest locally. The individuals who appear throughout The Post’s report are the same people supporters came to know during Big Help’s ownership of Southport FC. Peter Mitchell appears repeatedly in the internal correspondence reproduced by the newspaper, often as the person to whom concerns were escalated. So too does Colette Goulding, who is recorded as one of the individuals with access to the foodbank’s bank account. Her son, Joe, is shown to have been a trustee of the foodbank until October 2024, alongside Lydia Aindow.

It is this last name that requires clarification, because supporters of Southport FC knew her by a different one. The person referred to as Lydia Aindow in The Post’s investigation is the same individual supporters met as Lydia Davies, who sat beside Mitchell at both fans’ forums and was repeatedly described by him as one of the most important figures within Big Help’s structure.

At the first forum in November 2023, Mitchell took time to explain exactly who she was. He told supporters that some might look at her and assume she was “just the young girl sat next to Peter taking notes”, before making it clear that her role was far more substantial. He described her as his strategic director of operations, someone he had known since she was at school, who had joined Big Help after volunteering and had gradually become the person he relied upon whenever something needed doing. He said openly that one of the best appointments he had ever made was Lydia, and that supporters would quickly come to know her well. Introduced on the organisation chart under the operational banner as Head of Finance at the football club, the message he delivered was obvious: she was a central figure in the organisation he was bringing into Haig Avenue.

Southport FC Fans Forum: Friday 10th November 2023

Colette Goulding sat alongside him throughout that first evening as well, positioned at his right hand and contributing to the session at intervals. The structure supporters saw was clear: Mitchell at the centre, with Colette and Lydia immediately beside him.

By the time of the second fans’ forum in January 2024, the arrangement had changed slightly. On that occasion, Lydia and Colette sat on either side of Mitchell, reinforcing their importance within the ownership group. And for the first time supporters heard directly from Joe Goulding. He introduced himself as a director of Southport FC, something which the same organisation chart had confirmed months earlier, and as Big Help’s head of bid writing and governance. When a question was asked about the club’s priorities, its marketing plans and how it intended to communicate with supporters, Mitchell handled the question to Joe, who explained what he called the club’s “first 100-day plan”. He laid out the intentions for email marketing, a more coherent marketing strategy and a structured approach to publicity. Colette also fielded questions, including one about volunteer opportunities.

Southport FC Fans Forum: Friday 26th January 2024

Against that backdrop, the details about Aindow’s wider role in The Post’s investigation place her involvement at Haig Avenue into clearer context. The article states that she began working at Big Help Project in 2019, rising to become one of Mitchell’s most senior aides and, by 2023, serving as Director of Strategic Operations at Big Help Group. It notes that she was a trustee of Knowsley Foodbank and one of four people with access to its bank account, identified in internal emails as the person who handled most of the routine bill payments. It also publishes an internal exchange concerning a payment made from Social Value Housing to a company controlled by Mitchell, in which she explained the purpose of the payment. Her full response to The Post is included as well: she denies benefiting financially from Big Help, denies issuing private invoices and states that any payments she made were properly authorised.

The article also records that she resigned as a trustee of the foodbank in October 2024, alongside Joe Goulding, when concerns were being raised by local authorities about governance and conflicts of interest. Mitchell appears throughout as the figure whose approval or guidance was sought.

None of this material connects Southport FC directly to the matters under investigation. The football club does not feature in the report, and there is no suggestion that its finances or operations form part of either the SFO inquiry or the Charity Commission’s concerns. The only relevance is historical. The names appearing in The Post’s coverage are the same names supporters saw seated at the top table during the Big Help period, answering questions, shaping plans and presenting themselves as the people running the club. The investigation into Knowsley Foodbank is a separate matter, but once the documentary record shows that the “Lydia Aindow” referred to in The Post is the same person supporters knew as Lydia Davies, the overlap becomes clear.

Understanding that overlap does not require any inference beyond the facts already in the public domain. It simply allows supporters to place a short and turbulent period in the club’s recent history in its proper context, and to see how the individuals involved in that period fit within the broader structure now under scrutiny elsewhere.

Southport FC has moved on and now operates under new ownership, new leadership and a completely different structure. Even so, the investigations into the activities of those who previously controlled the club continue to attract interest, partly because their names remain familiar and partly because their time at Haig Avenue was so short and unsettled. The football club itself is not part of any inquiry, but as long as the Serious Fraud Office and the Charity Commission continue their work, supporters are likely to keep an eye on developments involving the people who once sat at the top table here.

Editor’s note / Statement:

This article is based on publicly available information from regulatory bodies, official filings, and credible media reports. Care has been taken to present all facts accurately and in context, without speculation or accusation. Where developments are ongoing or unconfirmed, the article makes this clear. No assumptions have been made about individuals’ intentions, and all reporting is carried out in the public interest to inform supporters about matters affecting the governance and future of Southport FC.

Sources –

Exclusive: How a food bank siphoned £195,000 into private hands (Liverpool Post)
https://www.livpost.co.uk/exclusive-how-a-food-bank-siphoned-195-000-into-private-hands/

Southport FC Fans Forum – Friday 10th November 2023
https://www.youtube.com/live/I36JhptTb_g?si=5ChaeoOArrwX3D0l

Southport FC Fans Forum – Friday 26th January 2024
https://www.youtube.com/live/Pg3iFrPLi1A?si=tegekpPOifrnyUcV

Southport FC Fans Forum – Friday 19th July 2024
https://www.youtube.com/live/Pg3iFrPLi1A?si=tegekpPOifrnyUcV