Lives Not Knives

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Lives Not Knives

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A youth led charity dedicated to preventing knife crime and serious youth violence in London. Supporting young people into employment, education and training.

Lives Not Knives is dedicated to reducing knife and gang related crime in Croydon and London by:
Using a Mentoring and Befriending approach that is committed to helping young people at risk. Focusing on training for young people in schools to ensure they are safe at home, at school or college and in their social and leisure time activities. Providing safe places for young people to meet, socialise and make friends in a relaxed environment. Lives Not Knives focuses on preventative work with young people aged 11 to 24 who have been referred to the organisation by teachers, parents and agencies or who have referred themselves to LNK. LNK is Croydon-based but works across London with schools, colleges and other partner organisations to reduce the risk of gang related violence to young people.

15/10/2026

From all of us at Lives Not Knives, a huge thank you to Polly, Eyes Open Events and Brixton Radio for bringing your community together to support our work with young people. 🧡🎶

To every DJ, creative, organiser and everyone who came along and showed love, thank you for making the event so special. We’re grateful for the time, energy and talent you shared to raise awareness of our charity.

Your support means so much to our team and the young people we work with.

Love from everyone at LNK! 🧡

📸

09/10/2026

Retailers and online marketplaces have been challenged to strengthen how knives are marketed, displayed and sold, following two government summits on 8 October.

The discussions called for businesses to stop using combat and violence to promote knives, improve safeguards around online sales and make in-store displays safer.

Campaigners Leanne Lucas of Let’s Be Blunt and Alan Bacon of No Point Knives brought their lived experiences to the conversation, calling for practical changes to prevent further harm.

At Lives Not Knives, we believe responsible retailing must sit alongside education, early intervention and consistent support for young people. Businesses, schools, families and communities all have a part to play.

These conversations need to lead to action. Every young person deserves the chance to grow up safely.

Share this post to help raise awareness of the role responsible retailers can play.

Source: Home Office announcement, 8 October 2026.

08/10/2026

🌟 Sign-ups for our October Engage Programme are now LIVE! 🌟

We’re back this half-term with another fun-filled programme! Get ready to make friends, get involved and create some great memories with the LNK team 💛

📅 27th–30th October
⏰ 11am–4pm
👥 20 spaces available per day

Spaces are limited and offered on a first come, first served basis, so book your spot!

👉 Sign up via HAF.

🎥 Need a hand? Head to the link in our blow for a video tutorial showing you how to sign up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoJX9-dzAlc

We can’t wait to see you there! 🙌

06/10/2026

The impact of knife crime goes beyond physical injuries.

In the year ending March 2026, a knife was used to threaten in 75% of knife enabled offences recorded by the Metropolitan Police.

Being threatened matters. Feeling frightened matters. You deserve to be listened to and supported, even if you weren’t physically hurt.

If something has happened to you, speak to a trusted adult, teacher or youth worker. You don’t have to carry that worry alone. 🧡

If you’re in immediate danger, call 999.

Source: ONS, using Metropolitan Police data, year ending March 2026.

15/09/2026

A LNK T-shirt isn’t just a T-shirt It shows you care about the future of young people and stand against youth violence. These moments from our programmes show that mission in action: supporting young people, creating a safe space and building brighter futures. Wear yours with pride and help us make a difference. 🧡

11/09/2026

MORE THAN JUST A T-SHIRT 🧡

Did you know the Lives Not Knives journey started with a T-shirt?

Back in 2007, LNK began as an awareness campaign with a simple but powerful T-shirt carrying the LIVES NOT KNIVES message. As more people wanted to wear and support the message, the campaign grew. Money raised through those early T-shirt sales helped fund a celebration for over 150 young people, giving them a space to have fun away from violence.

Today, that message continues. We work to prevent knife crime and serious youth violence by engaging, educating and empowering young people through mentoring, school Roadshows, workshops, our youth programmes and safe spaces where young people can be themselves, build confidence and make positive choices.

So when you wear an LNK T-shirt, you're not just wearing our logo you're representing a message that's been at the heart of our charity from the very beginning. 🧡

We love meeting and speaking to the people who support us! 🧡 We’re excited to let you all know that we can now take payments directly at the LNK Unit. This also means we’re able to reduce the price of our T-shirts to £10 when you buy from us in person, as there are no postage and packaging costs.

Wear the message. Support the movement. Help us continue the work.

07/09/2026

🎮 Enjoyed hanging out with us during the half-term Engage Programme?

Good news! 🙌🏾 The LNK Unit will now be open after school every Friday for young people to come down, chill out and spend time with friends.
Whether you fancy jumping on the PlayStation 🎮, playing table tennis 🏓 or getting involved in some indoor games, the Unit is your space to relax and have fun after school.

📍 LNK Unit
📅 Fridays
Come through and chill with us 🧡

02/09/2026

🧡A Huge Thank You to 🧡

We would like to say a huge thank you to the students, staff and wider community at Wetherby Senior School for their continued support of Lives Not Knives and for welcoming us to their Summer Fair fundraising event.

The Summer Fair brought the school community together to raise vital funds in support of our work with young people. We’re incredibly grateful to everyone who got involved, visited our stall, took part in the activities and donated on the day.

Over the years, Wetherby Senior School has been a valued supporter of Lives Not Knives, and their continued commitment has helped us provide positive opportunities, guidance and support to young people.

Partnerships like this show what can be achieved when schools, young people and community organisations come together for a shared purpose.
From everyone at Lives Not Knives, thank you to Wetherby Senior School for your generosity and continued support 🤗

01/09/2026

🏃‍♂️ 26.2 miles. 3 incredible charities. One HUGE challenge 💪🧡

This October, our amazing supporter at Design JD Jonathan Docksey will be taking on the Lisbon
Marathon celebrating 20 years of Design JD 🎉

After months of training, early mornings and plenty of miles, he’ll be taking on the full 26.2 miles / 42.2km while raising vital funds for three brilliant charities:

🧡 Lives Not Knives
🧡 Croydon Vision
🧡 Chartwell Children’s Cancer Trust

We’re incredibly grateful to be one of the charities benefiting from this challenge. Every donation will help us continue our work supporting young people, creating opportunities and helping to prevent youth violence.

📅 10 October 2026
📍 Lisbon Marathon

Whether it’s £5, £10, £20 or simply sharing the fundraiser, every bit of support makes a difference.

Lives Not Knives

21/08/2026

Messages like this mean so much to us.🧡🧡🤗🧡🧡

We recently received this lovely message from a parent whose young person attended our half-term programme, and it genuinely warmed our hearts. 🥹
Hearing directly from parents about the positive impact our programmes have on their young people reminds us exactly why we do what we do.

Creating safe spaces where young people can have fun, build confidence, learn new skills, make connections and simply be themselves is at the heart of Lives Not Knives.
A huge thank you to the parent for taking the time to share these kind words with us, and to all the young people who joined us over half-term.
This is what it’s all about. 🙌

Address

LNK Unit, Upper Mall, Centrale
Croydon
CR01TY

Telephone

+442086818244

Website

https://linktr.ee/livesnotknives

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Contact The Organisation

Send a message to Lives Not Knives:

British DJ & MC Academy
The grangeway, London
Hephzibar Foundation