Action against knife crime

England, and London in particular, is in the midst of a knife crime epidemic. In the six months to June 2018 there were 69,000 ‘child woundings’ nationally resulting in a severe injury to a child aged between 10 and 15 yrs old. That is 380 incidents per day, 1 every 4 minutes.

There is a constant and unprecedented torrent of knife murders and attacks. It needs to stop.

In 2018 the Cottman Foundation announced a long term partnership with Word4Weapons, the country’s leading weapons disposal charity. Together we are putting knife and weapons disposal bins back on the streets of London and delivering workshops to the schools in those areas to encourage pupils to lay down their weapons.

The first weapons disposal bin was installed in November 2018 in Kennington, Lambeth. The knives in the photo at the top of this page came out of it. More bins have followed with hundreds of knives taken off the street as a result.

There is no easy answer to the issue of knife crime but the Cottman Foundation is taking a 2 pronged approach.

The first is to fund the building, installation, maintenance and promotion of knife and weapons disposal bins across London (as described above). These are costly and their installation and management is complex but this project is underway and we aim to remove as many knives and guns from the streets of London as we can in order to make it a safer city for our children and for everyone. 

The second element of our response is to facilitate a range of sport focussed activities for those youngsters most impacted by this issue. Offering them a safe alternative to being on the streets, a selection of role models that aren’t involved with gangs and an environment in which they can be nurtured and learn new skills. As well as the sport, sessions are interlinked with reading, parenting and health issues.

Please support this initiative and help us make the streets of London safer for us all.

Donate here.