Youngsters win award for knife crime mural

Tree of Life highlights the dangers of knife crime

A group of young people have won a national award for their mural about the dangers of knife crime.

The group, from Teesside, won the Prince’s Trust’s community impact award for the Tree of Life artwork.

It features the names of about 300 people, who have all lost their lives to knife crime, on fallen leaves.

Charlie Greenwood, 19, who was part of the team which painted and designed the mural, told BBC Radio Tees it felt good to “give back to the community”.

The teenager from Redcar said making the mural had made him realise how being the victim of knife crime could “easily” happen to him or “someone I know”.

The mural is a “conversation piece,” he said.

The team, including Charlie, second from right, which designed the Tree of Life

Nathan James, from the Education Training Collective (ETC) which delivered the Prince’s Trust programme the youngsters took part in, said the team beat over 280 projects to win the national award.

The mural can be seen in Redcar at the headquarters of the Chris Cave Foundation, which fights against gun and knife crime.