Education is the Key

Project: Education is the Key

Funding: No set budget but some funding from the government's Tackling Knives Action Programme

Aim: To convince young people to lay down their weapons

A young man whose friend was stabbed to death has launched an anti-knife crime initiative that transforms knives into jewellery.

Alex Rose from Mitcham, south London, has designed pendants made from melted knives because he wanted to educate others about the dangers of carrying weapons. He has been campaigning and giving talks on gun and knife crime for the past two years following the death of 16-year-old family friend Eugene Attram in 2006.

It is hoped the key-shaped pendant will become a popular accessory and encourage a shift in attitudes. Rose is currently working with South Wales Police, which is helping to supply seized weapons. A total of 729 knives handed in or seized across South Wales last November and December have been melted down and turned into pendants. Rose hopes to extend the project to make use of knives collected by other forces.