A new Croydon music festival will donate money raised from ticket sales to anti-knife crime charity Lives Not Knives.

The Croydon charity will have a stand at The Butterfly Effect garage and house music festival to break down some of the myths surrounding knife crime.

The Butterfly Effect Festival will take place in Lloyd Park on the weekend of Saturday July 28.

Lives Not knives was founded by Eliza Rebeiro when she was just 14 after witnessing the devastating impact of knife crime on her community.

Lives Not Knives tackles youth crime in Croydon and London and helps over 5,000 young people every year through mentoring and educational programmes.

Ms Rebeiro now leads a team of seven people, aged 18 to 24, who visit schools to speak to children as young as seven.

Ms Rebeiro said: “Our work is all about prevention, to stop people carrying a knife in the first place. It’s important that young people have the facts at an early age, so they can make the right choices.

“Knife crime can affect anyone, it’s not a gang issue, only 18 per cent of knife crime is perpetrated by gangs. It’s everyone’s issue.”

Charles Instiful, producer of the Butterfly Effect Festival said: “We chose Lives Not Knives because they are having a meaningful and positive impact on young people at grassroots level.

“We’ve seen music take the blame for problems in society but bringing people together through a music festival is a powerful way to drive change.”

“This is about supporting young people and helping to realise their huge talent and potential. We hope this will make more people aware of the charity’s work and what they can do to help.”