A group of teenage girls has launched a campaign to stop young people carrying and using knives.

Lauren Ffrench, Abigail Thompson, Kayleigh Ludgate and Eliza Rebeiro - who are all 14 - set up the Lives Not Knives campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of knife crime.

The girls are hosting a disco at Selhurst Park stadium next month to help them in their fight against the cowardly culture of the blade.

The group call themselves Lake, an acronym of the initials of the girls' first names, and have had t-shirts printed emblazoned with their campaign slogan.

Eliza, who studies through Croydon Digital, an online course run by Croydon Council, after she was expelled from Coloma Convent Girls' School, said they were hopeful the night would help spread the message that knife crime has to be stopped.

She said: "We are a really close group of friends who all know people who have been stabbed or hurt through a gang-related crime and we want to put a stop to it.

"Knife crime is not a good thing and we are hoping people will see this as a fun event at which they can enjoy themselves, without having to resort to crime."

The girls had the idea for the event, which is open to 13 to 17 year olds, after attending an under 18 disco.

They have thanked Crystal Palace Football Club for letting them use their ground.

Eliza said: "It's the first event we have organised and they were very nice at Crystal Palace. My uncle is the district centre manager for Selhurst so he has helped us a lot too. We have sold about 40 t-shirts already and began selling tickets on Friday last week.

"We are only giving them to people we know and trust though."

The group Gospel Tongues is also due to perform at the event, singing about their own experiences of gangs and how they turned their lives around after their friend Stefan Persaud was killed in April 2005.