This years Valentine's Day is to be a time of remembrance for some 300 Croydon teens.

Lives Not Knives campaigner, Eliza Reberio, has been running the campaign for more than a year and is hosting a Valentines ball in the memory of the many teens that have died in London as a result of knife crime.

The ball is being held at Airport House in Purley Way and is being touted as a violence free event for like-minded teens to get together and remember friends and family involved in knife crime.

Miss Rebeiro, 15, said: “The idea for the ball came up about three months ago. We decided that for Valentine's Day we should do something special for the teens in Croydon who have lost friends and family to knife crime as a way to raise their aspirations and get them doing something different.

“The event will be quite formal and those who come will have to adhere to a strict dress code. The idea behind this is to get them doing something they wouldn’t normally do."

Supporters of the Lives not Knives campaign have grown over the past twelve months and Miss Robeiro has been joined by even more like-minded people trying to make a difference in Croydon.

“We have more people in the team now which is quite encouraging to see. We all came up with the idea for the ball and have teamed up with Westmead Business Group who are supplying hundreds of balloons for people to write notes of remembrance on and send into sky.”

The night is being held on Friday, February 13, from 7.30pm until 11.30pm. Ladies are required to dress in ball gowns and dresses and boys should come dressed equally as smart.