Alfie Forever 15

Aim

Help us get our knife-carrying prevention programme into schools in Leeds

Thanks for taking the time to visit our page. Please check out our video above and find out more below…

Who's Alfie?

Alfie Lewis was a 15-year-old, a young lad, a beautiful boy described as 'The life and soul, a cheeky chappy who would light up a room'; he loved football, singing, rapping, and had his whole life ahead of him. Tragically, Alfie lost his life to knife crime in 2023, leaving behind devastated family, friends and community. Mechelle Lewis, Alfie's aunt, has been campaigning that his death must mark a turning point in the fight against serious youth violence. 

What's the Project?

RedBobble Arts have been working with Mechelle, West Yorkshire Police, mental health and education specialists, Tell Studio, and young people, to design a programme aimed at preventing this horrendous incident happening to another family. 

The long term aim and goal of the project, Alfie Forever 15, is to prevent knife-carrying, reduce violence and minimise the harm caused to children, families and communities affected by knife crime. 

We've been interviewing Alfie's family and friends, and other people who've been affected by knife-crime, and using these words and our research, to make a documentary piece of multi-media theatre. This production will initially go into 6 schools in Leeds and there will be an optional workshop for those children most at risk. 

The production and workshop aims to myth-bust around knife carrying, to give children a sense of their own responsibility and agency, to increase their confidence and give them tools for behaviour change, to increase perceptions of community safety, and allow them to identify trusted adults. 

The pilot has been funded by West Yorkshire Police and WYCA. We're going to evaluate and learn from the pilot, with the hope of being able to get this into more schools in future. 

Then why are we crowdfunding? 

We’re crowdfunding because young people at highest risk of carrying a knife need support now, so we can prevent another tragedy.

We have funding to take our production into 6 Leeds schools, but one of the most important parts isn’t funded yet: 6 workshops to accompany the show, and a further 6 weeks of creative, trauma-informed, knife crime prevention workshops for the pupils in schools most at risk.

These workshops give young people the tools to make safer choices by building empathy, confidence, emotional regulation and a sense of future ambition. They are trauma-informed, run by trained practitioners, and designed specifically to reduce knife-carrying behaviours.

Without extra funding, these life changing sessions can’t happen but with your help, they can.

Where will your money go?

The total cost of the project is £31,799.95. This includes artist fees at basic Equity industry rates and making sure the process/product is trauma-informed. 

If you are kind enough to donate, your money will help to cover the following costs:

Your donation directly funds:

• Trained facilitators to deliver 6 workshops in 6 schools, and in addition 6 weekly workshops in 2 schools most at risk. 
• Creative wellbeing resources
• Trauma-informed planning and supervision
• Fair pay for the team planning and delivering the work
• Your contribution could genuinely help save a life.

What’s in it for you?

In becoming a financial backer of the project, you'll be pledging your support for the safety of children in Leeds, and potentially beyond if this pilot is scaled to be nation-wide. You could be contributing to saving a life. 

If you’ve connected with the work, its themes and ideas, or you know someone involved with the project, please SHARE with your friends and family. 

We understand that times are hard and that not everybody can donate. But a SHARE on social media can be worth a thousand hits!

A heartfelt THANK YOU for reading and for taking an interest in our project!

RedBobble Arts and Mechelle Lewis 

This project successfully funded on 5th March 2026