Five Brent teenagers helped to organise a “Stamp Out Youth Violence” event at the Unity Centre in Church End.
Working with Catalyst, their housing association, the group of under-14s ran an event that saw 80 people from across Brent come to hear music, eat great food and share stories about how violence has touched their lives.
The five organisers - Cheyann, Shanice, Sherice, Aaliyah, all 14, and Kemaiyah, 13 - wanted "to inspire young lives".
Kemaiyah said: "We all know how it is to be a young person and live in an area of such violence and dispute, and we want to change that."
Peaches Cadogan, youth engagement practitioner at Catalyst, said: "I meet with young people affected by violence in the borough every day, and they all want to do something positive about it. I call these five girls my queens, because they have a drive and vision that inspires me." Peaches said she hoped they'd host a similar event next year.
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