Inverness Caley Thistle to support anti-knife crime charity Charlie’s Promise by putting up banner at Caledonian stadium free of charge
Inverness Caledonian Thistle this week played host to a charity looking to raise awareness of knife crime in the UK.
Charlie’s Promise was founded after 17-year-old Charlie Cosser was killed in a knife attack the south of England.
In July 2023, the teenager attended a house party, where he was stabbed multiple times. Being lucky to make it to hospital alive, multiple surgeries were not enough to save his life, and three days later he passed away.
While on life support, though, his dad Martin promised to make it his life’s work to do everything he can to raise awareness of knife crime and the immeasurable damage it causes to the victim and their family and friends.
That has led to campaigning, talks to thousands of school pupils and posting the reality of being a grieving father on social media through Pride of Britain London award-winning charity Charlie’s Promise.
Although based south of the border, it is a UK-wide charity, and Martin has spent the last few days driving around the North Coast 500 in a car adorned by a photo of Charlie at his school prom, making a pit-stop at the Caledonian Stadium yesterday afternoon.
“It’s just about keeping Charlie’s memory alive for me,” Martin, 49, said.
“Two of my friends, Matt and Elliot, decided that this would be a good way to take the charity north of the border. They put the car together, and it looks brilliant.
“Knife crime is out of control in the UK. It’s up 80 per cent in the last 10 years, and it’s growing five per cent year on year.
“If it can happen to my little boy, it can happen to anyone, so it’s really important that as a society we understand the societal factors behind why people are picking up knives.
“Charlie was a lad who barely even went to parties. He had a wide circle of friends, but he enjoyed playing football.
“He was in Brentford’s academy as a kid, so he was very talented, and when we went into Caley Thistle I just started talking about Charlie and everyone was absolutely incredible.
“They took the time to understand more about us, and invited us back to a game so we’re going to fly up next year and watch a game.
“I spoke to (head coach) Scott Kellacher, and everyone was just kind and empathetic and really took the time to know more about us and Charlie. I’ll never get tired of talking about Charlie.”
Such was the impact Martin had at Caley Thistle, the club plan to put up an anti-knife crime banner inside the Caledonian Stadium free of charge.
Football was a major part of Charlie’s life, and he had dreams of becoming the head groundsman at his favourite club, Chelsea, when he got older.
Being able to share his story at a football stadium verging on 600 miles away, then, shows the power and reach that Charlie’s Promise can have.
Video clips of the group’s visit to the Caledonian Stadium have already amassed tens of thousands of views on social media, and in that way the trip around the Highlands – which is due to come to an end this weekend – has perfectly honoured the memory of Charlie, affectionately known as “Cheeks”.
“I get messages from people around the world who say they are in tears at the videos I record,” Martin added.
“For me, that’s good, because there’s nothing nice about knife crime and children need to understand that. We live in an age now where it seems to be the norm, and we should never allow knife crime to be normal.
“To be honest, doing things like the North Coast 500 enables me to breathe a bit. I’m not very good at home. My wife gets comfort at home, but I find it really difficult, so coming away has enabled me to breathe.
“I can’t believe how beautiful the landscape is. It’s really tough, because it just makes me think of all the things Charlie is missing out on, because he would have loved it here, but on the flip side I almost feel closer to him because of the serenity of the landscape.
“I’ve been blown away by the hospitality in Scotland. Everyone who has stopped to show interest has been kind and taken a card to follow us.”
Still, the fight to enact change goes on, and Martin has some clear goals for what he would like to see happen in the future.
“I’ve done a lot with the local government, and I’ve had two meetings with Minister for Crime, Policing and Fire Diana Johnson down in England, and I’m campaigning for compulsory knife crime education to be included in the syllabus at schools,” he added.
“I believe we should be starting to talk to kids at around nine years old. I’ve already spoken to around 1500 primary school children, and at that stage they are really inquisitive and easily influenced. Those talks are moments I will never forget.
“What’s nice about that is that I signpost the children to an organisation called Fearless, which lets them report knife crime anonymously, and I introduce them to Charlie.
“We have a 10-minute film from the clips I took, and it’s incredibly powerful. The kids come away feeling like they know him.”
“I will do anything I can to keep Charlie close to me, and at the heart of our charity is education. We want to really invest in youth in England, and I think we should be opening up some youth hubs.
“I won’t stop. I’ve got ambitious plans, and I intend to visit Scotland again and hopefully do some talks in schools.”
Visit the Charlie’s Promise website here, and follow them on Instagram here
