'Incredible honour' Campaigner tells King of knife crime battle

A YOUNG woman from Bristol who said her life was saved by her local boxing club charity has played a key role in the first Youth Opportunity Summit, alongside King Charles and the Prime Minister.

- Tristan CORK

Sitting alongside Sir Keir Starmer at the summit at St James's Palace was 20-year-old Serena Wiebe, a boxing coach and anti-knife crime campaigner from east Bristol.

Serena has gone from a troubled teen at Empire Fighting Chance to a mentor there, and now a leading figure in the Government's drive to tackle knife crime among young people by having that work led by young people themselves.

Serena said it was 'an incredible honour' to represent Empire and the Bristol community at St James' Palace, and she was grateful to the King for listening to her. She said she did this work for Theo, her older brother, who took his own life, and for her childhood friend Eddie King Kinuthia, who was stabbed to death in St Pauls in Bristol, back in the summer of 2023.

In December, culture secretary Lisa Nandy came to Empire Fighting Chance to launch a new National Youth Strategy, and did so by hosting a roundtable discussion inside one of the gym’s boxing rings alongside Serena.