For the Cosser family, Christmas will never be the same. This is the second Christmas they’ve faced without 17-year-old Charlie Cosser, who was fatally stabbed at a party in West Sussex in July 2023.

During his final moments, Charlie’s father, Martin, made a vow – to fight knife crime and honour Charlie’s memory. That promise founded Charlie’s Promise, a charity raising awareness about knife crime and supporting affected families.

After reading Charlie’s heartbreaking story, Adrian White launched Together We Can – a music event at Godalming Borough Hall to raise funds for Charlie’s Promise. He said: “No parent should ever have to go something like this.”

There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when Martin took the stage.

After thanking everyone involved, Martin said: “Charlie’s death has destroyed the people I love most in this world. Unless you’ve had a child murdered, you just don’t get it. It is the loneliest place in the world. Every second, of every day, every breath is for our little boy.

“You forget what it's like to laugh with authenticity.My wife and daughter are the best actresses in the world, the way they smile.”

After Martin, Eugene Scardifield took to the stage to read a poem he wrote inspired by his own tragic loss.

Eugene, 46, has dedicated himself to helping other good causes ever since his older brother Michael was tragically strangled by Martin Birchall at Michael’s flat in Stoke-on-Trent in 2015.

His poem states: “It only takes one punch, one shot, one knife to take one life. But it’s not just life that’s taken, it’s a whole family trying to cope with its hearts breaking.”

Like Charlie’s Promise, Eugene is campaigning to raise awareness of the ripple effects of murder and manslaughter. It is never just one life, one family, torn apart – the number is endless.