'Let Shropshire's Knife Angel join fight on crisis'
It embodies the crisis Britain finds itself in with knife crime. Yet a campaign for Shropshire's Knife Angel to be given the highest profile possible continues to fall on deaf ears.
The striking sculpture is constructed purely out of knives – all 100,000 of them donated from police forces across the country including West Mercia, West Midlands and Staffordshire.
The knives have either been confiscated from people arrested by officers or handed in as part of an amnesty.
Built at the British Ironwork Centre in Oswestry, it is currently on a tour of the country after being embraced by the Church of England. It has been to Liverpool Cathedral, is currently in Hull and will be shortly be moving to Coventry Cathedral.
Walsall police and civic leaders have also expressed interest in hosting the sculpture while Wolverhampton council now has knife amnesty bins made at the Centre.
The aim of sculptor Alfie Bradley and Ironwork Centre owner Clive Knowles has always been for the sculpture to be allowed to take up space on the fourth plinth at Trafalgar Square.
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But despite a public campaign, including a petition that has attracted tens of thousands of signatures, the answer has consistently been no.
Four years after trying to get Mr Johnson on board for the Angel’s trip to London, Mr Knowles met with the MP last week.
The former mayor backed the campaign and vowed to get involved.
Current London Mayor Sadiq Khan has knocked back repeated pleas. There are strict rules on the kind of art that can be placed on the fourth plinth and they need to be approved by the Arts Council.
Prominent
Mr Johnson said that, with knife crime rising significantly both in London and in the rest of the country, room should be made for the sculpture as a way to get people talking about the problem.
He has suggested that if it cannot go in Trafalgar Square then it could be displayed for a period of time in the capital’s Olympic Park or in Basildon.
Mr Knowles said he is delighted to get the backing of such a prominent politician, adding: “We have wanted to get Boris on board for quite a while so it was nice to meet him.
“He had some good ideas and has backed us with this, and has come up with two locations for where it could go. He has offered to write to Sadiq Kahn to address any fears he has about the Angel going to London. So we will wait and see now, but it is positive news and London was the destination we want the angel to go.”
While London appears reticent to take on the Knife Angel, other towns and cities appear to be lining up to show it off. Authorities in Leicester, Bristol, Gloucester, Dorset and Devon have all expressed an interest in displaying the artwork.
Mr Knowles added: “We created the sculpture to highlight knife crime but never imagined the impact it would have. We also never really intended it to go on tour, but that is what has happened. There are a lot of places that are interested.”
Police and Crime Commissioner for the West Midlands, David Jamieson is among high profile figures who have backed the campaign to get the Knife Angel displayed. He visited the Ironwork Centre earlier this year to see the sculpture and also praised the amnesty bins the centre makes, which enable people who have blades to give them up safely.
The Angel has acted as a beacon of hope during its tour of cities. Earlier this week, the people of Hull held a vigil in front of the sculpture to remember the victims of knife crime.
