Knife angel is set free
It has taken two years to create and has already come to be seen as a national monument against knife crime.
The Shropshire knife angel sculpture has finally flown free from the shackles of the studio that is has been in since its inception in 2015.
Now proudly standing outside at the British Ironwork Centre the sculpture is being admired by visitors each day.
The delicate job of craning the 25 foot sculpture from the workshop near Oswestry was watched with some trepidation by bosses at the ironwork centre, some of the families who have written personal inscriptions on individual blades and the sculptor, Alfie Bradley.
He single-handedly created the angel from 100,000 blades that had been confiscated by police forces across Britain or posted into knife banks in towns and cities across the country.
Alfie also had the task of having to clean each knife.
"It is a memorial to those whose lives have been affected by knife crime and, as the sculptor I have been privileged to meet many families who have been directly affected and who wanted to put their own message onto a blade," he said.
"Seeing the sculpture craned out of the workshop was a relief. It has been two years in the making and it is time that it can be seeing by the public."
Clive Knowles, Chairman of the British Ironwork Centre is now hoping that an application to have the sculpture on display on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square will be successful.
