Surrender your knife » Uncategorised

ITV News Film the Knife Angel at the British Ironwork Centre

admin — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 15:06:57 +0000

Here at the British Ironwork Centre we were delighted to have ITV News filming the Knife Angel here on Thursday 9th February 2017.

Staffordshire Police collect hundreds of knives in amnesty

admin — Fri, 02 Sep 2016 09:54:44 +0000

We received a huge collection of knives and weapons from Staffordshire Police recently as their knife amnesty draw to a close.

They had nearly 20 knife amnesty bins stationed across the region and police headquarters in the counties biggest knife amnesty to date.

The force worked tirelessly throughout the month long amnesty to encourage members of the public to hand over weapons and rid the streets of Staffordshire of knife crime and violence.

Hundreds of weapons were brought back here to campaign headquarters to be included in the sculpture. We really want to thank the force for their support and helping us reach our target of 100,000 knives off the streets of the UK.

We meet Connor Upton’s family as they visit the sculpture

admin — Thu, 25 Aug 2016 13:41:59 +0000

Yvonne Upton and Terri Timms thoroughly support the National Monument against Violence and Aggression and the drive to reduce knife crime.

Yvonne and Terri sadly lost Connor, Yvonne’s Son and Father to Terri’s two children in a horrific knife attack in derbyshire. It was an emotional day when the two came to visit our workshop to see the sculpture for themselves. They wanted to include Connors name, on the monument, with an everlasting message which read,

“5/4/89 – 6/6/10, Forever in our hearts”

We wanted to thank Yvonne and Terri and their families for supporting our campaign and the bid to raise awareness of the effects of knife crime. The effects are real, they are painful and last a lifetime.

#SaveALife #SurrenderYourKnife

Norfolk Constabulary join campaign

admin — Fri, 08 Jul 2016 10:27:08 +0000

As our campaign continues, we are reaching ever closer to completion.
Today we have had confirmation that Norfolk constabulary are wanting to support our campaign. This means that we are even closer to becoming completely National and will help us reach our target of 100,000 knives of the streets.

Alfie has been working incredibly hard on the sculpture and it’s really starting to take shape now.
Looking forward to what happens over the next few months.
‪#‎savealife‬ ‪#‎surrenderyourknife‬

BBC News Report: “Mother backs knife crime memorial”

admin — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 12:00:11 +0000

Find out more on the BBC website here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-35209207.

Shropshire Company Provides Knife Banks For Manchester Police Forces

admin — Tue, 03 Feb 2015 10:48:15 +0000

This week The British ironwork Centre successfully supplied Greater Manchester Police with 11 high-security knife banks.

The Centre’s campaign “Save a Life, Surrender Your Knife” has worked alongside Manchester police forces to install the banks in Longsight, Oldham, Ashton under Lyne, Rochdale, Swinton, Bury, Stockport, Stretford, Bolton, Wigan & Manchester Central HQ.

All of the banks carry absolutely no cost for the police forces, all banks are designed, sign written or livered as each Police Force or community group directs.

All knives collected will go towards building the UK’s only National statue, a spectacular 20-23 feet tall Angel statue ( Known as Knife Angel ) symbolising the nation’s stance against violence and aggression.

The Angel will be created from 100,000 knives and will take most of 2015 to complete , its hoped the Angel will be erected in Trafalgar Square on the Forth Plinth b, thereafter residing in one of the UK’ s cities permanently.

Chairman Clive Knowles of the British Ironworks, is calling for all the 43 UK police forces to contribute knives , together with all the campaign groups fighting knife crime and families affected by knife or street violence.

Plans for New Amnesty Bin in Birmingham

admin — Wed, 28 Jan 2015 13:15:28 +0000

Visited Birmingham City Council yesterday, excellent meeting with Councillor Khan discussing Knife Banks and supplying the City.
All knife Banks supplied carry no cost for the City Council or the West Midlands Police.
It’s the intention to hopefully partner Birmingham in all anti aggression and anti-Violence projects.
We were very impressed with the Councils enthusiasm and drive to address difficult community issues and especially councillor Khan’s
Interest in ensuring the Save A Life campaign progresses quickly.
Presently we are forwarding an invitation to councillors and officials to visit the Centre in febuary, to witness the Knife angel Sculpture being made and to symbolically weld a knife to the 20 plus ft Sculpture.

Alfie collects blades from the north

admin — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 17:18:41 +0000

West Yorkshire Police join the drive to remove knives and guns from the streets of the UK.
Following a successful Amnesty, the knifes were given to the British Ironworks in order to create a unique national monument.
The knife angel sculpture will be the only national monument created from all 43 police forces around the UK, together with the Home Office and masses of anti-violence campaign groups.
West Yorkshire Police, have been invited to symbolically weld knifes to the angel statue, by Alfie Bradley Sculpture.
The unveiling is hoped to be in the Autumn of this year , seeing dignitaries and political figures from all over the UK , witness the completed sculpture before it leaves for Trafalgar Square or one of the partnership Cities in the UK .
Where it will reside permanently, as a lasting reminder of the UK’s intolerance to street Violence and Aggression.
Picture Left-Right: DCI Paul Fountain & Alfie Bradley, Sculptor.

New Shipment arrives from the North

admin — Mon, 19 Jan 2015 14:10:32 +0000

Just today our resident sculptor Alfie Bradley has travelled across the UK to make collections from our knife banks in the Lancashire and Yorkshire area. This was Alfies second trip to the Lancashire Amnesty bin, and therefore was not at all surprised by the massive collection we have come to expect from the area. After working with C.I. Scott Barnes previously on the surrender your knife project Alfie knew exactly what to expect when he arrived this afternoon at the station.

Lancashire Police agreed to assist us in the campaign after some alarming statistics were released regarding knife crime in their area. BBC News have reported some of these frightening facts on to us, and they are as follows:

Police have launched a knife amnesty after new figures showed there were almost 4,000 blade-related offences in Lancashire over four years.

3,712 offences involving knives between April 2010 and March 2014.
Of the recorded offences, 321 were injuries, 612 were possession of deadly weapon (knives), and 459 were knife-related public order offences.

Amongst the massive piles of donated melee this week Alfie has already began to sort through and remove unwanted items such as mobile phones, as well as some more shocking items such as Knives, swords, guns, bullets, knuckle dusters machetes to name a few.

Once he has completed the sorting of these items he intends to continue the preparation by de-contaminating the blades (some of which remained blood stained from previous attacks) and blunting their edges so they can no longer cause harm to innocent people, and made pliable so they can finally be used to create our stunning sculpture.

“I’ll be starting at the lower half of the angel, building up its legs using these large steel bars” Quotes Alfie “it’s going to take ages, but it’ll be worth it”

He went on further

“I’ve been getting calls from other policemen I’ve spoke with, they have hundreds [of knives] to donate”.

BBC Midlands filming at the centre

admin — Tue, 13 Jan 2015 21:55:40 +0000

This week we were lucky enough to have BBC Midland News come in and film with us, and help spread the word about our up and coming monument.