As Sheff Line launched our campaign to bring the Knife Angel to Sheffield, we discovered a network of campaigners in the city who had faced numerous setbacks.
The Knife Angel, a monument made from around 100,000 seized knives, is touring the country but has no plans of coming to Sheffield.
The Knife Angel
A report by the Star stated that bringing the sculpture to Sheffield would cost around £15,000, according to the councillor Paul Wood, who was checking the cost to make the decision.
Danny O’Brien, a knife campaigner for 13 years, said: “I am at a loss of how a city with on average 2 knife murders a year are dragging their feet to bring the knife Angel to Sheffield.
“I had a meeting with the council years ago and was badly treated. I understand that it will cost money, but so does funerals and having a city plagued with violent crime. Smaller cities have had the knife angel, why not the city of steel?
“I could carry on, but Sheffield is missing out on a chance to make a statement and will be known as a city that cared more about money than trying to make Sheffield’s next generation less violent.”
Hayley Lowe, 27, has been campaigning for three years to host the Knife Angel in Sheffield after her eight-year-old cousin Mylee Billingham was killed in 2018 by her own father.
She said: “I told the council that in many other places it has been free, but they have chosen to spend money on various different things in their setting.
“I want to bring this magnificent statue to my own city as knife crime has affected me but also so many in Sheffield. I think the council don’t have up-to -date information. If authority people could be more supportive, then there would be less knife crimes because they’d be helping to educate people better.”
Mylee Billingham
Sheffield has the most knife crime cases in 2019 and 2020 among South Yorkshire. The total number of local serious knife crime offences has seen a 18% increase in 2020 compared to 2019, according to statistics released by South Yorkshire Police.
Sahira Irshad, 42, chair of Mums United who has been working with Hayley for three years, said: “We spoke to councillors in charge of budgeting and funding the Knife Angel. However, we just kept on getting the doors shut in our faces.
“It’s disappointing for sure because it would have been a monumental pick up. I think it’s a missed opportunity, and more could have been done to try and get the Angel here.
“The fact that those young people have lost their lives at an early age when they have the whole world in front of them is a tragedy, and that’s what motivates us and inspires us to keep on moving forward.”
The Knife Angel project also includes a 30-day educational programme, with a focus on raising awareness of knife crime and its affects.
Clive Knowles, 59, chairman of Knife Angel tour in the UK, said: “Every time we’re contacted by a family living in Sheffield, we feel incredibly sad for them because they are suffering and lacking help.
Clive Knowles
“The monument is a figurehead that everybody’s attention is placed upon. But what really matters is all of the youth educational work that happens to reject violent behaviour while the Angel is in that city.
“If the city could create a community committee to organise the angel hosting, for example by asking crane or transport companies to help for free, then most of the fees could be removed.”
He said by doing so, Derby and Hereford councils were left with a cash surplus.
Councillor Alison Teals, Executive Member for Sustainable Neighbourhoods said: “It would be a massive help if we could get funds from the local community to host the knife angel as we have a severe shortage of funding, and most of it now needs to go to statutory services that are most vital for people’s wellbeing.”
To sign our petition to bring the Knife Angel to Sheffield, click here.
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