Knife Angel

The National Monument Against Violence and Aggression, Knife Angel, is a touring sculpture made from over 100,000 seized knives surrendered and collected in nationwide amnesties during 2015/2016. It stands at 27 feet tall and weighs over 3 tonnes. It was specifically created by the artist Alfie Bradley to highlight the negative effects of violent behaviour whilst addressing our need for social change.

The purpose of the Angel is to act as a catalyst for turning the tide on violent and aggressive behaviour and serves as a beautiful memorial designed to celebrate those lives that have been lost through violent and thoughtless actions.

Making of the Knife Angel

Knife Angel in Bolton

Bolton will host the iconic statue in November and deliver a packed programme of workshops and activities to highlight the issues of violence and aggression and support the campaign.

The Knife Angel will be in Bolton from 1st November 2023 until 30thNovember 2023. It will be located on Deansgate, opposite McDonalds in between café Nero and Greggs.

The Knife Angel provides an opportunity, for our community to come together, to support the campaign and participate in planned activities.

Full details of all events will be listed here. This list is growing, so please do check back to see if there are any changes.

Read more about the Knife Angel: Official Knife Angel | The British Ironwork Centre.

National Youth Anti-Violence Champions

As part of the nationwide bid to create social change in order to help end violent behaviour within our communities, The British Ironwork Centre have created the national youth ‘Anti-Violence Champions’ initiative. Designed specifically to change the way that children and young people perceive violence, they are asking every host location to help us by deputising a minimum of 10,000 children and young people to renounce violence as a means of solving disputes, issues and disagreements. It is hoped that this initiative will further unite our young people and bring us that little bit closer to creating the social change necessary to fully turn the tide on violent and aggressive behaviour.

• Become A National Youth Anti-Violence Champion | The British Ironwork Centre

Support Services

• Greater Manchester Police – Greater Manchester Police (gmp.police.uk)
• Victim Services – Greater Manchester Victims’ Services (gmvictims.org.uk)
• Domestic Abuse and Violence – Fortalice

Additional information

Greater Manchester Police

Operation Sycamore is Greater Manchester Police’s response to tackling serious violent crime, with a focus on knife crime. The aim of the operation is to prevent and reduce serious violent crime and raise awareness of the dangers of knife crime.

Further information about this can be found at: Tackling knife crime | Greater Manchester Police . The link also includes information about the Knife Amnesty #ForeverAmnesty, advice and support for young people about the consequences of knife crime and advice and support for parents and carers in identifying knife crime ad what to look out for.

Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit

The Violence Reduction Unit brings together Greater Manchester Police, National Probation Service, health and education professionals, youth justice and local authorities to address the underlying causes of violent crime and work together with communities to prevent it.

It forms part of Greater Manchester’s approach to tackling serious violent crime, which includes making sure victims of violent crime get the right support and improving the criminal justice response to all forms of serious violence. Further information can be found at: Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit.

Serious Violence Duty

The Serious Violence Duty is Government legislation that makes councils and local services work together to share information and target interventions to prevent and reduce serious violence. For more information see Serious Violence Duty – GOV.UK.