Mayor officially welcomes Knife Angel to city centre

The ‘Knife Angel’ has been formally welcomed to Wrexham today with a civic ceremony held on Queens Square.

Completed in 2018 The Knife Angel also known as the National Monument Against Violence and Aggression has toured the country, bringing with it an awareness of the consequences caused in our society by violence and crime – especially knife crime.

Standing at 8.2m (27ft) tall and weighing 3.5 tons – the sculpture and is made from over 100,000 seized knives and weapons collected from all 43 Police Constabularies across the UK.

Knife crime in Wrexham is extremely rare and is not the reason why the statue is visiting the area. Wrexham County Borough have detailed stats that show a marked decrease in knife crime incidents over the past few years, and knife crime in Wrexham remains low.

The Mayor of Wrexham Cllr Brian Cameron led the opening ceremony, apologising for the weather which saw torrential rain in the minutes before the event, “I would like to start by thanking you all for having me here today to mark the official opening ceremony of the Knife Angel’s visit to Wrexham.”

The Mayor described the statue as artistic brilliance, adding “It serves as a sobering reminder of the impact and devastation knife crime and violence causes in our society.”

“I hope it serves as a symbol with a clear message, that message there is no place in communities for such behaviour, there is no need for aggression towards one another, and there is no use in destroying the lives of the victims.”

Clive Knowles, Chairman & Founder of the British Ironworks Centre said, “One of the things that is very important for you to understand is when the first embarked on this project, we were inspired by a local family from Wrexham – that is the Maddocks family and they are here today.

“It was those local families that really sort of inspired us to try and make a big effort in ensuring that the angel did a job, the job that it was intended, that it would inspire change and social change and address violent behaviour – not just knife crime, but all sorts of violent behaviour.”

“The angel was only ever intended to go from Oswestry to Trafalgar Square in London. There was never any imagination of it doing a national tour. Now we are on our 26th town or city – Wrexham is number 26.

“There is probably that many again booked in, so the angel will have traveled all four corners of the UK by the time it has finished its tour and it will have inspired an immense amount of educational efforts.

“I am very proud to say it was made locally to yourselves, and inspired by a family from Wrexham”.

KNIFE ANGEL 🔪👼🏼

An official opening ceremony was held on Queen's Square in Wrexham city centre today to mark the arrival of the Knife Angel.

More here 👉🏼 https://t.co/8AH7hGhCJJ pic.twitter.com/6LwP8VvSTg

— NWP Wrexham Town (@NWPWrexhamTown) October 7, 2022

The North Wales Police & Crime Commissioner Andy Dubbobin said, “The knife angel is a strong and powerful reminder of the dangers and tragedies caused by knife crime.

“I know it has been a real way of focusing minds and raising awareness of the many communities it has visited across the country since it was created just down the road at the British Ironworks at Centre in Oswestry in 2018.

“While offences with knives remain thankfully low in Wrexham, it’s important for us all to drive them down further still.

He added: “It spreads the messages that we so need to hear and share about the dangers of carrying and using knives and the pain that they cause.

“It’s the message told by each of the 100,000 knives that make up the angel – I hope that this month the local awareness raising campaign will increase knowledge of knife crime and dissuade people from it.”

Also in attendance was Wrexham Council’s Chief Executive Ian Bancroft, alongside senior councillors, Wrexham’s MP Sarah Atherton, Clwyd South MS Ken Skates and a range of local councillors and stakeholders.

The service also saw certificates awarded to local members of Senedd yr Ifanc, the Youth Parliament, for their work in raising awareness of knife crime and efforts behind a new locally made Knife Dragon.

The display will be on Queens Square for the rest of the month.