Students Visit Knife Angel at Liverpool Cathedral

Students from Peregrinate visited the Knife Angel at Liverpool Cathedral as part of our campaign “Real Men Don’t Carry Knives”.  The Knife Angel is sculptured out of confiscated knives. The weapons were collected from knife banks from across the country and disinfected and blunted to create the sculpture.

A National Monument

The Knife Angel is a national monument against violence and aggression and aims to show the impact knife crime has on people’s lives.

More than 900 serious crimes involving knives were recorded in Merseyside last year.

The 27-foot sculpture is made up of more than 100,000 weapons confiscated from 43 police forces across the country and was created by artist Alfie Bradley at the British Ironwork Centre in Oswestry, Shropshire.

It took over a year to build the Knife Angel after permission was granted by the Home Office to collect the knives.

Mr Bradley disinfected each blade that was handed in and blunted the weapons into the sculpture.

The wings were created using the blades to create a feather-like appearance.

Dean of Liverpool

Dean of Liverpool, Dr Sue Jones said: “Sadly scarcely a day goes by without hearing another tragic story of knife crime”.

“Through hosting the Knife Angel at Liverpool Cathedral we want to show solidarity with the victims of this crime and make a powerful statement to everyone who comes to visit”.

“As people encounter the artwork, we hope this helps them make sense of the issues it raises by coming in, lighting a candle or reflecting in one of our chapels. We will continue to pray for peace in our city”.

“As well as standing alongside all those affected by knife crime we want to urge those who carry knives to recognise the pain they cause themselves and others as we work to a day when we truly see peace in our streets.”

Liverpool Cathedral

The Cathedral has a reflections book open for comment inside the Cathedral where people who have experienced the Angel can add their own thoughts to the book.

There is no doubt that the Knife Angel has a powerful and poignant message, a message which was felt by all of our party.

Following on from the Knife Angel we took a tour of the Cathedral. For many of our Learners this was their first time inside the iconic building. They were all impressed by its magnificence and size. We were also lucky enough to view two services which were taking place during our visit, one in the central space and one in the Lady Chapel.

All Learners had an educational and enjoyable field trip and thanked all staff for the day.