Knife crimes in this country are on the increase, especially in London, but knife crime figures have also doubled in Hampshire in the last five years. Perhaps our society is more violent than it ever was. Certainly cuts to youth services mean young people no longer have premises on their immediate doorstep that they can go to. Another factor may be the reductions in policing and community safety, giving less opportunities for partnership work or community engagement to take place, so needed in our society.

An art installation currently in the north of the country, puts knife crime into perspective, it is called “The Knife Angel”. It took over a year to build. Permission was granted by the Home Office to collect some 100,000 blades confiscated by British police to craft a twenty seven feet tall angel sculpture, currently on view in Hull.

“The Knife Angel” pays tribute to the people, often very young, who have lost their lives or have been affected by knife crime in the country. Art installations, carefully executed, can be powerful reminders of life and death. The poppy installation created over the church in North Baddesley commemorating the ending of WW1 drew thousands of people to visit and reflect on the futility of war. “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” Isaiah 2 v.4. The message for us in the UK and the whole world is to change to a peaceful way of life and spend money on peaceful things rather than weapons which ruin so many lives.

Sally Kerson

Licensed Lay Minister

Ampfield, Chilworth and North Baddesley