Shropshire Star

British Ironworks Centre bosses focus on positives of 'knife angel' sculpture

Bosses at a tourist attraction which was at the centre of a bomb scare say they want to focus on the positives of a campaign it's leading after a police force admitted sending dummy explosives there by mistake.

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Ben Knowles, operations director at the British Ironwork Centre, said the package was mistakenly donated as part of an appeal for people to hand in weapons to get them off the street and to create a "knife angel" sculpture.

Bedfordshire Police has admitted responsibility for the mix-up in April, which saw army bomb disposal experts descend on the centre near Oswestry after the package was found.

Mr Knowles said: "Since the incident in April, the Ironwork Centre has been working closely with the police and assisting in their investigations. The force was very quick to respond to the incident and worked thoroughly to investigate how this could have happened.

"The centre is creating the 26ft knife sculpture and hopes to remove 100,000 knives off the streets of the UK with the campaign now going from strength to strength.

"We now have the support of 39 out of 43 police forces across the UK in collecting surrendered knives and weapons to be included within the National Monument against Violence and Aggression with Dorset and Leicester being the latest to join."

Weapons have been collected nationwide to create the "knife angel" sculpture.

Mr Knowles said: "We have been working closely with charities and families who have been directly affected by knife crime and violence and invite anyone who has lost a loved one to engrave an everlasting message on a blade which can be attached to the monument.

"The centre has been inundated with requests from families, with one message reading, 'I wish we could have had more time, Thank you for all your love. I will love you always. Yours forever Michelle'."

The unveiling date of the sculpture is still unknown.

The centre has a petition running to gain as many signatures as possible to increase its chances of being displayed on the 4th plinth in Trafalgar Square.

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