Aycliffe Parish Youth visited the Knife Angel Monument in Middlesbrough during the last few days of the holidays. We were met by Theresa Cave who spoke about the Save a Life, Surrender Your Knife project that surrounds the development of the angel. She gave us all the facts – 27 feet tall, made from 100,000 discarded knives, swords and blades, taking 4 years to clean and blunt them all, sculptor Alfie Bradley started in 2014 and all 43 Police Forces were involved.
Then Theresa told us HER story, HER 17 year old son Chris was killed by a single knife wound in 2003 in Redcar as he would not let a group of young people into the bedsit he shared with his pregnant girlfriend. The knife used to kill HER son was visible on one of the angels wings with his name engraved on. Suddenly it was real. HER story reduced many of us to tears and certainly brought the message home. This inspirational mother believes that there are no bad kids – but that fear leads them to make bad choices- she is remarkable!
Our Youth paid their respects by leaving flowers and prayers ahead of that evenings Angel Vigil.
#putdowntheknife
Helen McCormick
