Just last week, we were honoured to have Louise Hickman, West Mercia Police Sergeant, and Michelle Thomason, West Mercia Police Community Support Officer, here to discuss a collaborative art project between ourselves and the West Mercia Police Force. The Knife Angel has now been on display in Telford’s Southwater Square since the beginning of the month, with its main objective is to create the social change necessary to turn the tide on violent behaviour. Through our belief that this change is at the heart of education, we hope that Telford will continue to uphold the Angel’s educational legacy long after it moves on. To highlight Telford’s efforts and to create an everlasting visual legacy for the town, we have proposed the idea of creating a giant daisy sculpture out of blades collected through surrenders and amnesties conducted by the West Mercia Police and Telford & Wrekin Council.

Just yesterday, we were honoured to have Louise Hickman, West Mercia Police Sergeant, and Michelle Thomason, West Mercia Police Community Support Officer, here to judge Telford & Wrekin’s ‘Anti-Violence Art Awards’. Both Louise and Michelle are heavily involved in West Mercia Police’s ‘Steer Clear’ youth knife intervention programme, something designed specifically to better engage their community youth with anti-violence awareness and education. As part of  this important programme and the Knife Angel’s visit to Telford this month, Louise and Michelle developed the town’s official ‘Anti-Violence Art Awards’, whereby primary and secondary school students were tasked with creating a piece of artwork inspired by the Knife Angel, its anti-violence message, and three keywords – compassion, community and courage.

Just yesterday, we were joined here at the Centre by Mayor Cllr John Price and Mayoress Joyce Barrow to officially unveil Oswestry’s vintage fire appliance. We were originally approached by David Preston from the Town Council and the Oswestry Fire Service about the historical piece over three years ago. The fire engine was housed in an outbuilding at Oswestry Fire Station for over a decade, where it was taking up crucial space for fire service training. Because of this, the Oswestry Fire Service made the decision to go in search of a new location for the vintage piece – a location where it could be viewed and appreciated by Oswestrians as well as national and international visitors alike. Dating back more than 200 years, we are now the proud home of this beautiful Victorian, horse-drawn fire engine.

Throughout the Knife Angel’s journey across the UK, it has become apparent to us that many of its spectators are keen to tie things to the monument’s railings. These things include white ribbons, paper angels and personal items that are often left there to recognise or remember a loved one that has been affected by violence. We love seeing people engage with the Angel in this way and wanted to introduce a more permanent and everlasting initiative to help them remember their loved ones long after the Knife Angel has moved onto its next host location. This is where our metal angels and the National Remembrance Ribbon come in.

Yesterday, we were delighted to greet one of the UK’s most loved and trusted agricultural brands, Massey Ferguson. A leading agricultural equipment brand of the highest international reputation, Massey Ferguson are hoping to send their European roadshow to the County of Shropshire this year and we, here at the Ironworks, are excited to announce that we will be putting in every effort to ensure that we host the event. Through the success of our annual Classic & Vintage Transport Rally and our passion for the vehicle industry, we believe that our grounds are the ideal location for an expo of this stature.

Earlier this week, a group of Macmillan Cancer Support’s national fundraising champions visited us here at the Ironworks to discuss their fundraising plans going forward on a national level. Having helped and supported many of Macmillan’s campaigns over the years, including hosting Oswestry’s annual Macmillan Colour Run, we were thrilled to offer them our Centre as a neutral platform for new ideas to be discussed and developed. We even joined in on their brainstorming session to share some of our upcoming campaign ideas and to offer advice over some of theirs. Camilla Hughes, Kate Thomas, Tudor Humphries and Claire Singlehurst, the Director of Macmillan’s national fundraising, were all in on the session representing different sectors of Macmillan’s fundraising team. Clive Knowles, the Chairman of the Ironworks, was also present to represent our thoughts.

On Friday morning, the Knife Angel took flight yet again as it journeys back to its birthplace County of Shropshire. The Angel left Gateshead in Northumbria early Friday morning to travel to Telford, where it will be positioned in Southwater Square for the full month of March. A very central location in the town, Southwater Square will allow the Angel to become a pivotal focus for visitors and Telford locals alike to view the Angel and its surrounding educational material throughout the month.

It’s official – the town of Wrexham in north Wales has joined the list of hosting locations. Just last week, we had a meeting with Terry Evans and Mark Pritchard, a leading MP, from the Wrexham Town Council, who have both shown great interest and determination in getting the National Monument Against Violence & Aggression to the town for the full month of July 2020, where it is set to take pride of place in the town centre. Here, the Angel will greatly benefit the town’s youth by raising awareness over the negative effects that violent behaviour has on the community.

Throughout every year, we aim to support as many local and regional charities as we possibly can through various fundraising opportunities. Our annual Proms in the Park event provides us with the perfect opportunity to make a real difference, which is why we dedicate each year to one specific charity. This year, we have agreed to use all money fundraised through the Proms event, whether that be through brochures, merchandise or raffles, in aid of the Robert Jones & Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital’s newest Veterans’ Ward.

Enabling UK Hospices to Raise an Additional £1million in Funding.Here at the Ironworks, we have been helping hospices all across the UK to create campaigns over the past few years. Our ‘Forget Me Not’ campaign began when we realised that we have the ability and internal creative talent to really make a national difference by enabling UK hospices to raise a critical amount of extra funding.