A POWERFUL piece of artwork was unveiled on Monday morning, in a ceremony which highlighted Reading’s commitment to tackling knife crime and violence.
Stakeholders gathered outside The Oracle shopping centre to see the Armoured Heart, a sculpture partly made from blades handed in to knife amnesty bins across the town, for the first time.
Thought-provoking speeches were delivered by Cllr Karen Rowland, the Council’s lead member for environmental services and community safety, artist Stuart Melrose and activist Moses Heidenbluth, on what was the first day of Knife Crime Awareness Week.
Mr Melrose created the installation alongside members of Starting Point mentoring service’s Young Voices project, in an attempt to inspire young people to make positive choices about knives.
Speaking after the ceremony, he said: “To get it installed and finished on time is amazing. To be honest, the idea I came in with was nothing like what the sculpture looks like now.
“[The young people] have progressed the ideas, shown us what they wanted and taken it to what it is now. It wouldn’t have been here without the kids.”
Standing at 2m tall, the structure is made up of multiple precision-cut stainless steel diamonds to depict armour plating, with a swirling steel finial shape at the top made from weapons recovered and melted down by Thames Valley Police.
Mr Melrose believes the Armoured Heart theme is an emblematic way of safeguarding the hearts of those involved in knife crime, and also their loved ones.
“I found it amazingly educational to work with the people who have been involved in knife crime, and harrowing as well,” he added. “You meet some characters that are just so strong and powerful after going through what they’ve done.”
The town of Reading was left heartbroken in January 2021, when 13-year-old schoolboy Olly Stephens was fatally stabbed. His parents attended the sculpture’s unveiling.
Of the occasion, Olly’s mother Amanda said: “It’s really positive. It’s the culmination of a lot of hard work from a lot of people.
“To get to this point, to actually have it on a sunny day, now it’s here forever, it just feels like a point in time, it feels like history’s being made. Things will move forward now.
“It’s about making sure we’re all thinking about it because we can all make a positive difference when we do talk about it with our children.”
She commended the efforts set to be made during the week by the police and The Ben Kinsella Trust to ensure anti-knife crime information packs were sent out to schools across the country.
The Stephens’ believe social media companies have an important role to play in protecting young people but aren’t doing enough to prevent exposure to violent and harmful content.
Olly’s father Stuart explained: “We paid for it. We just didn’t understand and assumed [children] were protected online. We assumed there was a duty of care – there isn’t. The bottom line is those companies are there to make money, and they will make money any way they can.
“It is child exploitation, however they want to dress it up, they are exploiting children for profit. That needs to change.”
The information board adjacent to the fixture includes a QR code, which directs people to online resources and information about knife crime.
A month of action will take place in July, where the installation will be the catalyst of an outreach programme aiming to help young people reach their potential and challenge any culture that knives or violence are acceptable as a form of protection or as a solution to any situation.
Mr Heidenbluth, an educator who set up Give Back FC, a football team which was set up during the pandemic to give young men a positive space to be, has first hand experience of the consequences of knife crime.
He said: “It’s been quite an emotional day, there are families here who have lost family and friends to knife crime. But it’s good to unite as one and move Reading forward for the better.”
“Knife crime is much bigger than people think. It’s not just people from gangs, council estates, London, but it’s creeped into smaller towns like Reading, and it’s involving people who would never have carried a knife, weapon or been involved with that kind of life.
“But because of fear, people, especially young people, are worried about what’s going on, so they’ve decided to take [knives] as an option. We need to show them that that’s not an option because you’re only increasing this culture of carrying a knife.”
Knife amnesty bins in Reading are located at the Waitrose car park in Caversham, Cintra Park, Coley Park Community Centre, Kensington Park, Orts Road and Tilehurst Triangle.
Thames Valley Police superintendent Steve Raffield explained: “One of the things I often say is: by the time it gets to the police, it’s too late. When you catch a child with a knife, they’re already in the criminal justice system at that point.
“There’s always a full back story that we need to understand. For me, it’s all about working with young people, educating people that they don’t actually need to carry a knife.
“There’s still knife crime, no amount of knife crime or carrying is acceptable, but the fact that we’ve got so many people here, the fact we’ve got the statue is a really positive sign. There’s still a lot of work to build on that.”
The project received total sponsorship of £64,000 and was funded through grants from GWR’s Community Fund, the British Airways community fund, the Thames Valley Violence Reduction Unit and community donations.
It was commissioned through a partnership project including Reading Borough Council, Thames Valley Police, The Oracle, the University of Reading, Berkshire Community Foundation and Reading & Basingstoke Community Rail Partnership.
