Midlands Air Ambulance Charity team visits Knife Angel to raise awareness

As part of its National Youth Anti-Violence Tour, members of the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity have visited the Knife Angel, currently set up outside Walsall's New Art Gallery, in a poignant awareness event.

During the visit, the group announced that during the past year, of the missing 'sharp objects' calls that the air ambulance attended, 28 per cent were in the Walsall area, making the arrival of the 27-foot sculpture even more pertinent.

The knife angel is made from 100,000 seized blades, paying tribute to lives lost through knife crime. The knives used were confiscated by 43 police forces across the UK.

Kay Starkey, West Midlands fundraising executive for the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity, said: "The visit from the Knife Angel sculpture is a poignant reminder of the growing concerns around knife crime in Walsall and the wider Midlands region.

"At Midlands Air Ambulance Charity, we are committed to building awareness of not only the effects of knife crime but how to rapidly respond to knife-related injuries should our community ever need to.

In light of the visit by the Knife Angel, the Midlands Air Ambulance Charity is raising awareness of its bleed control skills sessions that it provides to schools, businesses and community groups.

Kay continued: "Catastrophic bleed control is an integral part of our Mission Support skills sessions we provide across the county, where we demonstrate how to use a bleed control kit in the event of an emergency, giving bystanders the skills and confidence to assist before our clinicians even arrive on the scene."

The Knife Angel will be in Walsall until December 28 and will feature alongside a series of workshops, events and other initiatives in the towns.