A WOMAN whose son was stabbed to death in America has been part of the group organising to bring the thought-provoking Knife Angel to Hereford next year.

The 27ft sculpture, made out of 100,000 confiscated knives from police forces around the UK, will be in the city as part of a 28-day project in 2021 to highlight not only knife crime, but all violence.

Beginning on June 1, the sculpture will reside at Hereford Cathedral with a series of interactive workshops and events planned to take place, including an opening and closing ceremony, a dedicated youth conference, weapon amnesty and more.

One of the four people involved in the Knife Angel Hereford group, Alison Davies, lost her son Mark, 49, to knife crime while he was living in the United States.

Together with friends Meryl Cain, Pauline Strong and Jan Jefferies, Ms Davies, who lives in Clehonger, wants to raise awareness of the catastrophic impact violent crime has on individuals, families and communities.

"I lost my son to knife crime in December 2018 it was in America, he was stabbed," Ms Davies, 71, said.

"A tragedy like that is so difficult for the families, we're still working our way through all of it, it's very hard.

"Then I saw the Knife Angel and it resonated with me as this something I could really do to make sense of things a bit.

"We went to see it coming in when it went to Newtown [Powys] my friends Meryl and Pauline went to see it. It was so emotional, it's an incredible piece of work.

"We thought we've got to do this, it's got to be something we bring to Hereford."

Created by the Shropshire-based British Ironwork Centre during a two-year project beginning in 2015, the 4.5-tonne Knife Angel has previously been displayed in cities including Derby, Birmingham, Coventry and Liverpool.