Five knives found during Bristol community clean-up day held after stabbing deaths

A clean-up day held in a Bristol community after two teenage boys were stabbed to death found five knives around the area.     

The event in Knowle West was arranged by the Newquay Road Partnership, a multi-agency group tackling knife crime and other issues in the neighbourhood.

As well as finding the knives, including one in a children’s playground, 41 bags of waste were collected and six skips were emptied twice.        

The initiative was organised after the tragic deaths of local boys Mason Rist, 15, and Max Dixon, 16, who were stabbed in the street on January 27.            

Community activist Carol Casey, who chairs the Newquay Road Partnership, said a pair of scissors, a screwdriver and half a golf club were found alongside the knives - which were taken away by police. 

“To find knives and the other weapons, that just shows we were bang on with what we thought,” she told BristolWorld.   

“We knew there were going to be knives and it’s showing there is a problem.”

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The Newquay Road Partnership, comprised of residents, police, councillors, council officers, local shops and other agencies, was set up to address issues around knives, drugs and stolen motorbikes.           

Alongside members of the group and wider community, around 100 children from the local Ilminster Avenue E-Act Academy took part in the recent clean-up day, which was supported by the Big Tidy project.     

The group’s work to date has included working with the council to install a new CCTV camera on Newquay Road Shops, to tackle anti-social behaviour.     

As well as two more clean-up days planned later this year, the group is also fighting to reopen a former youth club, with more than 700 people signing their petition.