Family of murdered Haverhill teen Harley Barfield delighted with first fund-raiser for Knife Angel visit
The first fund-raiser held to enable an anti-knife crime statue to spend one month in Haverhill as a legacy to a murdered teenager has left organisers feeling ‘over the moon’.
A cake sale took place at Haverhill Arts Centre last Saturday, and raised £350.
Organised by the family of Harley Barfield, the 16-year-old who was fatally stabbed in Haverhill in January 2023 by another boy of the same age, who was later sentenced to a life sentence for the murder, it has kicked off a series of fund-raisers that will help cover the costs of bringing the Knife Angel statue to the town in September.
Harley’s mum Bernice, his uncle, Lee Barfield, grandad George Barfield, auntie Sam Warner and Lee’s great-niece, Ami Currell, all played their part in making the day a bigger success than expected.
Lee, of Haverhill, said: “I was not expecting to raise that much on Saturday.
”I was expecting £50, maybe £100, but £350 we are over the moon with.”
He added: “The last year and a half has been hell.
”My brother (Harley’s dad, Darryl, who initiated the Knife Angel’s visit to Haverhill) and Bernice, they are going through more than we are going through. He was their child.”
Lee paid tribute to everyone that baked the cakes and savouries that were sold on Saturday, particularly Doffy’s Tea Room, based in Queen Street, Haverhill, whose donation of cakes was, he said ‘amazing’.
He also thanked Sara Marsh, from Haverhill Town Council, for her ‘amazing’ help in the family’s bid to get the Knife Angel to Haverhill, for what would be the first time it has ever been on display in Suffolk.
The 20ft high Knife Angel is made from more than 100,000 reclaimed blades and is also known as the National Monument Against Violence & Aggression.
Haverhill Town Council has underwritten a £4,000 refundable deposit to ensure the statue can come to Haverhill.
Harley’s family is now fund-raising to pay the deposit but also, explained Lee, to cover additional costs of at least £6,000.
This includes insurance, anti-violence education programmes, workshops and events that have to be held during its time in Haverhill, plus the costs of transporting the statue to Peterborough, which will be its next destination.
There is also a ‘Bring the Knife Angel to Haverhill’ page running at GoFundMe, which has so far received £1,180.
Further Knife Angel fund-raisers will be held, including at the Haverhill Armed Forces Day on June 29 and the Haverhill Show on July 7.
