Innovative ‘Peace in the Park Project’ brings together RoadPeace West Midlands and Birmingham Youth Offending Service
Walk and Vigil held on Saturday 25th May
An impactful and thought-provoking piece of art has been installed on the railings at Birmingham Cathedral. Created in partnership between RoadPeace West Midlands, Birmingham Youth Offending Service (part of Birmingham Children’s Trust), CFG, Birmingham Cathedral, St. Martin in the Bull Ring and Joinex Displays – its intention is to provoke a conversation about the need to do more to end unnecessary death and injury on our roads.
The piece uses the photos of some of those killed on our roads – and links to a website where their family members have left tributes to them. Those remembered include partners, parents, children, siblings and cousins – all of whom had their lives ended suddenly and unexpectedly. The families of 40 crash victims have taken part so far, with more joining. Each day on average 5 people are killed on UK roads, with 1,766 lives taken in total in 2022.
On Saturday 25th May some of those involved in the project (including several bereaved families) walked from Kings Norton to Birmingham, finishing with a special vigil for crash victims at the Cathedral, at 2pm.
The artwork is comprised of 4 large doves (6ft by 4ft), around 50 smaller doves, and lettering spelling out ‘ROADPEACE’. The dove is the logo of RoadPeace, the national charity for road crash victims. QR codes on the artwork link to a website which explains the reason for the collaboration.
Following the growing outrage at the number of road deaths across Birmingham and the wider Midlands area, Birmingham Cathedral approached RoadPeace West Midlands, seeking to collaborate and respond in a way that felt appropriate to grieving families. RoadPeace West Midlands have been working in partnership with the Birmingham Youth Offending Service for some time – with the West Midlands anthology (a series of accounts by bereaved families) used by Restorative Justice workers to get young people who have been in trouble for driving crime to reflect on their actions.
In February, a meeting was held between RoadPeace West Midlands, Birmingham Youth Offending Service, CFG, Birmingham Cathedral and St. Martin in the Bull Ring – a commitment was made to create an installation which would raise awareness of the work of RoadPeace, the toll of road death and injury, and offer hope for a safer future.
The installation is the culmination of months of work by the Youth Offending Service with young people in trouble for crime including driving crime, and families from RoadPeace West Midlands who have all been bereaved through road traffic collisions.
A special day was held where the young people and families were brought together to work on the project and powerful conversations were had around the changes needed. RoadPeace want to see an end to road harm and view road death as preventable and unnecessary. The bereaved individuals taking part desperately want society to understand how their lives and families were changed in an instant and prevent others from suffering this pain. Support was provided by Joinex Displays, a Birmingham based company who provided help with creating the signage free of charge.
In addition, 2 young people involved in the project have created powerful music tracks reflecting on driving crime. These can be listened to here.
The installation will be in place until Monday 3rd June, with the hope it will move to different venues going forward.
Lucy Harrison, RoadPeace West Midlands Coordinator, whose brother was killed in 2014, said: “The bereaved families and the young people involved in this project have all shown immense bravery and taken part in challenging conversations in an effort to understand each other and work together for a common goal.”
Nick Simmons, RoadPeace CEO added: “My sincere thanks to everyone involved in this unique and powerful project for all that they have done to help raise awareness of the devasting effect of road crashes. Everyone has given so much of their time and energy and it is so impressive to see these well-respected organisations collaborate in such an effective and creative way.”
Andy Delmege, Canon Missioner at Birmingham Cathedral (who first approached RoadPeace West Midlands about creating some artwork) said: “As a person of faith I am deeply disturbed by the number of people killed and injured in our city in road traffic collisions. It has been a pleasure to work closely with RoadPeace and the Youth Offending Service to highlight the consequences of this, and to seek a city where all can travel safely.”
Emma Dugdale, from CFG, a law firm who are part of the RoadPeace legal panel and who have provided financial and creative support to the project, stated: “It’s such a privilege to work so closely with the group and to share their stories. The group and its members never fail to amaze me with their resilience and drive for change.”
Davina Fendall, YOS Team Manager stated: “It has been a powerful experience for both our staff and children involved in this project to meet with members of RoadPeace and listen to their experiences. This has helped to raise children’s awareness about the wide-reaching impact and consequences of dangerous driving. We are always looking for community organisations we can work with to provide meaningful reparation services. It has been an absolute privilege to be working in partnership with RoadPeace on this project and I look forward to the future collaborative opportunities we have to work together.”
All partners plan to continue working together moving forward with the hope of the artwork being installed at different locations, the creation of a music video and collaborative work on a Garden of Remembrance in progress.
Updated on: 30 May 2024