top of page
16.jpg
7.jpg
2.jpg

About GUNS DOWN, UNN-BLADE

UNNBLADE.png

Founded in 2021 by Caroline Elwood-Stokes, the message is perfectly clear! Put the GUNS DOWN and UNN-BLADE - An acronym for Dunblane.

​

Caroline was 8 months pregnant at the time of the Dunblane shooting and she still recalls the moment when she learned of what had happened:

​

''I'd just returned home from school, I was 16 at the time. I saw the news on the television and burst into tears. Having already bonded with my unborn baby and having already got the unconditional love I could only try to imagine what those families was going through. It was totally heart wrenching - and still is''.

​

The Dunblane massacre took place at Dunblane Primary School near Stirling, Scotland, United Kingdom, on 13 March 1996, when Thomas Hamilton shot sixteen pupils and one teacher dead, and injured fifteen others, before killing himself. It remains the deadliest mass shooting in British history.

 

The shooting affected Caroline but she was unable to visit Dunblane to pay her respects. Finally, in 2019, Caroline managed to visit the school and laid flowers, each one represented a victim, and each flower bore the colours of the school uniform they wore in 1996.

​

Caroline says: I was totally gobsmacked at how open the school grounds are despite what had happened there. When I laid the flowers, it was Christmas Eve, the school was closed for the festive holidays. I was able to walk around the entire grounds of the school, I was totally shocked.

​

Caroline realised that more work had to be done around illegally imported firearms and and the use of knives and teamed up with Nigerian boy band Side Street Boyz. Caroline wrote lyrics for the London Borough track in which the band and herself use to raise awareness of Gun and Knife crime and to help eradicate the use of illegal weapons. 

​

Caroline and the band also teamed up with UK charity Mums United who's goals are also the same.

​

Mums United is a charity led by mothers tackling youth violence and child drug exploitation. Their aim is to LEARN: Listen, Engage, Act, Raise awareness, Not to give up hope 

bottom of page