Can you help with our 1,000 Paper Crane Challenge?

Update - challenge complete!

After starting the challenge in October, the 1,000th paper crane was completed and put on display in December.

The challenge brought patients, staff, members of the public, and local primary school pupils together, granting a wish to the person in our care who came up with the idea of the brilliant project.

Original story:

St Andrew's Healthcare in Northampton is inviting members of the public to get creative and embrace the ancient Japanese art of origami.

The ‘1,000 Paper Crane Challenge’ was started earlier in the year by one of the people in our care. The patient has been inspired to make 1,000 of the origami masterpieces, as Japanese legend says that anyone who folds 1,000 paper cranes will be granted a wish, long life or recovery from illness.

St Andrew’s Visual Arts Technical Instructor, Jane Holden, is helping to support the challenge, providing resources and involving other patients and staff in the endeavour.

“Over time the cranes project has really snowballed which is amazing and has caught people’s imaginations,” Jane explained. “There are people making them in their wards now and sending them to me in batches. We recently reached 550, and we’d like to invite members of the public to help us by folding!”

The patient behind the idea explained: “The Idea of this beautiful piece of art came to me because I wanted to have a ‘wish’ granted, and my favourite country is Japan - it had to be done! I never knew this would come to life. I hope that once 1,000 cranes are made everybody involved in making them gets a wish. It makes me happy to see an amazing piece of work in progress.”

Jo Dacombe, Arts Events Coordinator at St Andrew’s, added: “I love this project; it’s a great example of a creative idea that has grown from a patient’s initiative into large scale collaboration, involving people from across the charity, both staff and patients. 

“It is wonderful to see how everybody contributes and how much that means to our patient. To know they have started off something which has grown to involve so many people and so much goodwill, and something that the patient can see visibly growing day by day from their own idea, is amazing.”

Would you like to contribute a crane? Click here to see the folding instructions to make a paper crane!

Cranes can be any size, but bright spectrum colours are preferred to fit in with the display. If you would like to make one, please send it to:

Jane Holden, St Andrew’s Healthcare, Activities Centre, Cliftonville Road, Northampton NN1 5DG. 

Thank you.

NOTE: If you would like to make a paper crane and need a little help, then come along to the Workbridge coffee shop, (Bedford Road, Northampton NN4 7AD) on Wednesday 20 December between 9:30 am and 11:30am. Thanks!